This document discusses different types of cinema audiences including avid film fans called "summits", "specialists", and "scatterguns". It also discusses horror movie audiences and how the monsters portrayed change over time to reflect societal anxieties. Audience data is presented for the psychological horror film "Insidious" including its box office performance and weekly chart rankings.

1. Secondary Research

2. Cinema Audiences

3. Avids
Types of avids
 There are sub-divisions within the broad audience group ‘avids’. Three
types of avids are discernible: summits, specialists and scatterguns.
 Summit avids are the most widely knowledgeable and tend to work in
the film industry or film education/journalism. They are often interested
in the business of film and may regard Hollywood as an interesting
cultural phenomenon worthy of study.
 Specialist avids tend to be the most obsessive, often dismissive of films
they do not deem worthy of consideration and they have a pronounced
collector mentality.
 Scattergun avids enjoy film as one (albeit important) component of their
varied cultural diet.
 The best way to encourage more summit avids is to promote career
opportunities in the film business. Specialist avids need early
nurturing, through film clubs for young people, discounted film
admissions/merchandise etc. Because of their eclectic tastes and
willingness to sample, scattergun avids are popular targets for
marketers. Therefore promotion and marketing campaigns need to be
mounted in the places they like to frequent: bookstores, art
galleries, music festivals and bars. Efforts should be made to re-connect
them with their love of film when other influences are at the fore.

4. Horror Audiences
"If movies are the dreams of the mass culture... horror movies are the nightmares"
— Stephen King, Danse Macabre
 Horror is an ancient art form. We have tried to terrify each other with tales which
trigger the less logical parts of our imaginations for as long as we've told stories. From
the ballads of the ancient world to modern urban myths, audiences willingly offer
themselves up to sadistic storytellers to be scared witless, and they are happy to pay
for the privilege. Theories abound as to why this is so; do we derive basic thrills from
triggering the rush of adrenalin which fear brings, or do horror stories serve a wider
moral purpose, reinforcing the rules and taboos of our society and showing the
macabre fate of those who transgress.
 Horror movies have long served both purposes. They deliver thrills by the hearse
load, as well as telling us stories of the dark, forbidden side of life (and death) -
cautionary tales for grownups. They also provide a revealing mirror image of the
anxieties of their time.
 Each generation gets the horror films it deserves, and one of the more fascinating
aspects of the study of the genre is the changing nature of the monsters who present a
threat.

5. Sub genre Audiences
 Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on characters' fears and
emotional instability to build tension. It typically plays on archetypal shadow characteristics
embodied by the threat. Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing
common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, such as the shadowy parts of
the human psyche which most people repress or deny, whereas splatter fiction focuses on
bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate.[

6. Film trailer audiences
 Audiences enjoy trailers because it is usually
there to draw people in to watch the film and for
many films (which have no background, such as if
influenced by a book it already will have an
audience – Harry potter). Trailers can influence
audiences to see the film if they find the trailer
visually interesting aswell as the story.

7. When a stranger calls (2006): Trailer
audience reaction (YouTube)
 This is some reactions to the
trailer of when a stranger
calls. Mixed reactions
however most seemed to
believe the trailer gave too
much away – which is shown
in the screenshot above (his
hiding shot shown).

8. Audience data
Worldwide Weekly Chart Record
Insidious
Date Rank Gross % Change Theaters Per Theater Total Gross
Insidious is a similar film to 2011-03-31 62 $34,706 $34,706
Disturbed, it is an 2011-04-07 5 $20,348,286
+58,530.46
2,835 $7,178$20,382,992
%
psychological horror. A family 2011-04-28 21 $5,207,622 -74.41% 2,130 $2,445$51,009,346
looks to prevent evil spirits 2011-05-05 11 $7,911,191 +51.92% 2,052 $3,855$58,920,537
from trapping their comatose
2011-05-12 12 $5,113,450 -35.36% 1,475 $3,467$64,033,987
child in a realm called The
2011-05-19 16 $4,176,826 -18.32% 1,290 $3,238$68,210,813
Further.
2011-05-26 18 $2,476,221 -40.72% 1,028 $2,409$70,687,033
The Numbers Rating: 7.67 (6 votes) Rate it -
Rating Details
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66% - Fresh 2011-06-02 24 $1,695,335 -31.54% 679 $2,497$22,382,369
2011-06-09 28 $1,284,725 -24.22% 517 $2,485$73,667,094
Theatrical Performance
2011-06-16 18 $3,841,569 +199.02% 661 $5,812$77,508,663
Domestic Box Office $54,009,150
International Box $45,093,392 2011-06-23 13 $5,497,220 +43.10% 1,124 $4,891$83,005,883
Office
2011-06-30 20 $3,952,365 -28.10% 1,047 $3,775$86,958,248
Worldwide Box $99,102,542
Office
2011-07-07 27 $2,408,876 -39.05% 934 $2,579$89,367,124
Home Market Performance
Domestic DVD $7,515,210 Weekly Breakdown 2011-07-21 37 $83,500 -96.53% 66 $1,265$91,900,008
Sales: