Zendaya, wearing a skin-tight dress, shimmies on a dance floor in “Challengers,” a $56 million sports drama that recently hit theaters. “It’s hot in here,” the hip-hop soundtrack intones, as she closes her eyes and runs her hands through her hair, lost in fantasy. “So take off all your clothes.”
The story continues at a motel, where Zendaya, playing a tennis prodigy, begins a ménage à trois with two boys; It ends after they become more interested in each other. The plot continues—to a sensual interaction on the hood of a car, in a dorm room, on the wooden slats of a sauna. There is an erotic consumption of churros.
Detecting trends in cinema is a risky task. But this much can be said for sure: Hollywood is hornier than it has been in years.
“It absolutely feels like the pendulum has swung back toward filmmakers exploring adult relationships and sexuality in their projects,” said Amy Pascal, former president of Sony Pictures and the producing impetus behind “Defiant.” “I welcome you.”
Eroticism used to be common in studio films like “Defiant,” released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. “Burning Bodies,” “Based Instincts,” “Defying Fate,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Sexual Harassment,” “Sex Games,” and “Eyes Wide Shut” are among the many examples from the 1980s and 1990s. However, However, in the 2000s, film companies began to focus on less edgy franchises and animation—genres that could be projected to a global audience and sell merchandise. The studios also wanted to expand to China, where censors do not allow sex scenes. As a result, passion storytelling began to decline on the big screen and moved to premium television.
Sex in mainstream movies “all but disappeared” by 2019, as Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post’s chief film critic, wrote in a column that year. Now, some filmmakers are rebelling.
Awards season brought “Saltburn,” with its titillating/disturbing bathtub scene and Barry Keoghan’s twisty, in-your-face finale. “Poor Creatures” found an insatiable Emma Stone frolicking in a Parisian brothel. Christopher Nolan filmed the first sex scenes in his 35-year career for “Oppenheimer.”
Over the past year, the trickle of sex comedies in theaters has become a relative torrent. “With Everyone But You” found Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell hitting it. “Do Me the Favor” starred Jennifer Lawrence on a mission to give a clumsy student his first time with her. “El Club de las Peleadoras” and “Locas en Apuros” also tried to mix sex with laughter.
This month, Powell will return to theaters in the comedy “Casual Killer,” about an undercover agent who begins an affair with a female suspect, played by Adria Arjona. And “Blink Twice,” a thriller starring Channing Tatum as a mogul who lures women to a private retreat, will be released in August.
The rise may simply be a result of programming. “Defiants” was supposed to come out last year, but was delayed due to union strikes. Its arrival now, sandwiched between “Poor Creatures” and “Chance Killer,” could be creating the false appearance of a turning point in the film industry.
But there are signs that suggest genuine change. One involves intimacy coordinators, or experts who help performers navigate the discomfort of filming sex scenes. Their inclusion on forums became common after the #MeToo movement of the late 2010s. Film producers say stars have become more willing to engage in simulated intimacy as a result.
Young screenwriters and directors also seem to be rediscovering films like “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Nine and a Half Weeks” (1986) and finding inspiration. Some studio executives say filmmakers like Luca Guadagnino, who directed “Defiant,” are interested in exploring changing attitudes about sex — as seen in the rise of Onlyfans and millennials’ unashamed embrace of sexual fluidity. and Generation Z. Perhaps contributing to a degree of sexual liberation: studios have stopped going after China, where moviegoers have turned against Hollywood movies en masse.
