Audience Research By Haroon Patel

Title of film Lifetime Gross Distributor

The Dark Knight $533,345,358 Warner Bros.

Spider-Man $403,706,375 Sony

Iron Man $318,412,101 Paramount

The Incredibles $261,441,092 Buena Vista

X-Men: The Last Stand $234,362,462 Fox

The audience for a typical superhero film are predominantly males, aged 12-25. The main reason why I think these films are so popular is that a lot of these movies have been transferred from very popular comic books from Marvel & DC. Therefore, one interest the audience may have would be comic books. Another interest the audience may have could be a lot of action, explosions and the thrill of constantly being on the edge of their seat.

‘The Dark Knight’ is more of a darker and serious film than other superhero films, such as ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Incredibles’. This means the audience for ‘The Dark Knight’ would be a bit more older, presumably for 15-30 year olds, looking for a more serious storyline & deeper action sequences. Consequently, the comic and light hearted elements in ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Iron Man’ would attract an audience of a slightly younger age, such as 12-25 year olds. However, ‘The Incredibles’ is an CG superhero film, meaning the audience’s age would be significantly lower than the other films (about 7-15 year olds), and the audience’s main interest would be animated films .

Upcoming releases

Title of film Demographic factors Psychographic factors

The Avengers 12-25 year olds Predominantly males

Read Marvel comics Like action/explosions

The Amazing Spider-Man 12-20 year olds Predominantly males

Interested in 3D Read Marvel comics Seen other Spider-Man films

The Dark Knight Rises 15-30 year olds Predominantly males

Seen ‘The Dark Knight’ Read DC comics Like dark storylines

Why the upcoming releases will be successful in finding audiences

• ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ has a huge advantage as it’s the sequel of the highest grossing superhero film, ‘The Dark Knight’. The film has also changed the way moviegoers view superhero movies. In addition, it features the return of Christian Bale as Batman & the same director, Christopher Nolan; the same main actor & director from ‘The Dark Knight’.

• ‘The Avengers’ is predicted to be a great success as it combines six different characters from previous summer blockbusters into one large scale epic movie which has been planned for years. Additionally, ‘The Avengers’ is one of the first superhero movies out in the summer, creating a buzz. Another huge selling point for the film is the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, which helped the two ‘Iron Man’ movies gross $300 million.

• ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is predicted to bring in a fresh, new audience by rebooting the franchise. Sony did a big global event in March to get the world out there what people can expect from the movie as well as ramping up their viral campaigns. Furthermore, if the word-of-mouth is good, it should be able to bring in a lot of people to see it.

Why superhero films are successful I believe there are many factors to why superhero films are so successful:

1. Escapism – superhero films are specifically designed to entertain. They do this by limitless action, excitement and stunts, immersing the audience into another world. Watching a superhero film is a great way to relax and escape any stress.

2. Star actors – I believe that this is the main reason most superhero films are as successful as they are. This is because it creates a buzz and excitement for the audience to see their favourite actor on the big screen. Star actors include Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr & Scarlett Johansson.

3. Star directors, such as Christopher Nolan, can also boost customer awareness and increase the range of the audience as they may have done a variety of films which have been very successful. For example, Christopher Nolan has directed many successful films, such as ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’ & ‘Inception’.

Enjoy!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPoHPNeU9fc – This is the ‘Avengers’ official movie trailer.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBaRl8JIP0g – This is the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ official teaser trailer.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8 – This is the ‘Dark Knight Rises’ official movie trailer.

What we like about the superhero genre, it’s storylines and characters

This data was collected from a group of a variety of ages and gender. They responded:

• “The development of the characters and their powers is interesting”. For example, my mum said that watching Peter Parker in ‘Spider-Man’ was intriguing as it showed him maturing from a shy teenager to a superhero.

• “Very clear-cut story (good vs. evil)”. For instance, my brother said he liked the fact that ‘X-Men’ was purely the X-Men vs. the Brotherhood.

• “Out of the ordinary story, not normal”

• “Exciting effects” – my mum and brother both said that ‘The Dark Knight’ visuals gripped them and constantly kept them on the edge of their seats.

What we dislike about the superhero genre, it’s storylines and characters

• “Can be repetitious”

• “Sometimes it’s too unrealistic and fake”

• “Can be too simplistic at times”

• “I don’t like the romantic aspect in some superhero films”. My brother believed that the love story in ‘Spider-Man’ wasn’t necessary.