# Why are movies geared mostly to 18-25 year olds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145 "2009-04-23T20:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/21 "2009-04-24T13:37:08Z")
> [@AdmiralCrunch](#): > > Maybe because they don’t have to hire a babysitter to go out, like many 26-45 year olds? Or they don’t have to be at work in the morning? > > And all this talk about how 18-25 year olds have poor choice in movies is garbage. Every age group has terrible taste in movies, it’s just that a larger percentage of young people actually go to the movies, rather than the subset of older people who enjoy quality cinema. This is very true. I mean, somebody’s watching the old-lady romances Robert Redford does these days, and it isn’t high schoolers. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/22 "2009-04-24T13:46:59Z")
The kids are the largest easy money demo and there’s a weird marketing mentality that says for _everything_ (not just movies) you go after them. Companies would rather have a 20% share of a large market than an 40% share of a smaller market even if the latter actually adds up to more money. In the case of movies, look at the canonical example of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. Made for around $5M and made over $240M domestic. Throw in overseas and DVD and that’s one huge pile of dough. It was tremendously succesful for its genre but _was never number one at the box office._ A normal person looking at that says “Let’s make more of those.” But media marketing people just don’t think that way. Time for another comic book adaptation or a generic horror film of the week. A more recent example “Fireproof” with Kirk Cameron. $500K budget and $33M box office. Huge ROI. Should we expect a rush of Christian-based family films? Not a chance. Everyone’s egos are wrapped up in winning the big demo. Logic and sound financial investing are immaterial. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/23 "2009-04-24T14:54:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The kids are the largest easy money demo and there’s a weird marketing mentality that says for _everything_ (not just movies) you go after them. Companies would rather have a 20% share of a large market than an 40% share of a smaller market even if the latter actually adds up to more money. > […] > Everyone’s egos are wrapped up in winning the big demo. Logic and sound financial investing are immaterial. You about have it here, I think. Ego gets people to the top when logic and soundness are not wanted. Bringing them in would change the game too much. Another reason for the big-demo focus: it encourages formulaic thinking. Formulaic thinking is good for media people’s careers, because even when it doesn’t work out, _you are not alone._ You’re just doing things the way they’re done. You don’t challenge the prevailing wisdom. You harmonize with the egos. You seem like a good bet. If you screw up, you’re more likely to be forgiven. If you screw up - or even succeed modestly - with something that goes _against_ prevailing wisdom and can’t be easily formulized, you rile up egos. You make others uncomfortable and confused, even if they admire what you’ve done. You’ll pay for that. There’s even a bit of rationale here: anything successful that is _not_ formula is a one-shot and a fluke. It can’t even be imitated, let alone allowed to break paradigms. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/24 "2009-04-24T15:02:53Z")
There are plenty of films being made for folks over 25, but we’re talking about the theater business here, not the movie business. The theater-going experience is indeed targeted at the younger demographic, because that’s where the money is. They obviously don’t mind alienating older customers, and I think they’ll eventually lost that audience completely. It’s not hard to find good films. I watched “Doubt” on DVD last night with my wife, “Slumdog Millionaire” the night before. I’m 40 years old, an avid film buff, and I keep a log of what movies I watch. Last year I saw 146 films and went to the theater just 4 times. By the time I get tickets for me and my wife, plus popcorn and a drink, it’s a $35 night. Then I have to endure the chucklheaded teenagers who feel compelled to make ironic comments every 40 seconds, send 65 text messages, and then at the end declare “that movie sucked!” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/25 "2009-04-24T15:09:22Z")
