Highest-grossing Film Research Articles

Репрезентация политических идей в современных западных кинокомиксах

The article offers a view at modern Western comics-based movies as an element of mass political communication. Using the methodology of studying political languages and social fields, artistic features of the comic book film are examined, allowing politically charged messages to be conveyed in this genre. The main formats within which a comic book film becomes a conductor of political views of its authors and sponsors are identified. The study identified two main approaches to the politicization of the comic book film: by including political metaphors directly into the plot and through the implementation of a “production manifesto” during the creation and promotion of the comic book film as a creative product. Using the example of the highest-grossing films of the genre from 2017–2022, the main themes and intentions that touch upon political issues in modern Western comics films have been identified. The narrative and expressive tools used to form assessments and attitudes regarding political ideas, processes and phenomena through metaphors and allegories in the repertoire of comic book films are systematized.

Metrics of film success: defining the 21st-century blockbuster in the USA through theatrical release and profitability

The term ‘blockbuster’ has evolved to signify cinematic success. This study aims to quantify blockbuster attributes by analysing the top 100 highest-grossing films in the twenty first century (2001–2022) using parameters such as revenue, budget, theatrical presence and profitability. The hypothesis advanced encompasses concentrated revenue distribution, the influence of budget and theatrical release on performance, as well as production method (Live action, Animation, or a combination of both). The research deepens understanding of commercial dynamics, highlighting the multifaceted nature of modern blockbuster success. The analysis indicates that film budgets correlate with revenue but not always with profitability. Theatrical release size did not consistently relate to profit, indicating other influences. Only a fraction of top earners met blockbuster criteria, suggesting success is not solely in line with the blockbuster model. Animated and animation/live-action films had better chances of meeting the criteria due to broad appeal.

The Battle at Lake Changjin: The Influence of Korean War Memory on Contemporary Chinese War Films

Abstract The 2021 film The Battle at Lake Changjin (长津湖) is China’s highest-grossing film. Together with its sequel, its success as a political tool rests on appealing to a broad audience while engaging with familiar themes embedded in collective memory. The Chinese Communist Party, which commissioned the films, leveraged preexisting tropes regarding the conflict and repackaged them for a modern audience. This paper will proceed in three parts. First, it will trace the deliberate development of collective memory of the conflict from its inception up to President Xi Jinping’s gaining power in 2012. Next, it will explore the new emphasis on the Korean War in the 2010s and 2020s, and the political objectives Xi seeks to achieve by propagandizing the Korean War. Finally, it will provide a thematic analysis of the films and how the intended political messaging interacted with the embedded collective memory.

Gender Stereotypes and Composition in the Chinese Film Industry: A Study of the Top 15 Grossing Films

ABSTRACT This study employed qualitative textual analysis to explore gender representation in the 15 highest-grossing films in China. Applying the doing gender framework, the study revealed that there are limited efforts toward gender equality, pervasive stereotypes, and patriarchal and heteronormative ideologies across different genres. Women are portrayed through family-oriented lenses, and an Iron Lady image has emerged, perpetuating shallow perceptions of femininity and maintaining male power. Furthermore, female actors composed only one-fifth of all actors, and there were no female cinematographers or editors. This study underscores the pressing need for the Chinese film industry to promote gender equality.

How do Films Reflect our Societies Today? An Analysis of Films and Film Genres

“Avengers: Endgame”, released in 2019, became the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing $2.8 billion in worldwide box office revenue. Its massive success demonstrates the immense popularity and widespread appeal of blockbuster films, attracting millions of viewers and generating significant economic impact. Thus, today, films are not only a form of art, but also play a significant role today as a powerful medium of storytelling, entertainment, and reflection of culture and society. In the digital age, films have evolved to encompass various genres, styles, and distribution methods, making them a powerful medium that continues to play a significant role in shaping our world.

