COLLEGE PARK, Maryland — “Hidden Figures” has a chance to do something this weekend that no PG-rated film has done in nearly three decades: win an Oscar for best picture.
The film, which tells the story of three African-American women who performed critical calculations for NASA’s push to put a man in space, would break the 27-year run of an R-rated or PG-13-rated movie taking home the top prize. The last PG-rated winner, in 1989, was “Driving Miss Daisy,” starring Morgan Freeman.
Over the last 50 years, Oscar voters have switched from disproportionately rewarding family-friendly films to favoring explicit movies. In the 1970s and 1980s, half of best picture winners were PG-rated, a Capital News Service analysis found. And in the 1960s, half of best picture winners were G-rated, while only one — “Midnight Cowboy” — was R-rated. The last G-rated best picture winner: “Oliver!” in 1968.