They don't make 'em like they used to! As it's revealed sex scenes have declined since the year 2000, we reveal the very best of Hollywood's steamiest bonkbusters - from a spicy lesbian drama to Basic Instinct
- A look into Hollywood's most erotic bonkbusters - made before the 2000s
- READ MORE: People reveal they've accidentally watched racy thriller Saltburn with their parents over Christmas
Nudity, sexual scenes and - more often than not, psychological turmoil - were once the hallmark traits of an award-winning bonkbuster.
But a recent study has shown that audiences are ditching sultrier selections for 'squeaky clean' content in recent years.
Data shows that the level of explicit content in film has dramatically fallen by almost 40 per cent since 2000, as Hollywood and its increasingly prudish viewers have a fresh reckoning with sex on screen.
The study by data researcher Stephen Follows looked at the 250 highest-grossing movies in the United States for each year since 2000, tracking their sexual content with the help of sources including film database IMDb and the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
In a striking finding, almost half the films released last year featured no sexual content, while the proportion in 2000 was less than a fifth, according to the analysis, which was first published in The Economist.
The biggest decline in sexual content was seen in thriller and action films, with a 70 per cent drop over more than two decades.
By contrast, the number of scenes involving drinking, drugs, violence or foul language remain higher than those featuring sex.
However, some of Hollywood's most renowned movies - blockbusters and cult classics alike - are known for graphic (if not at times controversial) sex scenes and motifs.
From Sharon Stone's infamous leg cross in Basic Instinct to Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar's kiss in Cruel Intentions, sultry moments were rife and many across cinema up until the noughties.
Sometimes they also explored the darker sides of sexual dynamics, including inappropriate age gaps, assault and violence.
Here, FEMAIL looks at the most notorious bonkbusters of all time, including a sex scene so passionate that it had viewers convinced the actors were really making love on camera, and a steamy lesbian drama starring the Breakfast Club actress Ally Sheedy.
BASIC INSTINCT (1992)
Basic Instinct is known for spearing Sharon Stone into the spotlight for her sensational role as Catherine Tramell - a writer and murder suspect who begins a sexual relationship with a detective, played by Michael Douglas.
After Catherine's boyfriend Boz is killed in the middle of a spicy tryst with a mysterious blonde, investigator Nick Curran, who has his own troubled past, zones in on her.
The movie is riddled with erotic motifs - with scenes showing drug-fuelled sex and bondage - that are equal parts scary and sultry, alongside a suspicious plot-twisting 'whodunnit' storyline.
Last summer, Sharon recalled how her life changed in an instant following the release of the thriller, which made her a sex symbol overnight.
Basic Instinct is known for spearing Sharon Stone into the spotlight for her sensational role as Catherine Tramell - a writer and murder suspect who begins a sexual relationship with a detective, played by Michael Douglas
After Catherine's boyfriend Boz is killed in the middle of a spicy tryst with a mysterious blonde, investigator Nick Curran, who has his own troubled past, zones in on her
Following the 1992 film's release, the actress, 66, revealed that she was startled by her newfound fame, which she said caused fans to throw themselves on top of her car when she stopped at a red light.
'On Friday, when that movie came out, that I would be basically a nobody,' she told CNN anchor Chris Wallace in an interview.
'And on Tuesday, I would go to get my eye glasses picked up on Sunset Plaza. And I would come out in my little 325 BMW. And I would stop at the stoplight, and everybody would climb all over my car.'
When the light would turn green and other cars beeped at her to move, she remembered thinking: 'Is it legal to drive, when people are all over the top of your car?'
After Wallace, 76, asked if this was just 'a story' or real, Stone insisted she was telling the truth.
Sharon however has in past also alleging in her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, that she was tricked into the 'the interrogation scene' from Basic Instinct, which showed her uncrossing her legs and briefly exposing herself.
Sharon claimed director Paul Verhoven lied to her and said 'we can't see anything' and told her to remove her underwear because they were 'reflecting the light.'
CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999)
This 90s cult classic, which is a modern retelling of French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses entails the plot of two step-siblings, Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar), to sexually corrupt their fellow classmates in a rich New York Highschool. Reese Witherspoon also features in the main cast.