Honestly, I think this is a false assumption. “Movies” are not geared for any specific age group. There are hundreds of movies released a year and a lot of them will have no appeal to teenagers/twentysomethings at all simply because it is cheaper to make movies that appeal to an older crowd, so there’s more of them. But what is happening is that movies that appeal to the 18-25 crowd are more visible. And that’s because they are flashier, louder and better to see in a theater setting. I just grabbed The Wrestler from the library today and plan to watch it in the next few days, yet I had no real desire to see it in the theater because paying $5-10 for a quiet movie doesn’t get me any bang for my buck. However, I will be at Terminator Salvation at midnight because I want to see Batman kicking ass and taking names on Skynet on a big screen. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/26 "2009-04-24T15:21:54Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > There’s even a bit of rationale here: anything successful that is _not_ formula is a one-shot and a fluke. It can’t even be imitated, let alone allowed to break paradigms. Excellent point, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a perfect example. It was magical and hilarious. But because it wasn’t a formula, no one could predict that it would succeed so well, nor could they duplicate it afterward. I can’t blame the moguls for wanting to play it safe. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/27 "2009-04-24T15:43:13Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Excellent point, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a perfect example. It was magical and hilarious. But because it wasn’t a formula, no one could predict that it would succeed so well, nor could they duplicate it afterward. I can’t blame the moguls for wanting to play it safe. Napoleon Dynamite was talked about as “This year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding” Little Miss Sunshine was talked about as “This year’s Napoleon Dynamite” Juno was pushed as “This year’s Little Miss Sunshine” Slumdog Millionaire was pushed as “This year’s Juno” Being dubbed THE quirky indy comedy/drama of the year is something that is played out every year. Pretending that studios don’t “make more of those” after something quirky and indy breaks out is a fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/28 "2009-04-24T15:52:53Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Movies are aimed at 18-25yos not because they control the most money, but because they spend it the most recklessly and are the most susceptible to marketing and trends. In other words, it’s not about drawing the _big_ money, it’s about drawing the _easy_ money.[empahsis added] This is the crux; the 18-25 year old male is a reliable marketing segment with disposable income. You can make films and other products that appeal to older people with more money to burn, but they tend to be a more complex and fickle segment to market to. Housewives also used to be a big marketing segment (soap operas were essentially intended to be long teasers to keep housewives primed for commercials) but now that they are a minority of women it’s much more difficult to predict what they want. It’s a hard life for a [m]ad man these days. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralCrunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/29 "2009-04-24T16:45:45Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The kids are the largest easy money demo and there’s a weird marketing mentality that says for _everything_ (not just movies) you go after them. Companies would rather have a \*\*consistent \*\*20% share of a large market than an **occasional** 40% share of a smaller market even if the latter actually adds up to more money. Fixed that sentence for you. What’s so weird about a company repackaging guaranteed success, rather than sifting through hundreds of unique scripts trying to find the marketing angle and cast and director and season and zeitgeist to maybe score a non-repeatable success? If you could reliably tell executives which cheap movies would make big bucks, you’d be a billionaire. Producers are logic-impaired egomaniacs, but that has almost nothing to do with this problem. Easy money is the most logical and rational thing to do in their position. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/30 "2009-04-24T19:18:04Z")
> [@AdmiralCrunch](#): > > Fixed that sentence for you. [Moderator Note] Just as a reminder, there is a rule against modifying text within quote tags while leaving the attribution to the original poster. This is not a warning, it is just for future reference. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/31 "2009-04-24T19:26:32Z")
Get this, not only are movies mostly geared toward the 18-30 year old demographic (your original appraisal of 18-25 is a little too narrow), but they are largely geared toward the 18-30 year old **male** demographic. As someone noted above, girls will go to “guy” movies but not vice versa. And it doesn’t matter how much money you have if you’re not spending it on going to the theaters, you won’t ever be catered to. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/32 "2009-04-26T14:10:13Z")
