Genre Trends in Filmmaking
Hello creatives!
Let’s talk about genre trends in the film industry. But before we begin, I simply wanted to say that you should not measure your success as a creative professional based on the benchmarks of popular genres at the box office. Knowing the trends is helpful for understanding what types of projects have wide commercial appeal and can also give you a better understanding of where the industry leans, which can help you niche down and find your sweet spot as a creative.
Top Genres in Film since 1995
Do you think you can guess what the top genres of film that have brought in the most box office revenue since 1995? I’ll break down the genres and give a brief overview of what makes a story fit squarely in that genre.
Adventure, $64B
Adventure is possibly the most iconic hero arc on this list. We all probably have at least one favorite movie that falls into this category. Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter. Star Wars. Indiana Jones. These are all famous movies that are known for their adventure story. The plot goes something like this: the main character is thrust into an epic journey where they are faced with surmounting challenges, meet unlikely friends and face their treacherous foes. Pretty simple, right?
Action, $47B
Action is like the younger sibling to Adventure, who wants to be like Adventure, but gets a little zealous about it. In more recent years Action has gotten a bad rap for placating to macho fantasies, which I mean, why do you think there’s so many Fast & Furious and Die Hard movies? Filled to the brim with intense fighting, car chase and explosion scenes that sometimes don’t make any sense, the characters are more pawns to the plot in an action movie. That’s not to say an action movie can’t have heart. Marvel movies are classified under Action and those can be lighthearted. Because there’s a lot of overlap between Action & Adventure, many movies are considered a blend of both.
Drama, $35B
Oh the Drama. This genre is all about the emotional high stakes. Like action movies, drama movies can sometimes feel like the characters are pawns to the plot. But the difference is that Drama focus on internal conflicts as it relates to external circumstances. Some famous examples of drama movies include It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, L.A. Confidential (1997), The Hurt Locker (2009), Hidden Figures (2017), Roma (2018), and Black Panther (2018).
Comedy, $33B
This one is fairly straightforward. The purpose of comedy is to make people laugh, but any movie can get some laughs so what exactly makes a comedy a comedy? Key features that are recurring throughout the story are absurd and awkward situations that are handled outside social norms, poignant or on-the-nose satire about a social norm, and witty, well-timed dialogue. It’s hard to pull this off well. I think the best I’ve seen in recent years has been Jumanji: The Next Level, which is Action/Adventure Comedy. That movie had my sides hurting by the end of it!
Thriller/Suspense, $19B
Thriller and Suspense are often paired with each other because the nuance is so subtle and often times one causes the other. Thrillers are defined by the emotions they evoke throughout the story: suspense, worry, fear, anxiety. Suspense evokes anticipation and excitement by cluing the viewer in on something the characters might not be aware of yet. This is called dramatic irony and I live for it. Suspense can be done outside of a Thriller, but Thrillers often need Suspense to work.
Famousexamples of thriller/suspense movies include Silence of the Lambs (1991), Blood Diamond (2006), Argo (2012), Split (2016), Parasite (2019), and Tenet (2020)
Horror, $12B
Horror is the edgier cousin of Thriller/Suspense. The goal is to scare, startle and shock the audience, who is begging to be repulsed basically. Because this genre is heavily based on emotional weight, it can take on a lot of different forms. In general, this genre has a slower beginning than most others because the story takes a “boiling the frog” approach to building the uneasiness. What’s also important to note is that this genre arguably requires a greater detail to the score to cue the viewer when something is amiss or to unsettle the audience.
Famous examples of horror movies include Psycho (1960), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Aliens (1986), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Babadook (2014), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Get Out (2017), Us (2019), and The Invisible Man (2020).
Romantic Comedy, $10B
Romantic Comedies are also affectionately called Chick Flicks. Romantic Comedies are very formulaic in that nearly every story has a “girl next door” main character with a quirky and but supportive best friend. The girl next door meets a boy in an embarrassing and/or cute chance-of-fate way. They flirt. They realize they aren’t exactly who they thought they were. They break up for a brief few scenes. Maybe there’s some personal growth involved too. Then they realize their undying love for each other and live happily ever after.
Not every romantic comedy falls squarely into this formula, but many do. Roman Holiday (1953) is one of my personal favorites because who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn movies? It’s a rare exception to the formula in that she doesn’t have a best friend in this story and they don’t end up happily ever after.
Other famous examples of romantic comedies include When Harry Met Sally (1989), The Notebook (2004), Think Like A Man (2012), The Big Sick (2017) and Emma (2020).
Musical, $4.25B
Musicals. Love them or hate them, they do pretty well for themselves at the box office. It’s like going to see a musical at the theatre, but the camera and special effects adds extra magic to the experience. Songs are sung by the characters, but it’s woven into the grander narrative. Dancing is optional. Famous musical films include Singing In The Rain (1952), West Side Story (1961), Sound of Music (1965), Grease (1978), High School Musical (2006), La La Land (2016) and the highly anticipated In The Heights (2021).
Documentary, $2.5B
Documentaries are about educational storytelling. The director has a clear message that they want to convey through a person, group of people, a certain cultural experience, or worldview. Many people are familiar with nature documentaries, but there are other forms such as investigative journalistic documentaries, food documentaries, travel documentaries and many other subcategories. It requires great skill to hold a viewer’s attention in the narrative for 90 minutes. It requires stitching together b-roll, interviews, narrations and the right musical score to create a balanced rhythm and flow to the story that needs to be told.
Fantastic examples of documentaries include When We Were Kings (1996), March of the Penguins (2005), The Central Park Five (2013), 13th (2016), Minding the Gap (2018), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018), and Three Identical Strangers (2018).
Dark Comedy, $2.12B
Also called black comedy or tragic comedy, dark comedy is characterized by dealing with tragic situations in a humor way. These can be real tear-jerkers. But they also explore concepts of life through a poignant lens. A good example of a dark comedy is Knives Out (2019). The movie explores the ramifications of family drama on inheritances, which gives someone who doesn’t come from a wealthy family a peek into real issues that can destroy already strained family dynamics. But it disguises this theme in a comical, murder mystery plot line.
So, as you work on your story, I hope this helps you figure out what genre your story is or what genres you have no interest in writing.
Until Next Time,
Rochele
P.S. If you are a writer who wants help establishing your personal brand, book a power hour with me to nail it down.