Summer Movie Fever

Around this time of year, the days get longer, seniors anticipate the end of school and another exciting event occurs – the summer movie season finally begins. While this might not seem like a big deal to the average American citizen, studio execs and movies buffs like me gear up for four months of non-stop showings of popcorn blockbusters. In the coming weeks, every major studio releases one potential hit that will hopefully bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in box office revenue. Instead of urging viewers to go outside to play in the beautiful weather, movies studios want you to go to the closest multiplex to see the latest, greatest release.

Year after year, these movies continuously draw in huge crowds; avid fans will wait up for hours just to see the midnight release of their favorite superhero movie. It’s not an uncommon sight to see lines of ticket buyers stretching out of cinema doors and around the block. So why do these movies elicit such an overwhelmingly positive response from the general public every summer?

Of course, there’s one obvious answer. The kids are out of school! Going to the movies is a cheap, easy way for parents to get their kids out of the house for a few hours. To target this audience, studios put out the typical family fare (DreamWorks and Pixar have a corner on this market), as well as many more mature films to please the teenaged and the young-at-heart crowd.

However, the beauty of summer films is that they don’t just appeal to the family group. Indeed, these popcorn blockbusters often hit many different demographics. Both teenage boys and adult men will go see the latest Star Trek film; older girls and their mothers went out in droves to see last year’s mega-hit, Sex and the City. The fact is that summer films hold true to a few rigid formulas. There are the easy going romantic comedies with feel-good plots and some scenes featuring light physical comedy; then there are the fast-paced action films with car chases and fight scenes. While exceptions to these two basic plot structures do exist, the vast majority of box office hits during the hot summer months fall into these categories. And, between these two formulas, the latter of the two is the most successful.

With violence and characters that personify the “masculine man,” action films are quite clearly geared towards a male audience. So why do these films do so much better than the airy “chick flicks?” The reason is simple. Women will watch guy movies, but men won’t watch girly films.

Of course, this is a huge generalization, but it’s a principle that the movie industry holds as a golden truth. Despite all attempts to make a “chick flick” that reaches across gender lines, this generalization has been proven time and time again to be correct.

I doubt that we will see a change in the types of films released during the busy, profitable summer months. Because our opinions on entertainment aren’t rapidly changing, movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Public Enemies will continue to be released to huge opening weekend box office totals, reaffirming studio exec decisions to produce these mega-action hits. And until we decide that we would like to see less machismo culture in our films and more innovative ideas, Hollywood will continue to churn out the same adrenalin pumping action thrillers.