BFI Research

For my task, I did some research into the film industry to help me understand what audiences want and how the film industry works.
First I looked into the box office report of 31st Oct-2nd November as this the was the Halloween weekend so I can look at the horror movies.

What I found most surprising was that the most gossing film that weekend was a none-horror genre, however, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has a large following. The majority of the films featured are also action/adventure films, which shows what the majority audience may want to see. Action/adventure is a genre in which escapism is easy and the films are mostly enjoyable to watch.
The horror films featured are Ouija, Annabelle and The Babadook. Although Ouija looks to be of the horror genre, IMDb categorises it as a Thriller/Adventure. This could suggest why it's so highly ranked, as thriller and adventure are popular in the box office. The film was given very low ratings, however, I think the reason it was ranked high was because of its low age restriction. This allowed younger audiences to enjoy horror in the cinema and less people are likely to illegally stream it because they are too young to see it in the cinema. The film has a young cast also, so it will be more appealing to younger audiences who may use the cinema as a social outing.
Annabelle had a slightly higher rating of 5.7/10 from IMDb, however, it's views will have mostly been gained from the past connecting film, The Conjuring, which was also highly viewed.

Surprisingly, The Babadook, with a higher rating, was the lowest ranking. My first thought was if it was a higher age restriction but it is a 15, just like Ouija and Annabelle. Another reason may be because the distributor is lesser known than Universal and Warner Brothers. It also seems more independently made and may not cater towards the mainstream viewers. This is what my group plans to aim for, a less mainstream feel. The fact that the top ranking horror films are 15 suggests that some people may want to see a film that is family friendly, with less gore and sexual themes.
Overall I have learnt how well some films have done recently and possibly why. This helps me to understand what our audience is and what they will want to see.