On continuity in comic book film adaptations and beyond

In 2019 Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Endgame became the highest grossing film of all time, solidifying the status of superhero comic book films as Hollywood’s leading genre. This article attributes part of the blockbuster’s success to its status as an adaptation. It discusses the economic gains of the transmedia storytelling format employed by superhero comic book filmmakers and the importance of continuity, cinematic universes, multiverses and corporate synergy in this genre of movies and beyond. Although these concepts all precede the inception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their current popularity could be attributed to that endeavour. The view that transmedia storytelling and adaptation are at odds is challenged. It is argued that the organization of superhero comic book storytelling into universes has become an adaptation norm and that a similar trend could be observed over the past few years in Hollywood cinema.

Methodology for a comparative quantitative analysis of film colour: a comparison between Cannes and box-office results

This paper proposes a method for quantitative colour analysis aimed at determining colour variation between different sets of films with a common selection criterion. The process is exemplified by comparing films selected at the Cannes Film Festival and the highest-grossing films in the years 1988 and 2018. The method will try to answer several questions. Firstly, whether there are any differences between the films competing in Cannes Film Festival and those most watched by audiences. Secondly, if these differences exist in both the year 1988 and 2018. Thirdly, if the colour of films exhibited at Cannes and highest-grossing film have evolved during the 30-year difference between samples. To analyse these films, one image every 14 s is extracted and all frames are used to quantify the amount of each colour present. Values for each category undergo a Kolmogorov–Smirnov test to determine whether the distribution of each colour is different for both categories compared. The relative difference between colours is computed to find out if those colours where variations are present have increased or decreased their presence within those sets compared. This methodology enables film researchers to statistically prove that there are colour changes in those films included in their research.

Ketimpangan Gender di Layar Perak: Representasi Perempuan di Film Terlaris Indonesia

As part of popular culture, film is able to both reflect and shape the understanding and attitudes towards gender in a society. However, despite the increase of gender awareness in Indonesian society, there are still many filmmakers unfamiliar with gender issues. In fact, the unequal treatment and underrepresentation of female characters in film is a real issue within the Indonesian film industry. It is seen in the lack of films that positively representing women. Often, women are portrayed as being inferior to men. In addition, many films still sexually objectify women. This study attempts to analyze the depiction of women between highest-grossing films made by female directors and those directed by males. This paper aims to highlight how female participation within film production influences women’s representation in popular films. The data is analysed using the Bechdel test — a tool to measure representation of women in fictional stories. Furthermore, this study examines female attitudes, characters, and their roles within the film, as well as the ways in which other roles respond to female roles. This study finds that women are represented in greater proportion and are portrayed more positively in films directed by women. In conclusion, gender portrayal within film is greatly influenced by the actors behind the scenes.

Superheroines and Sexism: Female Representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time and since the premiere of Iron Man in 2008, it has risen to fame as a source of science-fiction entertainment. Sexism in the film industry often goes brushed aside but the widespread success of Marvel Studios calls attention to their treatment of gender roles. This paper explores the progression of six female superheroes in the MCU and what effect feminist movements have had on their roles as well as upcoming productions in the franchise. This paper used an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods design that studied movie scripts and screen time graphs. 14 MCU movies were analyzed through a feminist film theory lens and whenever a female character of interest was chosen, notes were taken on aspects including, but not limited to, dialogue, costume design, and character relationships. My findings showed that females in the MCU are heavily sexualized by directors, costume designers, and even their male co-stars. As powerful as some of these women were found to be, it was concluded that Marvel lacks in female inclusivity. Marvel’s upcoming productions, many of which are female-focused, still marginalize the roles of their superheroines which is a concern for the future of the film industry. Marvel is just one franchise but this study shows how their treatment of female characters uphold patriarchal structures and perpetuate harmful stereotypes that need to be corrected in the film industry as a whole.

“Yesterday once more:” IP film, phantom/fandom of music, and the youthful (re)turn of Chinese cinema in the age of new digital media

