Institutional Research

Introduction

The purpose of this research task is to gather information on the thriller genre and to gain an exceptional knowledge of how much of the film industry the thriller genre has shares of. In this presentation I will include:

1) How many thriller films were released in this period2) How profitable the genre is3) Which films were most successful (and why)4)What are the characteristics of the audience for this genre (age, gender, social class)

Market share statistics 2012

As ‘thriller’ is in the top 5 most successful genres I know that the public like this genre and are willing to spend money in order to see the newest thriller

film. This research has allowed me to feel more confident with the production of my own thriller film coming up as I now know that thriller

films are appreciated and will be well received by my target audience. From this chart I can also infer that this genre is very profitable as the gross for

the year 2012 was $1,521,690,602.

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2012/summary

Most successful films of 2012

The chart on the left shows the 46 most successful titles of the year (out of 52). I can learn that the

top 3 most successful thrillers of 2012 were ‘The Hunger Games’,

‘Taken 2’ and ‘Safe House’. I believe that The Hunger Games was the most successful as the film was a PG which allowed a

wide audience of people to watch it. Additionally it may have been

successful as it would have appealed to both adults and

children through the advertisement of content in the

trailers. The Hunger Games raised $408,010,692 which was nearly

$300,000,000 more than Taken 2 did in 2nd place.

Market share of each genre- 2013

In 2013 thriller/suspense was recorded as the 5th most popular genre of film holding 11.94% of the market; this tells me that the popularity of the genre has neither risen

or declined. However I can see that the positions of 1st, 2nd and 4th have changed dramatically, for example in 2012 adventure held the highest market share whereas in 2013 action had taken its place putting adventure in 3rd position. Additionally we can

tell that drama’s market share decreased in 2013 as it slipped from 3rd to 4th. I can infer from the two market share charts that comedy has stayed equally as popular as

it has remained in 2nd place. The profitability of this genre decreased from being $1,521,690,602 in 2012 to being $1,021,223,072 in 2013. This gives me the

impression that less people are spending money on thriller films.

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2013/summary

Most successful thriller films of 2013

This is the list of the top 46 thriller films that have been released in 2013. For example I can see that the most successful thriller film was ‘Gravity’ producing a massive gross of $174,919,886. In total 64 thriller films will have been released this year with 3 of the 64 still to come. I believe that more thriller films were made in 2013 due to the hope that the thriller genre may expand and therefore grow their market shares resulting in more profit for the institutions.

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2013/genre/Thriller-or-Suspense

Characteristics of the target audience- age

From my research I would suggest that the majority of people that watch thriller films are aged between 15 and 24. For example 54% of

Taken 2 viewers were aged between 15-24, The Hunger Games = 47%, The Dark Knight Rises = 43% and The Woman In black = 42%.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/statisticalyearbook2013

Characteristics of the target audience- social classes

Additionally I noticed that the social class who prefer thrillers is demographic group C2, I think this is because going to the cinema or buying the DVD is classed as a luxury and is socially acceptable.

The language used within thrillers may also appeal to the C2 audience as they will understand the dialogue used and therefore may be able to relate to the characters which is subsequently an

audience pleasure.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/statisticalyearbook2013

Characteristics of the target audience- gender

Lastly statistics show that the majority of the thriller audience are male. For instance 55% of all viewers for Skyfall were men, and 64% for The Dark Knight Rises. However Woman In Black only had 44% being men and 56% being women.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/statisticalyearbook2013