Hacker News Reader

Comment by RC_ITR | Hacker News Reader

The problem with a UCLA-sponsored survey of teens is always going to be response bias.

For example:

>Very few adolescents prefer aspirational content. The majority favor original content over IP-based content. Also, the majority prefer binge releases over weekly releases.

A quick search of the top Youtubers shows that Gen Z in fact loves aspirational content, they just don't like the image that comes into their head when they hear the term.

A quick scan of the box office shows that they also love IP-based content, unless all the viewers of Spiderman, Barbie, Mario, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast X, and The Little Mermaid were over 25 (Hell, even Oppenheimer was technically IP-based).

I believe the binge watching thing though.

View on HN

> A quick scan of the box office shows that they also love IP-based content

I think that says a lot more about what the industry is pushing than it does about what people want to watch.

There are plenty on non-IP based movies, targeted at Gen-Z/Alpha, and made by large studios that have underperformed this year.

Elemental and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken immediately come to mind.

Ruby Gillman had very little marketing and had to compete with spider-man and Elemental (which also wasn't well marketed, and lost a lot of sales to spider-man). At this point the Pixar name itself should be enough to get kids into theaters, though I'll admit when I first saw the designs for Elemental I was underwhelmed. I'm kind of tired of brightly colored blob characters from Pixar. We waited until Elemental hit Disney+ and it was better than I expected.

>had to compete with spider-man

Yes, a much more popular IP-based movie.

I understand it's frustrating to accept that the viewing public prefers IP over original movies, but it's just true. Studio movies as audiences expect them (and increasingly TV) are just too big and expensive to be the medium in which we workshop new ideas. You'll often get new ideas from blank-check directors, animation, or indie films, but that's it.

Now, keep in mind, looking back at some of the greatest movies of all time, good movies were always IP-based, it was just less noticeable:

Godfather (book)

Gone With the Wind (book)

Lawrence of Arabia (book)

Wizard of OZ (book)

The Graduate (book)

West Side Story (Musical)

2001 (An expansion of an existing Arthur Clark Story)

I could go on, but you get the point.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com