Task 2: Audience and Exhibition

Top Grossing Films of 2015

1: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Production Company:

• Lucasfilms Ltd.
• Bad Robot Productions  

Gross: $851 millionGenre: Action, Blockbuster
Venues: Saturation

Release Date: 17th December
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Blockbuster

2: Jurassic World
 Production Company:

• Ambling Entertainment
• Legendary Pictures

Gross: $652 million
Release Date: 11th June
Venues: Saturation
Genre: Blockbuster, Sci-Fi

3: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Production Company:

• Marvel Studios 

Gross: $459 million
Release Date: 23rd April
Venues: Saturation
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Blockbuster

4: Inside Out
Production Company:

• Walt Disney Pictures
• Pixar Animation Studios

Gross: $356 million
Release Date: 24th July
Venues: Saturation
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

5: Fast & Furious 7
Production Company:

• Relativity Media

Gross: $350 million
Release Date: 3rd April
Venues: Saturation
Genre: Action, Crime, Blockbuster

What kinds of films are they?
All of these films fall under the heading of blockbusters.
Blockbuster: a thing of great power or size, in particular a film, book, or other product that is a great commercial success. They were extremely successful because they are easy viewing and they are more widely accessible than some of the other great films that came out in 2015.

How many are sequels?
4 out of 5 of the top five highest grossing films are sequels. This could be one of the main reasons contributing to their success because the original films or first instalments generated such a huge audience meaning that their sequels were already guaranteed to attract a large audience.

     

How many are blockbusters aimed at a younger audience?
Inside Out is primarily targeted towards children but managed to appeal to all. Star Wars, Fast & Furious 7, Jurassic World and Avengers are all targeted to the same kind of audience.  All are sequels and so had already generated an audience that would pay to see the sequels.

How many were produced by the Big Six?
One of these films was produced by a big six company but all of them, if not produced, were distributed by one of the big six production companies that include: Walt Disney Pictures (Inside Out, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Entertainment, Universal Pictures (Jurassic World, Fast and Furious 7) and Warner Bros. Pictures. 

How many different formats are there? Name them.
IMAX, IMAX 3D, Real 3D, Regular.

What kinds of films seem to be missing?
There are no real romance films featured in the top five as the majority are blockbuster/action films.

Predicted top films of 2015 - were they right?

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Spectre
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2
5. Inside Out

What were the Oscar nominations 2015? What are the producers and what were the release dates?

Best Picture

“American Sniper” Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan

• Release Date: 16th January 2015

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole

• Release Date: 14th November 2014

“Boyhood” Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland

• Release Date: 15th August 2014

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers

• Release Date: 28th March 2014

“The Imitation Game” Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzian

• Release Date: 25th December 2014

“Selma” Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner

• Release Date: 9th January 2015

“The Theory of Everything” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten

• Release Date: 26th November 2014

“Whiplash” Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster

• Release Date: 16th January 2015   

Top 10 Predicted Highest-Grossing Films of 2016

1. Captain America: Civil War ($1.3 billion) 
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($890 million) 
3. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice ($865 million)
4. Finding Dory ($836 million)
5. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them ($720 million)
6. Independence Day: Resurgence ($654 million)
7. X-Men Apocalypse ($630 million)
8. Suicide Squad ($535 million)
9. Star Trek Beyond ($496 million)
10. Alice Through The Looking Glass ($488 million)

Who are the target audiences for these?

A lot of these films are again sequels (Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, X-Men Apocalypse etc) and so have already generated an audience which will pay to see the follow up film. Some of them are primarily targeted towards children like Finding Dory and Alice Through The Looking Glass but Sci-Fi/Superhero films clearly appear to dominate the top ten as there are 7 that fall into this category. 

Task 1: Cinema Going Habits

This is my survey on Cinema Going Habits:

 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8PFVKDF 

 

From analysing the results of this survey I have found that there are key factors that make people want to go to the cinema. Surprisingly, the cast is an important factor when attracting an audience as people will often go to the movies to watch a specific actor or actress. The most common names that appeared in my survey answers were: Jennifer Lawrence, Zac Efron and Justin Timberlake.

Furthermore, my survey has also shown how popular watching movies at home is as opposed to going to the cinema. 66.67% of people who took the survey prefer watching movies at home than at the cinema.

Lastly, I found that when marketing a film, trailers are the most effective in attracting an audience to go and watch a film. Including marketing strategies such as YouTube Pop-ups, Bus and Street marketing and Social Media, trailers were found to be the most popular and most effective with 75% of people saying that they personally hear about films via trailers on TV or the internet.