The 1st Annual State of the Market Research Report

Market Research on the Documentary Film Genre By Matthew Abshire

In conducting market research on documentaries I ran into a major problem: the data was not comprehensively organized or investigated. After talking with various professors here at Northwestern University, with research companies like Nielson Media Research, movie rental companies like NetFlix and Blockbuster and finally with film companies like Sony, Fox Entertainment and Warner Brothers, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I had spent too much time searching for data that just wasn’t in existence.

Wasting more than half the quarter digging in the wrong direction, I was left with too little time to conduct my own thorough research of the U.S. population. The goal of this research project was to investigate who watches documentaries and if this film genre was gaining a wider audience or not. Though a survey may work best for this type of data gathering, there is an almost equally effective way to investigate film: through box office numbers.

Using this procedure I visited several websites that had collected this data on some level or another. The most comprehensive website is www.boxofficemojo.com. This site gathers countless box office numbers and organizes the numbers into a coherent list, ranking the top 455 documentaries of all time. Most other sites would limit their data to the top 10, although they will not be cited as much as boxofficemojo.com, they were used to support the data from this main site.

What can we learn from mere box office numbers? After all, documentaries are notorious for being released in only a handful of theaters and usually only last for a week or so before being replaced by some Hollywood blockbuster. However, this data does show which films are being seen most often.

It also breaks the information down by the film’s release date, the number of theaters it was released in and which company helped distribute it. All this information can help us understand the general trends in documentary production. As such, using this data I hope to piece together a broad picture of documentary film in order to better understand the current market.

1. Is the documentary film industry growing?

This is a somewhat obvious question to answer. After all, if you ask a person to name three documentary films, their answers will usually reside to films like Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins, an Inconvenient Truth or Super Size Me.

Not surprisingly, these films are all in the top ten highest grossing documentaries of all time. In fact, only Super Size Me falls outside of the top five. Not surprisingly, of the top 100 highest grossing documentaries, over half of them were released after the new millennium and only 9 were released before 1990.

This data clearly indicates an increase in documentary awareness by the general public, but the box office numbers aren’t the only ideas supporting this trend. A film’s budget shows both the level of commitment a studio is willing to give a director and the anticipated reaction by the general public to see the film. As such, a greater budget means the company believes a large portion of the public will see the end result.

Comparing Michael Moore’s first major film (Roger & Me) with his most recent release (Fahrenheit 9/11) demonstrates a sharp increase in studio “trust” in its return investment. Roger & Me, which was released in 1989, only received a budget of $160,000. Fifteen years later, Moore raked in six million dollars for Fahrenheit 9/11. Such a significant increase in funding wouldn’t occur unless the studios believed people would pay to see his most recent work.

Michael Moore isn’t the only documentary director raking in support as March of The Penguins had around an eight million dollar budget, and both Wal-Mart: The high Cost of Low Prices and Who Killed the Electric Car raised over a million dollars each.

Obviously, these numbers are low compared to the several hundred million dollar budgets Hollywood films use, but considering that most documentary crews use less than a ten person staff, the costs are understandably significantly less. Also, considering big budget documentaries are now reaching into the millions mark, its clear studios feel there is a growing amount of interest in this genre.

Both box office gross and studio investment show an increase in the documentary genre’s fan base. In other words, the casual film watcher is becoming more interested in the topics and directors of this genre, and this awareness adds for greater budgets and returns for filmmakers and studios alike.

2. Are documentary films more liberal-minded than most media sources?

This is a question I would like to address because it’s an issue many people question. Though there is no easy answer, there are some conclusions that can be drawn from the little data that is available. But, as always, it is important to know that there is some level of subjectivity and generalization that must occur when dealing with this topic.

The immediate answer to the “liberal” question would be a resounding ‘yes.’ Both journalists and filmmakers are generally at least slightly more liberal than the average U.S. citizen. Considering most documentarians are a combination of these two categories, it’s no surprise that their political views would potentially be left leaning.

But what about their films? Unlike most journalists whose political views are kept in check by ethical policies of neutrality and mangers/editors who are generally more conservative, documentary filmmakers have no one to hold them back. Is there then a connection between the views of the filmmaker and the ideals of the film they create?

Again, the best way to look at this is to return to the box office numbers and see which types of films are grossing the most money. The problem with this tactic is the data can be misleading. For instance, of the top five highest grossing films, three deal with political subjects and all take an extreme left leaning view (not necessarily radical, but far enough from the normally held moderate view). Judging by these numbers, it would seem the majority of documentaries are about politics and aim to pull their audiences to the liberal side.

However, including the entire top 100 films, the assumptions change slightly. Of these films, almost 40 share a more liberal vantage point while the other 60 documentaries are either a-political or more moderate/neutral (I have to point out that there are distinctly zero conservative minded movies on this list).

