Boys spurn action moves for video games

Group, Jul/Aug 1998

Noticed a change in what's showing at your local multiplex lately? Guns and explosions have given way to kisses and weddings. Love springs eternal in many of the latest films, with more of Cupid's darts on the way. Why Hollywood's sudden interest in affairs of the heart? What else? IVf.

More and more films are targeting young women, using romance and handsome young men as the lure. Studies show that boys no longer look to movies as their primary source of entertainment-video games and the Internet are # 1. Half of all boys say they play computer games daily, compared to just less than a third of all girls (30%). Recent lackluster performances by U.S. Marshals, Mercury Rising, and Replacement Killers have shown that guys don't flock to action movies as they used to.

On the flip side, girls use movies as a bonding experience with their friends, often viewing favorite movies multiple times. Titanic is the obvious spark plug for this trend, but it was quickly followed by The Wedding Singer and City of Angels. Hollywood producer Laurence Mark says movie studios have learned their lesson: "Women can drive the box office." And Newsweek film reviewer David Ansen says, "It seems we may be in for a run of love stories, tear-jerkers, and romantic comedies." So look for Hollywood to push even harder to cash in on girls' knight-in-shining-armor dreams.