\n<\/p>\n
Zendaya, clad in a skintight dress, gyrates on a dance floor in \u201cChallengers<\/a>,\u201d a $56 million sports drama that arrived in multiplexes on Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s getting hot in here,\u201d the hip-hop soundtrack intones, as she closes her eyes and runs her hands through her hair, lost in fantasy. \u201cSo take off all your clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n The story continues at a motel, where Zendaya, playing a tennis prodigy, begins a m\u00e9nage \u00e0 trois with two guys; it fizzles after they become more interested in each other. The plot moves on \u2014 to sultry interplay on the hood of a car, in a dorm room, in the back seat of a car, on the wooden slats of a sauna. There is erotic churro eating.<\/p>\n \u201cSex is back!\u201d shouted an apparently elated man at the conclusion of a prerelease \u201cChallengers\u201d screening in West Hollywood, Calif., this month.<\/p>\n Trend spotting in cinema is a hazardous pursuit. Think about how many times the rom-com has been declared dead \u2014 and alive \u2014 and dead. (No, wait, alive.) But this much can be said with surety: Hollywood is hornier than it has been in years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt absolutely feels like the pendulum has swung back toward filmmakers exploring adult relationships and sexuality in their projects,\u201d said Amy Pascal, the former chairwoman of Sony Pictures and producing force behind \u201cChallengers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI welcome that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Eroticism used to be common in studio movies like \u201cChallengers,\u201d which was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. \u201cBody Heat,\u201d \u201cBasic Instinct,\u201d \u201cAn Officer and a Gentleman,\u201d \u201cFatal Attraction,\u201d \u201cDisclosure,\u201d \u201cCruel Intentions\u201d and \u201cEyes Wide Shut\u201d are among the many examples from the 1980s and \u201990s.<\/p>\n In the 2000s, however, film companies started to obsessively focus on PG-13 franchises and animation \u2014 genres that could play to a global audience and sell merchandise. Studios also wanted to expand into China, where censors do not allow sex scenes. As a result, steamy storytelling began to dwindle on the big screen (except at art house theaters). Premium television picked up the slack.<\/p>\n Sex in mainstream movies was \u201cpretty much gone<\/a>\u201d by 2019, as Ann Hornaday, chief film critic for The Washington Post, wrote in a column that year. A few months later, Kate Hagen, writing in Playboy magazine, found that only about 1.2 percent of films released between 2010 and 2020 contained an overt sex scene, the lowest decade total since the 1960s. (It peaked in the 1990s. Coincidentally or not, that was the decade when pornography started to become available online.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Now, some filmmakers are pushing back.<\/p>\n Awards season brought \u201cSaltburn,\u201d with its arousing-disturbing bathtub scene and Barry Keoghan\u2019s twirling, full-frontal finale. \u201cPoor Things\u201d found an insatiable Emma Stone romping through a Paris brothel. Christopher Nolan filmed the first sex scenes of his 35-year career for \u201cOppenheimer.\u201d (\u201cMore interested in the joys of sex than any recent season I can remember,\u201d as Kyle Buchanan, awards columnist for The New York Times, described the crop of contenders in February<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Over the past year, the trickle of R-rated sex comedies in theaters turned into a relative torrent. \u201cAnyone but You\u201d found Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell going at it. \u201cNo Hard Feelings\u201d starred Jennifer Lawrence as a kinda-sorta prostitute<\/a> on a mission to deflower an awkward student. The libidinous \u201cBottoms,\u201d \u201cBack on the Strip\u201d and \u201cJoy Ride\u201d also tried mixing sex with laughs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In late May, Mr. Powell will return to theaters in the comedic \u201cHit Man<\/a>,\u201d about an undercover agent who begins a smoking-hot affair with a suspect, played by Adria Arjona. In addition to acting in the R-rated film, he co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Linklater and served as a producer. (It will arrive on Netflix in June.)<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Body Heat\u2019 was one of the inspirations,\u201d Mr. Powell said in January, when \u201cHit Man\u201d debuted to rave reviews<\/a> at the Sundance Film Festival. \u201cThere aren\u2019t many sex scenes in movies anymore, and certainly not many that are done well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He continued, \u201c\u2018Body Heat\u2019 has a lot of foreplay, which is one reason it feels so intense \u2014 steamy, carnal.\u201d (\u201cBody Heat,\u201d released in 1981, starred Kathleen Turner as a wealthy woman who plots the murder of her husband while having a torrid affair with a sleazy lawyer, played by William Hurt.)<\/p>\n The multiplex lineup for this summer includes \u201cDeadpool & Wolverine,\u201d from Disney-owned Marvel Studios; a trailer included a joke about an intimate act involving a sex toy. (The activity \u201cisn\u2019t new for me,\u201d Ryan Reynolds jokes as the mischievous Deadpool, \u201cbut it is for Disney.\u201d) \u201cBlink Twice,\u201d a twisted thriller starring Channing Tatum as a mogul who lures women to a private retreat, is scheduled for release in August. <\/p>\n The upturn may simply be a scheduling quirk. \u201cChallengers\u201d was supposed to come out last year, but it was delayed because of union strikes. Its arrival now \u2014 sandwiched between \u201cPoor Things\u201d and \u201cHit Man\u201d \u2014 could be creating the false appearance of a film industry turn.<\/p>\n But there are signs that suggest a genuine shift. One involves intimacy coordinators<\/a>, or experts who help performers navigate the awkwardness of filming sex scenes. Their inclusion on sets, once a rarity, became common after the #MeToo movement of the late 2010s. Film producers say stars have become more willing to participate in simulated intimacy as a result.<\/p>\n Young screenwriters and directors also seem to be rediscovering movies like \u201cAmerican Gigolo\u201d (1980) and \u201c9\u00bd Weeks\u201d (1986) and drawing inspiration. Some studio executives say filmmakers like Luca Guadagnino, who directed \u201cChallengers,\u201d are interested in exploring changing attitudes about sex \u2014 as seen in the rise of OnlyFans and the shame-free embrace of sexual fluidity by younger millennials and Gen Z. (One counterpoint: In a study last year by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles, about 52 percent of respondents ages 13 to 24 said they wanted movies and TV shows to focus more on friendships and platonic relationships<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps contributing a degree of sexual liberation: Studios have stopped chasing China, where ticket buyers have turned against Hollywood movies en masse<\/a>.<\/p>\n So far, results at the box office have been mixed. \u201cAnyone but You,\u201d made by Sony for $25 million, collected a hefty $219 million this year, while \u201cPoor Things,\u201d which cost Searchlight Pictures $35 million, took in a solid $117 million. Other attempts (\u201cJoy Ride,\u201d \u201cNo Hard Feelings\u201d) have disappointed or fizzled entirely.<\/p>\n Reviews for \u201cChallengers\u201d have been extremely positive. Box office analysts expect it to collect roughly $15 million in its debut weekend in the United States and Canada, where it is playing in 3,400 theaters, enough for No. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n