The film industry made $10.2 billion in 2011 despite rising ticket prices. Comedies and adventure films were the most profitable genres between 1995-2011, with horror in seventh place grossing $9 billion. Horror films on average gross $28 million a year from about 20 releases, though only a few are major box office hits. To earn a good return, films need innovation, like Avatar's CGI or Paranormal Activity's documentary-style camerawork, which created fear without knowing if the film was real. Modern prominent horror producers include Wes Craven and Neil Marshall, while top distributors are Lionsgate and Paramount.

1. Institution research
In 2011 the film industry made around 10.2 billion dollars showing
that even if ticket prices are increasing year on year, people are still
willing to go and view the films at the cinema.
The most profitable genre’s at the box office are comedy
($44,517,094,663) and adventure films ($37,669,151,209) between
1995-2011. Horror which is our specific genre placed a respectable
7th in these years grossing $9,025,988,866. On average, Horror
movies gross $28,206,215 a year, releasing about 20 movies a year,
with only a few each being noticed as box office hits.
There are certain trends at the box office, for example the ticket
prices seem to rise year upon year, this could be due to the change of
value of money, but in recent years, the recession and shows even
though people are struggling with money they still contribute to the
film industry. Also, the most successful movies in recent years have
mainly been adventure, comedy and action. Showing that the modern
day audience would rather watch them genres. This could be down to
the fact that these films aren’t as highly rated, so they tend to gather a
larger target audience with their films so that more people are able to
go and see these films.
To make sure you gain a good return, your movie has to be
innovative. An example out of the chosen genre would be Avatar with
its amazing CGI and technology which has never been seen before. It
also spent a large amount of budget to create the film, but in turn it
created a large gross, the most ever in fact. A great example of a
horror which has gained a good return would be that of Paranormal
Activity, a low budget film, but with an innovative camera technique
making it seem like a documentary sort of film, with the hand held
camera and so on. The fear of not knowing what was there created a
new fear for the audience deciphering whether the film was real or
not and if it could happen in real life. This in turn created a franchise
which only increased profits for the Paranormal Activity series.
Different and innovative ideas catch new audiences, such as The
Human Centipede for pushing the boundaries in which a film can
contain.

2. Modern day producers tend to be that of Wes Craven, Neil Marshall
and Oren Peli who over saw the Paranormal Activity series. Modern
day distributers are Lionsgate (Saw Series, The Descent, Hostel) and
Paramount (The devil Inside, Paranormal Activity, Event Horizon)
both major distributors of horror movies in the modern era.