China in the second decade of the twenty-first century has seen an upsurge of coming-of-age cinematic narratives by a cohort of Millennial filmmakers—referenced in Chinese discursively as the post-1970s or post-1980s Generation. Heralded by Zhao Wei’s So Young (one of the highest grossing films in 2013), these productions feature many thematic and formal aspects of the Bildungsroman genre. Such generic features as retrospective narration and a storyline that chronicle the physical, psychological, and intellectual growth of the protagonists from youth to adulthood are employed to explore broader social-cultural transformations of China in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. My paper examines the ascendance of the Chinese Millennial narrative (qingchun pian) and its distinguishing formal qualities symptomatic of intersectionality and intermediality that also define IP film in the new century and in the wake of new digital media. Through a close analysis of such examples as Lu Gengxu’s Forever Young (2014) and Rene Liu’s Us and Them (2018), the essay reengages and reinterprets critical discourses of Bildungsroman, nostalgia, and heterotopia by placing them in a specific contemporary Chinese context. Moreover, the subgenre/cross-genre’s appeal across a broad audience and generation not only derives from its visual effects, the existing literary, theatrical resources and fanbase but also from its soundtrack and musical imagination. With a second focus on film music, the article illustrates how the creative, intricate employment and remix of Cantopop, Mandapop, Chinese campus folklore and rock music in the films represent youthfulness, authenticity, and the (ideal) past and selfhood as opposed to an alienated, postmodern reality. The contrast creates a heterotopian spatiotemporality on screen and articulates a distinctly Chinese Bildungsroman that engages with the complex, rapidly transforming network of Chinese media ecology.

Cinematic Representations of the Gwangju Uprising: Visualising the “New” South Korea in A Taxi Driver

ABSTRACT The civic unrest in Gwangju in May 1980 marks one of the most important turning points in modern South Korea’s history and collective memory. The so-called Gwangju Uprising did nothing less than herald South Korea’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. Images played an important role in this critical moment of change. Footage of the security forces quelling unrest showed the outside world what was happening in the city. One of the avenues through which the protests have been consistently reimagined is popular film. This article asks how the story of radical political change is articulated in A Taxi Driver, South Korea’s most-viewed and highest-grossing film on the Uprising. Contrasting with previous research, I argue, first, that A Taxi Driver adds to our knowledge of the Gwangju protests a story about the essential role of images in the contentious politics of the democratisation movement. Second, I contend that the film produces a specific account of the Uprising, one that allows us to see the politics of contention as an interrelation of different visibilities, which includes symbolic imagery, inside/outside configurations and male/female agency.

The Spiriting Away of Chihiro: Miyazaki’s Global Heroine

From 1963 to present day, Hayao Miyazaki has recounted the Heroine’s Journey of strong girls and young women through his animated films, television series and manga. Theatrically released in 2001 his hand drawn masterpiece Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Sen and Chihiro’s Spiriting Away) became the highest grossing film in Japanese history. It was dubbed into English and released by Disney in 2002, and went on to win the Academy Award for what is still the only foreign film to have ever won the Best Animated Feature category. Many critics have ranked it as the best animated film ever made. It’s a coming of age fantasy written and directed by Miyazaki and animated by his Studio Ghibli. It’s the Heroine’s Journey of 10-year-old Chihiro Ogina who is on her way to moving to a new home when she’s sidetracked into the Shinto spirit world of folklore. Her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba, and Chihiro must find a way, as she works in Yubaba’s bathhouse to free her parents and escape back to the human world.
 This essay examines and analyzes how Spirited Away follows the 10-stage model that Maureen Murdock describes in her book Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness. Murdock was a student of Campbell’s and came to believe through her work with women in therapy that his model of the Hero’s Journey didn’t acknowledge the psychological-spiritual aspects of a women’s journey. It argues that Miyazaki and his male dominated studio didn’t follow the Joseph Campbell model of The Hero’s Journey by simply telling a Shero’s journey or one that replaces the male protagonist with a female one, but that he celebrates the psycho-spiritual journey of Chihiro that Murdock outlines.

Black Panther and Blaxploitation: Intersections

Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018) was unquestionably a cultural sensation. It grossed over $1.3 billion at the global box office, and was the highest-grossing film of 2018 at the American box offi...

Speaking of character: Character strength references in movies and presidential nomination speeches

ABSTRACT One way in which language can be used for persuasive purposes is through references to personal character, or the lack thereof. A series of lexica reflecting 24 character strengths were developed and combined with existing lexica reflecting virtues and morality. Two studies were conducted to evaluate these lexica. The first compared words in presidential candidate nomination speeches from 1864 to 2016 to election outcomes. Results indicated that candidates’ use of terms related to hope was a better predictor of election outcomes than incumbency. In the second study, both the highest grossing and highest rated films of 2013–2016 included fewer words representing seven of the character variables than a normative database, while the highest grossing films contained more dialog referencing creativity and leadership. These results indicate that lexical analysis can provide a potentially useful tool for understanding the cultural use of positive character terms.

