Here’s one of those nonsensical studies you just have to savour. A right-wing entity named Movieguide claims to have proved that “conservative” films make more money than their pesky, decadent liberal rivals. They have statistics. Movieguide – which sells itself as “the family guide to movies” – produced a 76-page report that sought to back up its extravagant claims.

The compilers studied 91 films that met the conservative criterion and 105 from the (my words) filthy communist cesspit. The family-friendly films chalked up about $59 million a piece, whereas the liberal movies could only manage around $11 million.

“Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness,” Ted Baehr, editor of Movieguide, wrote in his report.

So what standards are they applying? It's an odd one. Hugoand The Artistpass muster, though they're surely politically neutral rather than conservative. Thor, that celebration of heathen values, also gets into the tent, as does the reasonably violent Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. You could argue those. But why is Super 8considered a "liberal" film? It's all very peculiar.

Movieguide considers more than 20 criteria, including violence, sex, revisionist history, political correctness, feminism, environmentalism, and homosexuality. It hardly needs to be said that these are all seen to be bad things. Horrible environmentalism!