Cinema 'Thriller' Audiences

Audiences Cinema

1)    How many suspense films were released in 2009? How many films were released altogether that year

31 Suspense/ Thriller films were released in 2009 out of 501 films released that year.

2)   Action, animation and comedy account for 52% of Box office in 2009. Why do you think these genres are so popular?

I think these film genres have a large target audience and mass appeal; therefore they attract large audiences which make them have such high percentage of the box office. Moreover animated films are directed towards families, and there are high amounts of family in society, this means there is a lot of potential customers. Comedy and action have mass appeal and target a large audience of the film market, teenagers and young adults are likely have time to watch  movies in their free time therefore they increase the box office percentage of these films.

3)   Why do think Thrillers account for quite a low proportion UK Box office      taking (4%in 2009)?

I think as the majority of people who watch films are children, teenagers and young adults as they have more free time. And at these ages they want more fun, funny, action based films rather than more serious and mature films like Thrillers. Moreover thriller is a niche film type in the sense it only attracts a certain type of viewer, whereas an action film would attract a broader, diverse range of people. Additionally Thriller films usually have a high age restriction (15 and 18 and over) and as many families go to watch films young children and early teenagers cannot go to watch these films, consequently meaning a low proportion of Box office taking because certain groups cannot go to watch these films and they are usual viewers of films.

4)   ‘Genre by fender’ what information is derived about thriller audiences and gender?

Suspense films are aimed at women according to the chart, suspense films tend to be slightly aimed at women. This tells us that many aspects in suspense films are aimed to interest women, for example a woman’s usually a main character in a suspense film. Therefore this could interest women as many films are male dominated.

Moreover comedy films are target at both men and women. This means this film genre has large target audience and this could be another reason why it had a high percentage of box offices in 2009.

5)   Look at the age certificate for 10 of the films. What does this tell you about thriller audiences?

The age certificate for thrillers is generally 15 to 18 and over. This indicates thrillers are aimed at teenagers and adults. Thrillers can involve mature topics like love as shown in romantic thrillers, and can be psychologically challenging this means that people with a mature and knowledgeable understanding are the target audience and as children don’t have these attributes they aren’t included in the film Moreover many thriller films like ‘THE STEPFATHER’ contain adult topics like violence, inevitably violence is a topic which is too mature for a child to fully understand the difference between reality and fiction therefore the age restriction or high age certificate is in place to prevent psychological damage.  Lastly a film that has and age certificate of 15 or 18 and over contains violence, bad language, fear, sexual content, drugs and discrimination, and many thrillers have these themes therefore they have to have a high age certificate.