Black Panther’s Rage: Sovereignty, the Exception and Radical Dissent

Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler, became one of the highest grossing films of all time. It also received a lot of critical attention for its direct engagement with black experience and black politics. It speaks to the legacy of slavery and the exploitation of African-Americans and the ongoing post-colonial struggle represented most starkly by the Black Lives Matter Movement. However, the film was also criticised for supposedly leaving that radical black politics behind, even demonising it in its lead antagonist, Killmonger, and instead proposing a liberal, reformist agenda very much in keeping with current forms of sovereign power, bolstered under the current neoliberal regime by the charity of billionaires. To some extent this is understandable, but it is also a very limited reading of what happens in the film and does a disservice to the radical dissent that the character of Killmonger represents. To address this, the paper uses the concept of sovereignty and asks how superheroes can help us unpack this concept. It argues that rather than seeing superheroes as vigilantes, thinking of them as sovereigns helps us unpack the complex knot of law, authority and violence that is key to understanding it. In particular it draws on Agamben’s discussion of sovereignty and the politics of the exception, and how this might be relevant to Fanon’s work on counter-colonial violence to show how the film remains true to radical protest throughout. On the way it also addresses the important cultural politics of the original comic.

Has Akira Always Been a Cyberpunk Comic?

Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, interest in the cyberpunk genre peaked in the Western world, perhaps most evidently when Terminator 2: Judgment Day became the highest-grossing film of 1991. It has been argued that the translation of Katsuhiro Ōtomo’s manga Akira into several European languages at just that time (into English beginning in 1988, into French, Italian, and Spanish beginning in 1990, and into German beginning in 1991) was no coincidence. In hindsight, cyberpunk tropes are easily identified in Akira to the extent that it is nowadays widely regarded as a classic cyberpunk comic. But has this always been the case? When Akira was first published in America and Europe, did readers see it as part of a wave of cyberpunk fiction? Did they draw the connections to previous works of the cyberpunk genre across different media that today seem obvious? In this paper, magazine reviews of Akira in English and German from the time when it first came out in these languages will be analysed in order to gauge the past readers’ genre awareness. The attribution of the cyberpunk label to Akira competed with others such as the post-apocalyptic, or science fiction in general. Alternatively, Akira was sometimes regarded as an exceptional, novel work that transcended genre boundaries. In contrast, reviewers of the Akira anime adaptation, which was released at roughly the same time as the manga in the West (1989 in Germany and the United States), more readily drew comparisons to other cyberpunk films such as Blade Runner.

NOVEL-FILM INTERFACE AND POSTCOLONIAL DYSTOPIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TSITSI DANGAREMBGA’S NOVEL AND FILM, NERVOUS CONDITIONS AND NERIA

This paper comparatively and contrastively explores two art forms, the novel and film, by the same artist, Tsitsi Dangarembga, with a view to gauging their effectiveness in con­figuring Zimbabwe’s postcolonial dispensation. What is gained and what is lost when an artist shifts from one art form to another? Dangarembga belongs to the protest tradition of Zimbabwean postcolonial artists and the conceptual fibre of this tradition is notably the dystopian themes like disillusionment, cultural confusion, sex-role stereotyping, as well as social power relations. Dangarembga’s canonical novel, Nervous conditions (1988), and the highest grossing film in Zimbabwean history, Neria (1993), are both sterling at­tempts within the feminist tradition. The film and novel mirror a society in the throes of an epochal transition, the sense of impending change giving the works the commonality of an apocalyptic vision. Against a backdrop shaped by the interplay of historical, cul­tural and colonial forces, the works become perceptive anthropological windows into a society replete with multiple contradictions. In both her novel and her film, Dangarembga equips her protagonists, Tambudzai and Neria respectively, with a self-defining voice that questions and subverts the status quo. Salient manifestations of toxic masculinity in this patriarchal society account for the subtlety with which Dangarembga critiques gender relations within and without the boundaries of race and class. The protagonists in both works undergo rigorous struggles from which they ultimately emerge as different persons. This paper focuses on the nature of this struggle and its concomitant change.