From a [New Yorker article](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/19/090119fa_fact_friend?currentPage=all) from earlier this year: > [@](#): > > It is often said in Hollywood that no one sets out to make a bad movie, but the truth is that people cheerfully set out to make bad movies all the time. It is more accurate to say that no one sets out to make a movie without having a particular audience in mind. … > > Marketers segment the audience in a variety of ways, but the most common form of partition is the four quadrants: men under twenty-five; older men; women under twenty-five; older women. A studio rarely makes a film that it doesn’t expect will succeed with at least two quadrants, and a film’s budget is usually directly related to the number of quadrants it is anticipated to reach. The most expensive tent-pole movies, such as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, are aimed at all four quadrants. > > The collective wisdom is that young males like explosions, blood, cars flying through the air, pratfalls, poop jokes, “you’re so gay” banter, and sex—but not romance. Young women like friendship, pop music, fashion, sarcasm, sensitive boys who think with their hearts, and romance—but not sex (though they like to hear the naughty girl telling her friends about it). They go to horror films as much as young men, but they hate gore; you lure them by having the ingénue take her time walking down the dark hall. > > Older women like feel-good films and Nicholas Sparks-style weepies: they are the core audience for stories of doomed love and triumphs of the human spirit. They enjoy seeing an older woman having her pick of men; they hate seeing a child in danger. Particularly once they reach thirty, these women are the most “review-sensitive”: a chorus of critical praise for a movie aimed at older women can increase the opening weekend’s gross by five million dollars. In other words, older women are discriminating, which is why so few films are made for them. > > Older men like darker films, classic genres such as Westerns and war movies, men protecting their homes, and men behaving like idiots. Older men are easy to please, particularly if a film stars Clint Eastwood and is about guys just like them, but they’re hard to motivate. “Guys only get off their couches twice a year, to go to ‘Wild Hogs’ or ‘3:10 to Yuma,’ ” the marketing consultant Terry Press says. “If all you have is older males, it’s time to take a pill.” ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/33 "2009-04-26T19:27:52Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Napoleon Dynamite was talked about as “This year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding” > > Little Miss Sunshine was talked about as “This year’s Napoleon Dynamite” > > Juno was pushed as “This year’s Little Miss Sunshine” > > Slumdog Millionaire was pushed as “This year’s Juno” > > Being dubbed THE quirky indy comedy/drama of the year is something that is played out every year. Pretending that studios don’t “make more of those” after something quirky and indy breaks out is a fallacy. My point was that many of these were surprises. No one expected them to be so great. Their popularity came from word-of-mouth, not advertising (until after they became so popular). Here’s a test you might use to see whether I’m right or not: First, take a whole bunch of movies and categorize them as “formulaic” or “quirky”. Then, for each one, see how much the studio/distributor spent on pre-release advertising and publicity. I strongly suspect that the most advertised and most publicized movies are the formulaic ones. And then, the very heavy media awareness causes the public to perceive that “movies are geared mostly to 18-25 year olds”, as the OP beleives. This is in spite of the many movies not geared to that group. Even good movies not geared to that group. But they are percieved as being in the minority, because they get the minority of the advertising. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/34 "2009-04-26T20:16:32Z")
**AdmiralCrunch** , the mod has already commented, but to just let you know: I am _not_ happy at all with what you did. The changes you made in no way shape or form reflect my ideas. If you have a different viewpoint, please write your own text. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/35 "2009-04-26T22:26:10Z")
I can’t get “English for the Hearing Impaired” subtitles in the theatre: I’m not deaf, but my hearing isn’t what it was 20 years ago when I was in the 18-25 demographic. Too many loud gigs take their toll. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/36 "2009-04-26T22:50:53Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > There are plenty of films being made for folks over 25, but we’re talking about the theater business here, not the movie business. They make those types of movies because more movie theaters want them. Movie theaters want them because 18 to 25 year olds are more likely to spend money on popcorn, soda, etc., and that’s where the theater makes most of its profit, not tickets. That’s one of things you learn in film school. