"Adventure" is the most popular movie genre overall.
by Dori Gray
Introduction
"We come to this place for magic," an Australian accent softly declares. Nicole Kidman's Michael Kors Collection pinstripe jumpsuit glimmers in the reflection of theater lights as she tells moviegoers why heartbreak feels better in front of a silver screen. The impassioned AMC Theatres advertisement is so popular it earned an "SNL" parody, but movie theaters indeed offer an inimitable viewing experience.
"Seeing a movie in a theater makes a difference, and not just for the obvious reasons (picture quality, sound, the absence of the distractions of home viewing)," Ben Kenigsberg, a film critic, said in The New York Times. "At their best, movies are also a social activity."
Molly Ryan is the director of Cornell University's Cornell Cinema and has a master’s in film studies from the University of St Andrews. She also pointed out the distraction-free and community aspects of movie theaters.
In addition, “film is an art form, and it's designed to be experienced in a particular way,” she said. “Theaters like Cornell Cinema have the technology to transmit this art form in the way that its creators intended.”
“Oppenheimer,” which was released domestically July 21, 2023, is an example of a modern movie that openly offered a different viewing experience in theaters. According to The Numbers, a movie business resource owned by Nash Information Services, the film earned $326,062,130 in the domestic box office, making it #6 out of the top 100 rated-R movies. Christopher Nolan, the film's illustrious writer and director, was outspoken about making "Oppenheimer" specifically to be seen in IMAX 70-millimeter. ("The sharpness and the clarity and the depth of the image is unparalleled," Nolan said in an interview with The Associated Press.) Fans worldwide traveled to the 30 IMAX 70-millimeter screens hosting the film to see it in its intended format.
Recent data from The Numbers gives new insight into not only the popularity of domestic (U.S. and Canada) movie theaters in a streaming age, but also the genres of movies Hollywood is selling and viewers are buying.
Adventure Movies Reign Supreme
The Numbers's records show that, using data from 1995 to 2023, "adventure" is the most popular genre for theatergoers in the U.S. and Canada. To determine this, the number of movies released, the total amount of money made at the box office, the number of tickets sold, and the market share percentage per genre during this time are taken into account.
An unclear definition of "adventure" proved to be a limitation of this data. (“What counts as an adventure movie?” Ryan asked.) According to The Numbers, both the live-action "The Little Mermaid" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" are in the same genre: adventure. Disney officially classifies its under-the-sea hit as "Fantasy, Kids, Musical, Romance," for comparison.
People also commonly think of "adventure" and "action" as genres that go hand-in-hand, but The Numbers has the two listed separately.
"The adventure genre is so similar to the action genre that the billing for adventure films is sometimes action/adventure movies," a MasterClass story states. "Films in the adventure genre usually contain the same basic genre elements as an action movie, with the setting as the critical difference." Merriam-Webster defines action-adventure movies as those "featuring characters involved in exciting and usually dangerous activities and adventures."
This begs the question of how The Numbers decides which genre to sort a film into if its self-defined genre is action-adventure.
2023: A Significant Year for the Film Industry
A lot happened in the early 2020s regarding movie theaters. Mandated closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic affected revenue. In 2020, films started receiving simultaneous releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. Highly anticipated movies like "Black Widow" postponed their premieres, and the year's total domestic box office gross was $1,986,571,369, according to The Numbers. The year 2021 saw a significant increase in theater attendance with a total domestic box office gross of $4,514,125,766, but it was still down from pre-pandemic 2019. A 2022 report saw that frequent moviegoers in the U.S. had returned to the movie theaters, but the numbers for infrequent attendees were still lacking. Nevertheless, the total gross raised to $7,425,395,659.
Ryan said Cornell Cinema has been seeing a “steady return” in its audience numbers.
“One of the things I’ve been trying to be intentional about in our programming over the past year,” Ryan said, “is just incentivizing people to get back into the habit of going to see a film in the cinema and rebuilding that as part of your social and cultural life.”
As Cornell Cinema prioritizes “educating audiences on … the complex history of film as an art form,” Ryan shared that the cinema’s offerings of experiences include silent films with live musical accompaniment and 35-millimeter film prints. “So, sort of creating the opportunity to see film on film, as it was designed to be,” she said.
Though 2023 has not officially ended, it has certainly been a doozy for the film industry. A kaleidoscope of deliberately vague yet on-theme talking points that impacted the year's box office results: Barbenheimer, Scabby the Rat, "She's everything," delays, friendship bracelets, and silver monochrome. Thus far, 2023's total domestic box office gross is $8,496,685,442.
The Rise, Fall, and Pending Redemption of Rom-Coms
After experiencing a heartbreaking lull, there was much discussion in the media as to whether or not the "rom-com" movie genre was returning in 2023. In February, Sam Hart wrote for Reuters that "a Reuters analysis of the top-grossing U.S. films found that far fewer romantic comedies are becoming box office hits" and "movie-goers have been losing interest in rom-coms since the early 2000s." However, Louis Staples wrote for BBC that "romantic comedies are enjoying a mainstream renaissance."
Data from The Numbers shows that the number of romantic comedies released yearly in the domestic market has decreased since 1995. The year 2007 had the most rom-coms in release at 35 movies (1999, 2004, and 2011 were in second place with 34). The count halved itself from 2016 to 2017 and has remained consistently lower since. However, 2022 and 2023's 11 and 12 films, respectively, show a steadily rising number since 2021's record low of 7 romantic comedies. Fittingly, 2023's top-grossing romantic comedy was a continuation of a rom-com franchise that began in 2002, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3." There is hope for the genre — and hopeless romantics who like to giggle.
Curiouser and Curiouser
One interesting limitation encountered was The Numbers's changing data. When occasionally returning to the website to confirm previously obtained information, twice it was found that a movie genre's total count of movies released had lowered, and neither an explanation nor a correction statement was readily available on the website. Perhaps this was due to the nature of live reporting. A film may have redefined its genre or misreported its earnings. The Numbers website states that it "talk[s] to the studios every day about their changing plans" and that it's "the company the studios send their numbers to, and we're the first to publish daily, weekend, and weekly numbers."
Another limitation of the data source is, as previously mentioned, not knowing the thought process behind genre classifications. It often doesn't align with the choices of other film-focused sites. For example, "The Lost City," a 2022 release starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, is "adventure," according to The Numbers, while Rotten Tomatoes categorizes it as "romance/comedy."