Comparative Profitability of Genres in Movie History
I'd like to see a list of genres based in order of profitability throughout movie history. I suspect the horror genre is the most profitable genre going back all the way to the early days of movies, but I'd like confirmation. I suspect Westerns might have been the most profitable genre from the 1920s-1960s, but not as profitable since the 1970s. Same with Musicals. Horror has been profitable in every era of movie history.
Best Answer
When comparing profits, cost matters. One site I found says that it is NOT the big budget action adventures that return the most profit to the investors.
Documentaries can have phenomenal returns on investment, because they can be made for a fraction of what a movie costs. The documentary "Tarnation" returned 266,416.97% profit! "Super Size Me" returned 22,614.90%. There are NO documentaries at the bottom of profit-ville.
Horrors and Thrillers are 2 more genres that are big profit makers. "Paranormal Activity" cost $15,000 to make, and raked in $161,830,890 for a return of 539,336.30%! The upshot is:
1 profit maker genre: Horror
2 Documentaries
Drama has a # of movies at the bottom of the "return on investment" list. Drama, romance & comedies - those genres are in the middle somewhere, with some being at the bottom.
As for Action Adventure, In the top 20 movies that have the best ROI, you won't see any of the blockbusters you'd imagine, and "Mad Max" is the only film of its kind in the top 20. http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0410/movie-genres-with-the-best-roi.aspx
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Which movie genre is most profitable?
Action movies grossed $149 billion from 2010 to 2020, while adventure movies earned $164 billion in the same time span. The two genres combined earned over $300 billion between 2010 and 2020.What genre of movies sells the most?
Market Share for Each Genre 1995-2022RankGenreMovies1Adventure1,1272Action1,1313Drama5,5314Comedy2,44011 more rowsWhat are the four most popular genres used in film?
And the most common way to sort content (or browse through audio-visual content as a viewer) is by categorizing films and series according to the genre....5 Popular Film Genres and Iconic Examples from Each One [Part 1]- Drama.
- Comedy.
- Action. ...
- Fantasy.
What is the most watched genre?
A 2020 survey conducted in the United States, showed that drama was the most in-demand genre, with approximately 38 percent of demand share. In the second position came the genre comedy, at nearly 19 percent, followed by action and adventure at approximately 13 percent.Introduction to Genre Movies - Film Genres and Hollywood
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Answer 2
This would be an excellent thesis topic for someone, but I think a short answer was aptly provided in the opening scroll of Student Bodies (1981)...
This film is based on a true story: last year, more than 30 horror films were made in America. None of them lost money.
Cheap to make, same ticket price as a blockbuster with a budget 50-100 times higher.
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