Audience research

Secondary research-

For this research task we were told to follow this link http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=superhero.htm and look at the top 15 superhero films before evaluating 5 of them as to why an audience would find them attractive and why they are successful.

Batman The Dark Knight.

      For me The Dark Knight was the most exciting, action packed film of it's year and overall it had largest domestic total gross of $533,345,358. Many critics have tried to explain why the film was so successful, some say it was Heath Ledgers astonishing performance of the Joker, and some say it was because it was Heath Ledgers last performance (which it wasn't). In my opinion, it's simple. The Dark Knight was successful in attracting its audience by immersing them into the city of Gotham, a world where every convention of a superhero movie is available. Firstly, the film was successful through its characters. Every fan of superhero movies loves a villian, and especially one that is cool and funny yet so unpredictable and irrational that its scary. The Joker gives the film a much darker shadow, different to that of the other Batman's, and ultimately gives the film a much more tense feel. Heath Ledger, for me, gave such a powerful and realistic performance of the villian that it transported the audience into the city of Gotham and 'glued' them to their seats.
         The Superhero genre is mainly aimed at teenagers, particularly males. This films is successful in attracting this audience through its many action packed scenes, such as the bank robbery at the very beginning and the hospital blowing up near to the end. Teenagers love a good action packed film with a number of exciting storylines and this film offers it all, from the kidnapping and love story and Rachael to the action full fight scenes between The Joker and Batman. The film also sticks to the comic as it includes typical features such as the Batmobile. This means that it is successful in attracting comic book fans and fans of DC.
         For a film to be successful it needs big named stars, these are extremely helpful in selling a film as the audience look out for their next film. The Dark Knight includes actors such as Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, all of which are well known actors that have starred in a variety of successful films. Another factor to the success of Batman is its distributor, Warner Bros. WB are a well known distributing compnay for films such as the overly successive Harry Potter, The Matrix, The Hangover, Superman 3 and many many more. If the distributor is big and well known more people are likely to go and see their films. Speaking of which, Batman was released in 4,366 cinemas worldwide and meant that an unbelievable amount of people had access to go and the film.

Hancock

      Hancock is a completely different Superhero film to those of Batman, Superman and Spiderman etc. Firstly he doesn't have a typical superhero name, its just his everyday name 'Hancock'. I found the film very entertaining and funny but it takes you on somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster. At the beginning, your introduced to Hancock as a drunken hobo with no respect for society, yet his comical attributes and hilarious stunts make his quite a likeable character. The film is obviously again aimed at teenagers but its light hearted humour makes it attractive to both males and females. The film was successful in attracting its audience for many reasons, firstly its humour but also its interesting storyline. Hancock thinks that he is the only one of his kind and is hated by society for his chaotic antics, but one man comes up with a plan to change this after Hancock saves his life on a railroad crossing. The storyline doesn't stop at that though, Hancock realizes he isn't the only one of his kind and this unfolds an interesting love story. This is attractive to its audience as it follows most of the typical conventions, a love story, superpowers, and binary oppostions between him and his lover and the bank robbers at the end.
    Hancock is played by the globally known Will Smith, well known for his roles in Men in Black, Fresh prince of Belair and series of other successful films and programmes. Will Smith is almost like a brand, people look out for his next film and are never dissapointed. This was another reason for the success of the film. Also the film had a 150 million dollar budget, this meant a number of special effects and action packed scenes were created. Special effects are succesful in attracting the audience because they make scenes more exciting and thrilling, something which teenagers thrive off.

Iron man
      

Promotional poster

           The third film, ranking at 5th in the top films, was also very successful for a number of reason. Similar to Batman and Hancock, Iron man had a large budget of $140 million. This amount of money allowed the director to hire better well known actors, include a variety of special effects, different locations and the all important iron man costume. I believe the target audience for this film is teenagers, both genders perhaps. If so then the film is extremely successful in reaching out to them. With a number of explosive special effects and the amazing full body costume of Iron man, equiped with a variety of weapons, the film is not to be missed. The film is also successful, like batman, because of its distibutor. Paramount are also a well known successful distribution company and this meant that more people would have payed to see the film and expect something spectacular. And they wouldn't be let down due to the star studded cast including Robert Downy Jr and the sexy Gwyneth Paltrow. Stars play a huge part in attracting audiences to a film and creating a profit, Robert Downey Jr (known for films such as Due Date and Sherlock Holmes) is well known and liked and therefore people look out for his next film. In the creation of every film, the key to attracting an audience is advertising. Iron man produced posters, trailers, magazine articles and the cast were interviewed on a number of daytime television programmes. This meant that the audience could get a glimpse of the film before they went to see it and ultimately sold it to them.

X-men The last stand & X-men United

         For the last two films i have chosen X-men The last stand and X-men United. The last stand earned just over $230,000,000 and United just under that amount, this total gross immediately shows us just how successful these two films were and with the variety of powers and typical superhero conventions it is clear to see why. X-men offers its audience to be transported into a world where superpowers are real, something every teenagers dreams of, and these powers are both interesting and exciting! Stars such as Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry give astonishing performances of their characters and this is effective in making the audience become emotionally attatched to them. This attatchment is key in bringing the audience back for more, thus making the films a success! Marvel fans of any age and gender are the target audience for these films and I believe that they are attracted to the film as it sticks to the original storylines, characters, costumes and powers.