On the Relationship between Movie-Genre Popularity and a Country’s Economic Condition

In this paper, we statistically determine that a relationship exists between the economic condition of a country and motion picture genre popularity in that country the following year. The study uses data from the United States, but also offers a process for how such a study can be conducted for any country. We consider eight different economic measures to ensure that we capture all facets of the economic conditions. Movie genre popularity is determined by considering the top 20 revenue-grossing movies per year. Our study comprises an extensive, 37-year time period: 1972-2008. Our conclusions indicate that during economic downturns, comedies and dramas are more popular than expected, whereas science-fiction and family films are less popular than expected. Alternatively, during economic upturns, science-fiction and family films experience more popularity than expected whereas comedies and dramas experience less popularity. Action/adventure and horror film popularity were found to be unaffected by the economic climate.