Thriller films were successful in 2012, with the highest grossing film being Taken 2 which earned $376 million. Being a sequel contributed to its success. Thrillers generally appeal to older audiences due to potential violent or explicit content. Major film studios like 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, and Universal released many of the top 10 highest earning thriller films in 2012, showing that thrillers are a profitable genre for large companies.

1. Institutional
Research
Task 3 – The purpose of this task is to find
out how successful thriller films are and
what makes thriller films successful.

2. Thriller Films of 2012
According to wikipedia:

3. Thriller Films of 2012
According to the-numbers.com (1-21 out of 52):

4. Thriller Films of 2012
O Note: the website this table was taken from
(wikipedia.org) and some films may be
hybrid and sub genres of thriller.
O The highest grossing film on this list is Taken
2 which grossed $376,141,306 in the box
office. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox.
It was successful because it is the sequel to
the first Taken.

5. Audience
O The audience of thriller films are usually older as they
have age restrictions due to possible violence and
explicit content in the film.

6. Companies
O 20th Century Fox released Chronicle in the same year as
Taken 2, which was also one of the top 10 grossing thriller
films of 2012.
O The only other companies to have two films in the top 10
are Lionsgate and Universal.
O Lionsgate distributed The Hunger Games (#1) and Sinister
(#10).
O Universal distributed Safe House (#3) and The Bourne
Legacy (#4).

7. Conclusion
O From this we can conclude that thrillers are
popular enough to be invested in by big
companies such as Universal, 20th Century
Fox, Lionsgate, etc.
O The most popular age rating is PG-13/12A,
presumably because it has a wider target
audience.