Movio Media’s Research Platform Shows Presale Ticket Buyers are Core Male Fans who are More Likely to See the Film in 2D at 7pm on Opening Night

Los Angeles, CA and Auckland, NZ; December 17, 2015 – Movio, the global leader in marketing data, analysis, insights, and campaign solutions for theatrical exhibitors, studios and film distributors, has released insights on the audience buying tickets for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. Using the Movio Media research platform designed for film studios and marketers, which captures the behavior of millions of cinema loyalty members aged 14 and over, Movio unveils unique insights into U.S. moviegoers’ behavior.

At the time of the analysis, 2.2% of moviegoers from the Movio Media database had bought advanced tickets for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ on December 16, 2015. The Movio data sciences team compared this audience to ‘Jurassic World’ as it was the biggest box office success of 2015, capitalizing on a long standing franchise that parents were introducing to their children.

Movio Co-Founder and Chief Executive Will Palmer says: “94.5% of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ advanced ticket buyers have booked sessions for opening week, with 38.8% on Thursday, half of them for the first screening session at 7pm. 2D is the preferred choice of 54.2% of moviegoers on opening night. This audience profile is comprised of 52.6% men between the ages of 22 and 49, which is 12.9 percentage points greater than for ‘Jurassic World’ on the first Thursday night. This audience attends the cinema 18% less frequently than the ‘Jurassic World’ opening night audience (which is on par with a typical blockbuster), suggesting that people are coming out for this particular event.”

• Over the first two weeks of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ release, 94.5% of presale buyers have booked sessions for opening week, with 38.8% on Thursday (opening night), 26.9% on Friday, 14.9% on Saturday, 7.5% on Sunday, and 2.4% on Christmas day. It is worth noting that 50.6% of the Thursday presales are for a 7pm session.

• The opening night audience of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is 70.4% male, which is 6.5 percentage points greater than the opening night audience of ‘Jurassic World’ (63.9%, on par with a typical blockbuster). Over opening weekend, the gender distribution of a blockbuster would normally significantly balance out with an increasing female movie-going population (+9% for ‘Jurassic World’). For ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, the presales audience remains heavily male at 67.8%, which is less than 4% difference. However, it’s likely that the overall audience won’t be as skewed.

• Comparing to the opening night audience of ‘Jurassic World’, 22 to 49-year-old males represent 52.6% of the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ audience vs. 39.7% for ‘Jurassic World’, which was also skewing younger and more female.

• This audience attends the cinema 18% less frequently than the ‘Jurassic World ‘opening night audience (which is on par with a typical blockbuster), suggesting that people are coming out for this particular event. We even saw a spike in loyalty program membership for this occasion: 6% of people joined a loyalty program to buy presale tickets for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ vs. 5% for ‘Jurassic World’ over its full run.

It is also worth noting that the 3D audience of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is over a year older (36.5) than the 2D audience (35.3) over opening weekend and more male (69.8% vs. 65.7%). On opening night, 2D is the preferred choice of 54.2% of moviegoers. However, overall 52.4% of moviegoers who bought presale tickets will see it in 3D.

About Movio Media

Movio Media aggregates data across North America to provide film distributors and studios comprehensive market data on the behavior of moviegoers, crucial audience insights and innovative campaign solutions. Over 14 million avid moviegoers are profiled in this database from 31% of North American screens of the Large Cinema Circuit (cinemas over 20 screens), representing 4.6% of the U.S. population. Movio Media’s studio client roster includes A24, FOX, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. Movio Media covers the full scope of studios’ marketing requirements – research and campaign solutions.

• Movio Research - The definitive film market research platform with real-time data, describing the demographics and movie-going history of millions of cinema loyalty members aged 14 and over throughout North America. The sampling is performed so that the age and gender distribution of the resulting population is consistent with the general movie-going population described in the MPAA Theatrical Market Statistics 2014 report. The sample has an average age of 40, is 52% female, and watched an average of 6.2 movies per year.

• Movio Engage - Connect directly with the most avid moviegoers pre- and post- release. This platform provides the raw demographics and behaviors of over 14 million cinema loyalty members across participating exhibitors, allowing marketers to understand what motivates them and build awareness and demand for the movie by connecting with these people using targeted email campaigns, rewarding their actions.