US audiences for blockbuster movies in 2014 were dominated by white male cinemagoers, though Latino film fans continue to punch above their weight for purchasing power, according to a new report.
The survey for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the US’s ratings body and also the main representative body for Hollywood studios, suggests that 54% of cinema audiences were white, compared to 23% Latino, 12% Asian and 11% African American last year. Of the top five highest-grossing movies, four saw male cinemagoers attending in higher numbers that their female counterparts, with only second-placed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 featuring a higher proportion of female film fans (57% to 43%).
The 23% of cinemagoers from Latino backgrounds is considerably higher than the 17% of Americans who are Latino, suggesting Hollywood would do well to pay more attention to the audience. The 54% of cinemagoers who are white is also significantly lower than the demographic for white people in the overall population, 63%. Meanwhile Asian and black people attend the cinema in similar proportion to their numbers within the overall US population, respectively 12% and 11%.
Latino cinemagoers particularly liked the fifth highest-grossing film in the US last year, Transformers sequel Age of Extinction. Figures suggest they made up 26% of the audience for the movie, with African Americans representing 22%, whites 38% and Asians 14%.
On the other hand, white filmgoers loved fourth-placed The Lego Movie, making up 64% of the audience against 16% for Latino filmgoers, 12% African American and 8% Asian.
Overall, 227.9 million Americans went to the cinema in the US in 2014, against a population of 318.9 million. Overall admissions for the year were 1.27 billion.
