(h/t Natalia Antonova)
Much like the comic world, the Hollywood blockbuster world has pretty much been predicated upon the male 13-24 demographic. Hell, most of the recent Hollywood blockbuster movies have been comic movies, led of course by The Dark Knight this summer, as well as Iron Man, The Hulk…you know the drill.
But according to CNN’s Screening Room, the success of Twilight has thrown a new demographic into the mix: teen girls.
Having been a teen girl whose favorite movies were Speed (yes, I know) and The Crow (which was one of the things that led me to comics), I can safely vouch for the fact that teenage girls will indeed go see big action movies, even ones based on comics. I’d bet that more than half the Harry Potter movies’ audience has been girls, and a good chunk of the audience for this summer’s big comic flicks as well.
Indeed, the conventional wisdom seems to have been that movies with a male target audience are a safer bet because girls will go see “boys’” movies but the reverse is not true.
But Twilight blew the archetypal boys’ movie, Quantum of Solace, out of the water. So Hollywood may be taking notice of this demographic as one that can drive a movie on its own.
Twilight is different than the Hannah Montanas and High School Musicals because it’s genre fiction for teen girls. Though at its core it’s still a romance series, there’s plenty of action and it might be a little more palatable to boys.
More importantly, for the comic industry, the Twilight generation is the manga generation. Though DC had a hard time selling Minx books, the success of the Twilight books should prove that there’s a rabid audience of teen girls who are into genre fiction, as long as it’s written for them as well. The problem is, as always, getting them into comic shops.
It makes me happy to see a movie driven by a female lead, with a female director and screenwriter, based on novels by a female author, tops at the box office. But it would make me even happier if we could move away from the stereotypes of “male” and “female” movies. Girls like action movies (and comics) and boys like love stories–there’s a reason Superman and Spiderman have long-lasting love interests, and it ain’t to suck in the female readers.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Not to be a contrarian (wait, I guess this is to be a contrarian), but if Twilight blew Bond out of the water… it was barely. Like a little rubber ducky splashing a bigger one. But Bond will still make more money.
And didn’t the Twilight audience–for the books–start with 45-year-old women who then shared the books with their daughters? Kind of like how Tom Cruise was a heartthrob for the housewife in Top Gun?
December 5th, 2008 at 10:38 am
No ‘ – ‘ for Spider-Man?
That’s like pronouncing Lex Luthor as “Lex Luther”
December 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Twilight has NOT blown Quantum out of the water. I checked Box Office Mojo, and after last weekend Twilight had grossed $119 million, and Quantum has grossed $141 million. True, Quantum has been out for a week longer. But… Twilight’s box office dropped a pretty whopping 62.2% in its second weekend, whereas Quantum dropped only 29.5% over its third. Given that the holiday film season is now starting to heat up, I’d say that it’s unlikely that Twilight will surpass Quantum’s take, and Quantum will probably have better “legs” this season.
The one big difference that Twilight can claim in its favor? Box Office Mojo estimates Twilight’s budget at a mere $37 million (and, from what I hear it shows), compared with Quantum’s estimated $200 million. Not that Quantum’s hurting… It’s global box office has been massive and I’m sure it’s already turned a healthy profit. It’s run is also far from over, and there’s DVD/TV rights after that. But, given it’s bargain price, Twilight will probably have the biggest profit margin of any of the holiday offerings.
None of this is meant to belittle your post, Sarah. I think you have a lot of good points here. Except, I’m not sure I buy the males dig a good “love story” angle. Hey, I like a good romantic comedy (When Harry Met Sally comes to mind) now and then… But in action or comic book films? Many a fanboy (myself included) has griped about what mope-fest Superman Returns was.
Maybe that’s a bad example, but having Supes pine over his lost love and that whole triangle that existed was just terrible. Conversely, the Nolan Bat-films and Iron Man didn’t try to shove a romance down our throats. You had some romantic/sexual tension there (moreso in Iron Man), but it was never a primary focus. Really, the creation of Rachel Dawes seems to have mostly been to keep the Bat-movies from being a total “sausage fest.” And now she’s dead.
Then there’s the wiping out of Spidey’s marriage in the comics. I hated OMD myself, and I’ve stopped buying any Spider-Man books since then, but while fandom is deeply split I have to admit that there are plenty of people out there, probably all men, who seem to like the newly (or is that “oldly”?) single Spidey.
December 6th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Shaun, people liking the current Spider-Man book has pretty much nothing at all to do with them “liking single Spidey.” In the vast majority of cases it’s IN SPITE OF what they did to his marriage. People are enjoying it for the fact that the stories are pretty good in all aspects unrelated to that particular change. Most every positive response to the current run that I’ve come across also take pains to mention that it all could have just as easily been done without doing what they did to the marriage.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
“The problem is, as always, getting them into comic shops.”
Or putting the comics in question in the manga aisle of your local Borders/Barnes&Noble.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:51 am
“It makes me happy to see a movie driven by a female lead, with a female director and screenwriter, based on novels by a female author, tops at the box office. But it would make me even happier if we could move away from the stereotypes of “male” and “female” movies.”
Agreed, but I think in order for the latter to happen well, I think the former needs to happen some first.
“Not to be a contrarian (wait, I guess this is to be a contrarian), but if Twilight blew Bond out of the water… it was barely. Like a little rubber ducky splashing a bigger one. But Bond will still make more money.”
It’s also partly about expectations. A year ago, “nobody” had heard of Twilight. And pretty much no one makes genre movies – or almost any movies – for teen girls. ever.
But everyone knows Bond and everyone likes the new Bond.
“And didn’t the Twilight audience–for the books–start with 45-year-old women who then shared the books with their daughters? Kind of like how Tom Cruise was a heartthrob for the housewife in Top Gun?”
Um, NO.
(and, dude, seriously….people are saying that?!?!?!)
I can safely say as a the BN bookseller “in charge” of the children’s/teen area of my store back when Twilight was growing, but before newspapers started noticing, it was very much all girls and no mothers to be seen. (Mother’s do not generally recommend sexually suggestive books to their daughters. Even very tame ones. They hide them in their dressers instead.)
There were more than a few 20 yos but definitely no 40 yos. (not counting librarians).
So, yeah, manga generation. But more specifically, the Harry Potter generation. (oh, wow, look! more genre.) And, like Harry Potter, it gained steam with the kids first, then grew popular with adults.