What themes do the top movies have in common?
Comparing top 50 grossing movies with top Oscar winners
Top 50 grossing movies
- Superheroes: 11
- Animation: 11
- Space opera: 5
- Magic: 4
- Fantasy: 4
- Dinosaurs: 3
- Pirates: 3
- Gritty remakes of children shows: 2
- Giant robots: 2
- Racing: 2
- Romantic drama: 1
- Secret agent: 1
- Jumanji: 1
Take note:
- Avatar is counted as space opera.
- The Incredibles is counted as animation, not superhero.
- No idea where Jumanji fits, or if there were ever a movie with a similar theme.
Animation here is the broadest theme, but I figure someone who would watch The Lion King would also watch Frozen, as opposed to watching Harry Potter or James Bond. So I clump them in the same category. Similarly a kid may watch The Incredibles but not Captain Marvel.
I group them broadly by the kind of audience they attract. So, the 2017 Beauty and the Beast would be in an entirely different theme to 1991’s Beauty and the Beast.
But this seems really strange, as you’d think there aren’t even that many superhero movies out there. Most movies I’ve heard of are quite mundane. Most of these are children fantasies — who thought giant robots would even be a thing?
So I looked at Oscars. Now the Oscars are a lot tougher. Most of the movies tell a unique story. Where does Forrest Gump even fit? “Drama” and “Comedy” are too broad; and while I’d watch Forrest Gump, I’m unlikely to watch The Hurt Locker.
I sorted it by top number of Oscars won, and then cropped it at 50. It’s not a perfect methodology, but I just want a decent sample size.
Top Oscar winning movies
- Musical: 9
- Historical fan fiction: 6
- Biography: 6
- Crime: 6
- Military/war: 6
- Fictional biography: 5
- Daily life: 5
- Romantic drama: 2
- Fantasy: 1
- Western: 1
- Space: 1
- Space opera: 1
- Post apocalypse: 1
I had to make up some themes:
- Musical were things like The Sound of Music, which may have a good plot but wouldn’t be the same without singing.
- Historical fan fiction are things like Schindler’s List which were based on a true story, and maybe even Lawrence of Arabia which were halfway true with a lot of embellishment.
- Biography tries to stick closer to reality, movies like Gandhi and The Last Emperor. The line is blurred with historical fan fiction, as there often is some embellishment, but these movies usually focus more on a single character.
- Fictional biography would be things like Forrest Gump and Slumdog Millionaire which focuses on someone’s interesting life.
- Daily life is something I had to make up as an alternative to simply “drama”. It’s for things like Terms of Endearment and Kramer vs Kramer which are about mundane every day people with stories to tell.
- Romantic drama covers something like the Titanic, which seems a bit exaggerated, but for romantic purposes.
Well, this was all completely different to the Top Grossing list. While Lord of the Rings was a strong contender, it seems to be more luck, like having a slow year. It’s very unlikely for a fantasy, sci-fi, or superhero film to win several Oscars.
If you want to win an Oscar, tell a unique story, something others weren’t able to. A huge number of Oscars were adapted from novels.
I’d say to be a top grossing film, you have to appeal to childish fantasies. Instead of adapting from novels, you’d adapt from childhood toys, Disneyland rides, children’s books, or even a former best selling children’s movie.
