What makes a movie a hit?
2007-08-18 21:02
New York - Just what makes movie magic? A psychology professor has done a statistical study of thousands of films to determine what makes them critical darlings or box-office hits.
Films that earn awards and praise from reviewers tend to be R-rated and based on a true story or a prize-winning play or novel, says psychology professor Dean Simonton at the University of California, Davis. The original author or the director usually writes the screenplay.
Big-budget blockbusters - whether they are comedies, musical, sequels or remakes - do not ordinarily draw acclaim, Simonton found. Neither do summer releases, PG-13 movies, movies that open on thousands of screens or ones that have enormous box office numbers in their first weekend.
"I had this hope that there was a difference between blockbusters and really great art films - films that can be considered great cinematic creations," said Simonton, who presented his findings on Friday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco.
"It was gratifying to find out they're very, very different and you can find out what's different about them."
Simonton says he is not a movie buff - "I'm a consumer like everyone else" - but in his long-time studies of genius, creativity and leadership, he started compiling data about the collaborative process of filmmaking in 1999.
Rules and exceptions
Brokeback Mountain is a prime example of what Simonton discovered. It was rated R, had an 87% approval rating on the Metacritic.com website and it came out at the height of prestige-picture time in December 2005.
It featured a top-notch creative team, including director Ang Lee and screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, working from a short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx. The film cost $14m to make and grossed nearly $175m worldwide. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won three.
But then there are exceptions, like this summer's Knocked Up. It is also very much an R-rated movie, but it is a comedy that's gotten 85% positive reviews on Metacritic and it came out in June.
Judd Apatow, who has long enjoyed a cult following, wrote and directed it. The film cost an estimated $33m to make and so far has grossed $164m worldwide. It is probably not going to win any Oscars, but who knows?
"All these things are just statistical relationships - there are always exceptions to every finding you have," Simonton said. "You'll have a film that really shouldn't have success but they have something quirky going for them... My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it's just a quirky thing.
"As a consequence," he added, "Hollywood falls back on sequels and remakes. Even though you've seen them before, you know they've succeeded in earlier versions."
- AP