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November 28, 2008
Posted: 2042 GMT
According to conventional wisdom for the last few years, the fanboy maketh the blockbuster. It's a rule Hollywood has lived by for the last 10 years or so. If you want a movie to make it big, then the demographic to aim for is male and aged around 13-24. Certainly the studios have had great success in their pursuit of the fanboy during the last decade by mining comic-books for superheroes and putting them in high-octane action movies. 
'Twilight' stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in front of baying fangirls at the U.S. premiere.
 Throughout the noughties, high-profile, CGI-heavy movies like “X-Men” (2000) and “Spider-Man” (2002) and lavish adaptations like the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy have been huge successes, driven by money from the pockets of mainly male cinema-goers. As recently as 2007, the media was continuing to report that the nerdy teen and twentysomething were Hollywood's core audience for blockbusters. But it seems this once reliable demographic may now be under attack - and from an unlikely source. In its opening weekend in the U.S., director Catherine Hardwicke’s vampire romance, "Twilight," took $70.6 million at the box-office, knocking Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" off the number one slot. By its second weekend it had easily passed the $100 million mark. And interestingly, the film’s success is being driven by young female audiences. Exit polls carried out by the independent distributor behind “Twilight,” Summit Entertainment, found that 75 percent of the movie’s audience is female - and half were under 25. Of course, "Twilight," which is adapted from Stephenie Meyer's cult "Twilight" series of books (which has sold more than 17 million copies), has benefited from having a ready-made, salivating teenage fanbase. Nevertheless, "Twilight" is the strongest example yet of the new box-office might shown by the teen and "tween" (11- and 12-year-old) fangirl demographic this year. Other films that that have got Hollywood execs sitting up and taking notice include "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which broke the U.S. record for the highest-scoring musical opening. It made $42 million in the first weekend, from a three-quarters female audience - and more than half were under-18. "Teen girls rule the earth," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, told Variety. "If you look back at the 'Hannah Montana' movie, how well that did, and now this movie ['Twilight'], the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated.” Perhaps less dramatically, women in general appear to be gaining box-office bite. In the UK, female-friendly ABBA-themed musical "Mamma Mia!" has eclipsed "The Dark Knight" by around $40 million to make it the number one film at the UK box office so far this year - as well as becoming the UK’s fastest-selling DVD. Despite big-hitters like this year's "The Dark Knight," long term Hollywood is eventually going to run out of high-profile superheroes. And recent developments might mean they will have to start chasing the female demographic, in the hope of further enlivening an audience group that has been called a "sleeping giant." What do you think? Does the thought of a slew of movies aimed at teenage girls make your blood run cold? Or are you pleased that Hollywood is finally recognizing other often-ignored demographics? Posted by: CNN screening room producer, Mairi Mackay
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