The controversial film entails a number of taboos - including a plot featuring a love story between a student and a teacher - as life and death hang in balance as the story progresses.
The movie received mixed reviews from critics at the time of its original release, although it was a hit at the box office.
This 90s cult classic, which is a modern retelling of French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses entails the plot of two step-siblings, Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar), to sexually corrupt their fellow classmates in a rich New York Highschool
The movie received mixed reviews from critics at the time of its original release, although it was a hit at the box office
A pair of direct-to-video sequels, neither of which featured members of the first film's cast, were released in 2001 and 2004.
A jukebox musical based on the movie made its debut in 2015 and has been reproduced on several occasions since then.
A television pilot that starred Gellar and served as a sequel to the film was produced in 2016, although the project was ultimately not picked up by any networks.
The actress previously spoke to The New York Times and expressed that she was glad that the pilot was not taken to series.
She recalled: 'On the first day, I was like, "This isn't working." It's just not a network show. And if it is a network show, it's not my Cruel Intentions. So, I was actually grateful.'
DON'T LOOK NOW (1973)
The 1973 film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, was adapted from Daphne du Maurier's supernatural thriller.
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a married couple, John and Laura Baxter, struggling to overcome the death of their young daughter, Christine, who drowned at their English country home.
The majority of the film is set in Venice, where Laura encounters two elderly sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic and in contact with their dead daughter, and John begins seeing what looks like a small child wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.
When Laura returns to England where their son has been hurt in an accident, John imagines he sees her and the sisters as part of a funeral procession.
The 1973 film, directed by Nicolas Roeg, was adapted from Daphne du Maurier's supernatural thriller
He follows the sisters, believing they may have abducted Laura, but he learns that she has been in England all along.
A final glimpse of the figure in the red coat leads him to a deserted palazzo and the realisation that his sightings have been premonitions of a grisly end.
It featured a famously graphic love scene between Christie and Sutherland, which was so passionate that people were convinced the actors were having sex on camera.
But Sutherland has emphatically denied the assertion. In a book called Famous Players: A Tale Of Movies, The Mob, (And Sex), former Variety editor Peter Bart claims he was on the film's set and saw the two stars engaging in real sex.
But Sutherland has said he totally rejects Bart's claim, calling it 'mendacious'. In an email sent to the New York Daily News, he said the claim was: 'Not true. None of it. Not the sex. Not him witnessing it.'
It featured a famously graphic love scene between Christie and Sutherland, which was so passionate that people were convinced the actors were having sex on camera
He added: 'From beginning to end there were four people in that room. No one else. Wires under the locked door led out side and this was twenty years before video monitors.'
The four people he was referring to were himself and Christie, director Nicolas Roeg and cinematographer Anthony Richmond.
Unsurprisingly, it is one of the most notorious 'did they or didn’t they?' moment in movie history.
The stars have always maintained the steaminess was down to good acting and inspired direction in what was an unscripted improvisation.
The film was nominated in seven categories at the 27th British Academy Film Awards - including Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress - with Anthony B. Richmond winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut - starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise - entails the story of a physician who infiltrates a masked orgy after learning his wife considered cheating on him.
It is based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler, and entails the harrowing erotic exploits of one man, with a suspicious undertone of a secret society warning him to stay away.
Other more horrific side plots also entail a man selling his daughter into sexual slavery and murder.
The film was praised for its provocative portrayal of depravity and the psychology of extra-marital affairs.
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972)
A 1972 erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Last Tango in Paris centres around a young Parisian woman (Maria Schneider) who meets a middle-aged American businessman (Marlon Brando) who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
But the movie which grossed a staggering $96million at Box Office carries with it a sordid legacy that saw a teenage Schneider having to partake in a violent sex attack scene that was ultimately revealed to have been unconsensual.
A 1972 erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Last Tango in Paris centres around a young Parisian woman (Maria Schneider) who meets a middle-aged American businessman (Marlon Brando) who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex
At just 19-years-old, Schneider starred alongside a 48-year-old Brando in the film that would go on to spark controversy and outcry from critics and viewers across the globe.