Smoking in Movies and Adolescent Smoking Initiation: A Longitudinal Study among Argentinian Adolescents

To assess whether exposure to movie smoking is associated with cigarette smoking among Argentinian adolescents. A school-based longitudinal study involving 33 secondary schools in Argentina was performed. The sample included 2502 never smokers (average age at entry = 12.5 years), 1700 (67.9%) of whom completed follow-up surveys 17 months later. Exposure to the top 100 highest-grossing films for each year between 2009 and 2013 was assessed by content-coding films for tobacco and then by asking adolescents whether they had seen each of 50 titles, randomly selected from the larger pool, then parsing exposure into tertiles. Logistic regression models estimated aOR for the following transitions: nonsusceptible to susceptible never smoker, never smoker to ever smoker, and never smoker to current smoking (last 30 days). At follow-up, 34.4% of nonsusceptible never smokers became susceptible, 24.1% reported having tried smoking, and 9.4% were current smokers. Most exposure to movie smoking was from US-produced films (average 60.3 minutes compared with only 3.4 minutes from Argentine films). Greater exposure to smoking in movies was significantly associated with increased odds of becoming susceptible (aORfirst vs third tertile 1.77, 95% CI 1.30-2.41), of trying smoking (aORfirst vs third tertile 1.54, 1.14-2.08), and marginally associated with current smoking (AORfirst vs third tertile 1.54, 0.99-2.40). Exposure to smoking in US- or Argentine-produced films had similar associations. In Argentina, exposure to smoking in the movies predicted future smoking transitions among early adolescents, with most exposure coming from viewing US movies.

Study the Phenomenon of Cross-Media between Video Media and Webtoon

Cross-media phenomenon, which is a remediation of webtoon as original to movie and soap opera, has been becoming more active since the mid 2000s. As the story is complete and its contents are amusing, the remediation of webtoon has been increasingly becoming active. However, it has rarely become a high-grossing movie or received high viewer ratings. This study derived success factors through an comparison of the narrative structures and visual factors of “Secretly, Greatly”, which became the highest-grossing film and Misaeng”, which got high viewer ratings and got a reputation as well-made soap opera, with the webtoon as the original. However, it has rarely become a highgrossing movie or received high viewer ratings. This study derived success factors through an comparison of the narrative structures and visual factors of “Secretly, Greatly”, which became the highest-grossing film and Misaeng”, which got high viewer ratings and got a reputation as well-made soap opera, with the webtoon as the original.

Exposure of Secondary School Adolescents from Argentina and Mexico to Smoking Scenes in Movies: a Population-based Estimation.

Smoking scenes in movies promote adolescent smoking onset; thus, the analysis of the number of images of smoking in movies really reaching adolescents has become a subject of increasing interest. The aim of this study was to estimate the level of exposure to images of smoking in movies watched by adolescents in Argentina and Mexico. First-year secondary school students from Argentina and Mexico were surveyed. One hundred highest-grossing films from each year of the period 2009-2013 (Argentina) and 2010-2014 (Mexico) were analyzed. Each participant was assigned a random sample of 50 of these movies and was asked if he/she had watched them. The total number of adolescents who had watched each movie in each country was estimated and was multiplied by the number of smoking scenes (occurrences) in each movie to obtain the number of gross smoking impressions seen by secondary school adolescents from each country. Four-hundred and twenty-two movies were analyzed in Argentina and 433 in Mexico. Exposure to more than 500 million smoking impressions was estimated for adolescents in each country, averaging 128 and 121 minutes of smoking scenes seen by each Argentine and Mexican adolescent, respectively. Although 15, 16 and 18-rated movies had more smoking scenes in average, movies rated for younger teenagers were responsible for the highest number of smoking scenes watched by the students (67.3% in Argentina and 54.4% in Mexico) due to their larger audience. At the population level, movies aimed at children are responsible for the highest tobacco burden seen by adolescents.