Audience Research

Film Distributors’ Association website:

As we can see here are the top 15 films being shown in the cinema fairly recently. It gives us an indication to the success of contemporary “Thriller” films as “Man On A Ledge”, “Chronicle” and “The Woman In Black” are of the thriller genre and are shown to be successful. Furthermore, “The Woman In Black” is the most successful film at the moment, showing that it is successful as a thriller and that thrillers are a popular genre of films that an audience will go to see at the cinema. Both thrillers shown here are rated a (12A) which also gives us an indication as to what certificate our own production could possibly be.

IMDb, Top rated “Thriller” Titles:

The internet movie database has a list of the top 50 and bottom 10 rated films of the thriller genre. This enables us to get a sense which thriller films have been successful in terms of the audience response to them which could influence the decisions we make during the production of our opening. For example, from this list we see that thrillers such as “The Dark Knight” and “Inception” which are relatively recent releases, are very popular. However “North by Northwest” which is over 50 years old is still a well-known film that is a success among contemporary audiences.

Rank Rating Title Votes1. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994) 561,851

2. 8.8 The Dark Knight (2008) 649,887

3. 8.8 Inception (2010) 502,1864. 8.8 Goodfellas (1990) 317,2045. 8.7 Rear Window (1954) 154,876

6. 8.7 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

344,094

7. 8.7 The Usual Suspects (1995)

347,883

8. 8.7 Psycho (1960) 190,6489. 8.7 Se7en (1995) 406,461

10. 8.6 Leon (1994) 294,05111. 8.6 Memento (2000) 378,92512. 8.6 North by Northwest

 (1959)117,165

13. 8.6 M (1931) 51,85514. 8.5 Double Indemnity (1944) 49,027

15. 8.5 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

328,414

Rank Rating Title Votes1. 1.2 Compelling Evidence

 (1995)245

2. 1.3 The Sobbing Stone (2005)

294

3. 1.3 Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1961)

520

4. 1.4 Heaven Strewn (2011) 117

5. 1.4 The Life Zone (2011) 138

6. 1.5 Dead at the Box Office (2005)

591

7. 1.5 At Dawn They Sleep (2000)

347

8. 1.5 BigBrother.com (2000) 430

9. 1.5 Blood Deep (2005) 249

10. 1.5 Night Train to Mundo Fine (1966)

3,68

IGN Film Force website:

An unofficial site, stated that their top thriller film was an fact “North by Northwest”. This film, released in 1959, is a slightly outdated thriller compared to those that are produced today for an audience. However this shows that the plot or concept of a thriller is just as important as its production as the website described “North by Northwest” as “a masterpiece of intrigue, and features some of the most copied sequences in film.” and also stated that it “provides a blueprint by which all thrillers can be judged.”

On the site there is also a link to “Rotten Tomatoes” (see below) which gives more detail concerning the ratings that the audience gave this thriller, determining its success.