The furore the graphic scene generated was just the beginning of her tumultuous adulthood involving drugs, a stint in an asylum and a battle with cancer that tragically claimed her life at only 58 years of age.
A biopic on tormented Schneider that delves into her harrowing experience on the set of Last Tango in Paris, 'Being Maria', premiered at Cannes this year, reigniting the #MeToo controversy.
RISKY BUSINESS (1983)
This coming-of-age movie, known for its infamous scene where Tom Cruise enthusiastically dances to Old Time Rock 'n' Roll, details a high school student's night of debauchery.
On his wild quest, Tom's character, Joel, sleeps with a prostitute called Lana (played by Rebecca De Mornay) and a series of events leads to him making his parent's house - while they are away on business - a brothel for the night.
The film also famously features a heated sex scene between Joel and Lana on a train in Chicago.
9 1/2 WEEKS (1986)
The film 9½ Weeks, starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, had a huge cultural impact when it was released in 1986, thanks to its steamy sex scenes.
The pair played a couple of strangers who quickly become embroiled in a hot but completely random affair with sado-masochistic overtones.
The original book — which achieved instant notoriety when released in 1978 — was by American journalist Ingeborg Day, writing under the nom de plume Elizabeth McNeill.
The film 9½ Weeks, starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, had a huge cultural impact when it was released in 1986, thanks to its steamy sex scenes
In the novel, which is presented as a memoir, the reader learns that what starts as a one-night stand turns into a sexually submissive relationship which lasts for 9½ weeks.
At the end, the narrator has a mental breakdown.
HIGH ART (1998)
High Art entails the toxic relationship between a 24-year-old female intern and a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, 40.
It stars the Brat Pack's Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell in a romantic, sultry tale that gets darker the more both women get to know each other.
The movie is not only critically revered, but often praised as a mainstream portrayal of an LGBT romance on the screen.
BELLE DE JOUR (1967)
The 1967 film tells the story of housewife Séverine Serizy (played by Catherine Deneuve) who secretly works as a prostitute during the day, while her husband is at work.
The 1967 film tells the story of housewife Séverine Serizy (played by Catherine Deneuve) who secretly works as a prostitute during the day, while her husband is at work
It entails her taboo sexual fantasies, but also looks into more harrowing stories, such as implied childhood abuse.
High thrill crime scenes and murder are also featured.
AND THE BEST SEX SCENE SINCE 2000 GOES TO...
SALTBURN
Full frontal nudity, drug use, and extremely toe-curling sex scenes are not what you'd usually expect in a family Christmas movie.
But that's exactly what thousands of families across the UK have experienced this yuletide, as they gathered round to watch Emerald Fennell's thriller Saltburn last year.
The tale, an exuberant satire on class and privilege, tells the tale of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a boy from an apparently working class Merseyside background who, desperate to fit in with the cool kids in Oxford, befriends another first-year student, the dishy, popular, wealthy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), with whom he soon becomes infatuated.
The tale, an exuberant satire on class and privilege, tells the tale of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a boy from an apparently working class Merseyside background who, desperate to fit in with the cool kids in Oxford, befriends another first-year student, the dishy, popular, wealthy Felix Catton ( Jacob Elordi ), with whom he soon becomes infatuated
Felix takes him home for the summer to his family seat - the eponymous Saltburn - where Oliver meets his family and becomes entwined in their bizarre aristocratic life.
The class commentary and pace won rave reviews, with the show landing on Amazon Prime shortly after being shown in cinemas.
But people have shared their regret at watching the film with their family, as it involves many extremely graphic sexual scenes.
In one stomach-churning scene, Oliver sneaks into the bathroom to perform a vile act after Felix has had a bath, while another scene shows Oliver performing a sex act on Felix's sister Annabel (Sadie Soverall) while she has her period.
And in the most shocking scene, Oliver has sex with grave.
Saltburn was written and directed by Academy Award-winner Emerald Fennell.
Emerald previously wrote and directed Promising Young Woman; she won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominate for Best Director and Best Picture.