On a similar note, there are only around 16 films dealing with political topics directly but over 25 other documentaries concentrate on artists or theater related subjects. Indeed, there are more movies about sports than there are about politics. It is also important to note that four of these political films were made by Michael Moore, so the figures are slanted slightly in favor of one filmmaker.

Even with these figures, it’s important to note that not a single film on this list is of a conservative nature. Few filmmakers have researched topics supporting President Bush, or the war in Iraq, or to claim global warming is not as bad as Al Gore makes it out to be. In the past five years, only one documentary has even attempted to support big business (Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why that Drives Some People Crazy) and this film is almost entirely overshadowed by it’s counter argument (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price). There is a more liberal slant within the documentary film genre, its just not as distinct or defined as some would usually expect, and its mainly confined to the rather distinct area of political and social subjects.

3. Are documentary films becoming more liberal?

If documentaries as a whole have had a more liberal view than most other sources of media, the next logical discussion is if this slant has become more or less pronounced in recent years. This of course is an even tougher question to answer, but we can use similar guidelines from the previous section to draw some (at least general) conclusions.

Immediately, from this top 100 list, one can see that 13 of the 16 political oriented films were released after September 11th. And five of the seven documentaries released this past year had a more liberal slant.

This shouldn’t be too surprising in terms of general knowledge. Think back to the list of documentaries most people might remember hearing about. Of that list, two were Michael Moore films, one was about the harmful effects of eating at fast food restaurants and one was about Global Warming- only March of the Penguins avoids any sort of political agenda. If you add in films like Wal-Mart the High Cost of Low Prices, The Corporation and Gunner’s Palace, you realize that most well advertised documentaries are seeking a political agenda on some level.

Compare this with the top five grossing films before 1995 and you’ll find two about musicians (Madonna and John Lennon), one about basketball in the inner city (Hoop Dreams), one about Transvestites and Michael Moore’s first creation. Four out of the five have no political agenda and only two really serve to promote more liberal ideas. In a matter of a decade, you can see the shift in emphasis.

Of course, there have been several apolitical documentaries in recent years (Tupac: Resurrection, the Aristocrats, Spellbound, Winged Migration, etc) but there does seem to be a clear trend.

The main reason could be attributed to our country’s growing interest in political ideas. But why the liberal slant? It’s a tough question to answer and is probably wrapped in any number of reasons, but there are two key ideas that may be supporting this trend.

  1. Is the obvious mindset of the filmmaker. As mentioned previously, documentarians are not impeded by a journalistic code of remaining neutral, nor are they limited by space/time constraints or by a manager with differing views. This allows them to pursue and promote their own views in their own manner.
  2. The success of Michael Moore. Moore has been influential in more than just his political beliefs. Three of his films are in the top 15 highest grossing documentaries of all time and a fourth is on the top 100 list. No other documentary director has shared in as much fame or financial success as he has. Obviously, film studios see this success and hope to recreate it. Unable to sign Moore to a deal, they instead find other directors or projects that appear to hold similar ideals. In doing this, political and social oriented documentaries with even a slightly liberal viewpoint receive greater funding and more opportunity to succeed.

Conclusion

The final question is so what? What does all this data mean and how can it serve both future documentary filmmakers and their audiences? Aside from the trends outlined here and the minute data strewn about various film websites, is there a lesson to be learned?

The answer is yes. There are two main ideas I’ve gained from this data. It demonstrates the growth of (at least part of) the documentary film industry to serve as a counterweight to both mainstream media and daily talk shows. The data also shows how this genre picks up the thread of daily news events and puts the stories into a larger context. For instance, Bowling for Columbine starts with the high school shooting and draws this event into a larger context of American violence and the NRA’s political domination in our country. Similarly, Super Size Me uses a single lawsuit against McDonald’s to ask a larger question of what the harmful effects of eating fast food truly are.

In both cases, the directors act as researchers, the single event is not the primary concern, but the effects of the individuals surrounding it are. Both films emphasize the larger context and help organize arguments that either support or refute commonly held beliefs.

Documentaries also serve to counter the commonly heard views on talk shows and pundit programs. Obviously, Michael Moore rivals Bill O’Reilly in both recognition and political ideals, but so too does Chris Paine (Who Killed the Electric Car?) Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line, Fog of War), Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices) and Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight)- and others. Some directors have sparked national debate- Greenwald, Moore and Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth)- while others have even over turned court cases (Errol Morris). Though they may not be as well known as talk show hosts, they are growing in fame and hold a surprising amount of influence over our society. For this reason alone, it is important to continue to develop strong documentary directors and producers.

However, despite this argument, I fear that this discussion and emphasis on political topics will serve only to limit the scope of future filmmakers. Some of the best films in this genre avoid political discussion, instead focusing on human existence or recapturing the essence of life and lifestyles. The most important and crucial aspect of documentaries is not their ability to develop a coherent argument, but to keep investigating, filming and appreciating the infinity within humanity.

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