From a story in the New York Times about the box-office success of several recent movies starring middle-aged women:
In 1995, the percentage of women 18 or older who went to
the movies at least once a month peaked at 27 percent,
according to the National Association of Theater Owners.
But in the late 1990’s, that percentage declined as
Hollywood delivered a string of female-oriented box-office
disasters with predictable plots. Studios then began making
more action films for teenage boys who see them in groups
over and over.
Teenagers remain the largest segment of the audience,
primarily because they are repeat customers. But in the
past 15 years, the older set has gained ground. Tickets
bought by men and women older than 40 grew to 32 percent of
overall ticket purchases in 2002, from 20 percent in 1987,
according to the National Association of Theater Owners.
By contrast, the percentage of tickets purchased by
filmgoers from 12 to 39 years old dropped from 80 percent
in 1987 to 67 percent in 2002. Much of that decline, studio
executives say, is a result of new distractions, like video
games and the Internet.
So could it be that I was wrong to predict, as I did in this space last month, that “the adventurous indie flicks of the not-so-distant future will find their audiences not in theatrical release, but via such new-media distribution routes as direct-to-DVD and on-demand digital cable”? Possibly. Nevertheless, I still think it more likely that we’re headed for a two-track system of distribution: dumb movies will be released in theaters, while smart movies will be marketed like books. The only difference is that the preferences of older boomers, who are presumably less open to new media, might well be interacting with the more media-savvy preferences of teenagers and twentysomethings to create a temporary demographic skew. We’ll see.
All of which reminds me to plug a new blog I find morbidly fascinating, Boomer Deathwatch (motto: “Because one day, they’ll all be dead”), which links to news stories and commentaries about boomer/Gen-X intergenerational strife. Very smart, very funny, very unnerving, at least for those of us born prior to 1960. Yikes!