-- Using data from over 1,000 random movies, we have identified trends from movies with a high return on investment.
-- We chose ROI (Return on Investment) over actual profits, as a better indicator for companies that are newly breaking into the sector. Newly starting companies generally begin with a lower budget and rely on ROI to build a solid foundation and to afford maximum reinvest.
- Runtime
- Genre
- Month of Release
Movies that fall into a certain range of runtimes are more likely to result in a sale.
When they run outside of these times, consumers may be more hesitant to watch.
According to our data analysis, it shows that movies with runtimes of 80-140 minutes are most profitable
Notice it does not guarantee a profitable movie, but it does lower the chance of it not being profitable.
Genres describe the movie and what the type of story the consume will be watching.
There are many genres and more than one can be used to describe a production.
The top genres for return on investment are Horror, Thriller, and Mystery
The worst genres are Western, and War
Month of release is a factor of season, holidays, weather, and culture and a consumer’s likelihood of watching a movie during that time frame.
July and October show the highest return on investment.
March and September have an extremely low ROI
The competition of these months is as follows
October, November, and December have the highest number of average releases
January, February, and May have the least number of average releases
*A high rate of return along with low competition is a great combination for a company looking to break into this area.*
Between 80-140 minutes
Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Avoid Western and War
July and October
Avoid March and September
- Stay in between the recommended runtimes, aiming mostly for the middle of the two.
- Create a movie with a combination of the top three genres, so it hits on all three, which will appear inticing to a broader range of consumers.
- Do not release a movie in March or September. It has both very low ROI and higher competition.
- If you are looking to start with a lower budget, I recommend releasing a title in January which has a high ROI and low competition.
- If you intend to make any combination of horror and are starting with a large budget, schedule the theater release of this movie in October (as you will be more competitive).