Parents Blast Movie Industry for Lack of Family-Friendly Options in Theaters

Daniel S. Levine

03/19/2023 07:26 pm EDT

Film lovers who are also parents had a big complaint this weekend. There are surprisingly few children's movies playing in theaters right now. Hollywood is missing out on an opportunity to foster the love of theater-going at a young age since 5-year-olds really can't go to Scream VI. Youngsters probably aren't going to be able to sit still for all 130 minutes of Shazam! Fury of the Gods or understand what the heck the quantum realm is in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Next week, you won't be able to take your kids to the newest wide release, John Wick: Chapter 4.

Over the weekend, many parents pointed out that the last animated film to get a wide release is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which was released back on Dec. 7. It is still playing in theaters, even though it is streaming on Peacock and available on home video. The movie is cleaning up at the box office, with its domestic total reaching $182.6 million. While there have been some PG movies released recently, like Mummies and The Magic Flute, none of these have been as widely released as Puss in Boots.

The next film that might be considered "family-friendly" to hit theaters is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, but even that is PG-13 and 134 minutes long. The next widely released animated movie is The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which opens on April 5. That's almost five months after Puss in Boots hit theaters!

'Zero options at the movie theaters for taking kids under the age of 13'

Mario could soon find itself in a situation like Puss in Boots (not that Universal would complain about having two consecutive animated hits). Disney has the live-action take on The Little Mermaid opening on May 26, but the next animated film opening after Mario isn't until Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens on June 2. Disney's first animated film of 2023, Pixar's Elemental, doesn't open until June 16.

'I really really don't understand why they don't release more kids movies into theaters'

What could have been done about this situation? For one thing, Disney should have been re-issuing its animated classics as part of its campaign to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Kids aren't going to care that The Jungle Book came out in 1967 or that Sleeping Beauty first opened in 1959. Warner Bros. also has plenty of family classics that could have been re-released to celebrate its own 100th anniversary. The beauty of movies is that they are always new if you haven't seen them before, no matter how old they are.

'Just give me one thing that doesn't have cocaine bears'

"As a parent of little kids it would be great if there was literally *any* movie in theaters right now I could take them to," critic Matt Singer wrote. "Like maybe one reason theaters are having a hard time is there are zero films for parents to take their kids to. Just give me one thing that doesn't have cocaine bears or Ghostfaces!"

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