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/37 "2009-04-27T09:16:42Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > I’m 52 and I love a good movie. I also have no intention of ever going to see another one in the movie theater. Why? > > The sound is just out of control and is geared to wisper, wisper, BLAST, BLAST, BOOM. I just cannot tolerate it. Painfully loud. > > The crowds are rude. > > In only a few months after the ‘opening weekend’ I can buy or rent the movie and see it in the comfort of my own home, under my own prefered conditions. > > Why should I feel the urgency of needing to see it on the opening weekend? They are all available for home viewing very soon after release. I’m 51, and I have the same complaint about the sound. I can’t understand the whispers, and the bangs are so loud that my ears bleed. Add in the audience, and I want a rewind button. The audiences are so bad about talking to seatmates or into their cell phones that I want to take a cattle prod with me to every movie. I don’t HAVE to see the movie the first week it comes out. I can wait. Usually I’ll rent it first, then buy it if I like it at all. I am diabetic, I usually don’t drink caffeinated sodas, I find artificially sweetened sodas to be mostly vile, so there’s nothing for me to drink at a theater. I also don’t like the “buttery topping” that’s put on the popcorn. I prefer the drinks and snacks that come from my kitchen. I also enjoy being able to pause the movie, go pee, and be able to watch the movie without missing part of it. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I saw a movie in a theater. I do miss part of the theater experience. However, there’s many bits of the theater experience that are the reason why I don’t patronize theaters any more. Theaters could control some of these reasons, but I guess that they don’t feel it’s cost effective. Studios could also mix the sound better, and generally put out more intelligent movies, but again apparently it’s not cost effective. I guess I’ll just watch movies at home, with my husband and my cats. At least the cats don’t use cellphones. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/38 "2009-04-27T10:21:10Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Napoleon Dynamite was talked about as “This year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding” > > Little Miss Sunshine was talked about as “This year’s Napoleon Dynamite” > > Juno was pushed as “This year’s Little Miss Sunshine” > > Slumdog Millionaire was pushed as “This year’s Juno” > > Being dubbed THE quirky indy comedy/drama of the year is something that is played out every year. Pretending that studios don’t “make more of those” after something quirky and indy breaks out is a fallacy. I thought it was next year’s Sideways. By “studios”, do you mean Fox Searchlight Pictures? Studios like those films because they are relatively cheap to make compared to your typical Spielberg / Michael Bay / Roland Emmerich $300 million extravaganza and thus have the return for much bigger payoff for much less risk. Movies are geared for 18-25 year old male for the simple reason that Gen Y, people currently age 15-29 are the largest demographic with disposable income. Gen X males (people age 30 to 45 or so) are a much smaller demographic but we’ll go see Michael Bay action movies and Judd Apatow comedy films anyway. Really the only types of movies geared for the 25 and under crowd are the High School Musical / Hannah Montanah / Jonas Brothers crap that is really designed for 11 year olds. Baby Boomers are also a large demographic, but as you can see from some of the comments made here, from a marketers perspective they aren’t worth targeting. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/39 "2009-04-27T13:51:53Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I can’t get “English for the Hearing Impaired” subtitles in the theatre: I’m not deaf, but my hearing isn’t what it was 20 years ago when I was in the 18-25 demographic. Actually, you can. Look for theaters that have the [“Rear Window” captioning system.](http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/) It’s an LED panel on the back wall of the theater that displays the captions reversed. You’re given a piece of tinted Plexiglas on a goose-neck arm that fits into the seat’s cupholder. You adjust the reflector so you can read the captions while watching the movie. [Here’s](http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/nowshowing.html) a list of theaters that have it. Unfortunately, not all films are captioned. The first link has a list of the current films. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145/40 "2009-04-27T16:33:33Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Another factor is that adults are more likely to have a good entertainment system of their own. Even my mediocre setup (in the sub-$500 range) is preferable to a movie theater\* and when I can buy a DVD for the same price as two movie tickets, it seems silly to go out. The “movies are targeted for 18-25” scheme seriously pre-dates common home theater set-ups. I remember hearing the 18-25 demographic back when I was a kid and it was exciting to buy a _color_ TV (to change the channe; you had to turn a knob! The horror!). Stuff _existed_ for home use, like I remember a friend’s uncle had a reel-to-reel kind of set-up, but “home theater” didn’t really exist the way it does now, but the movies for 18-25 sure did. It probably makes a huge difference today though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-movies-geared-mostly-to-18-25-year-olds/494145.md?page=3)