“Once Upon A time in San Francisco – The Black Hatchet” is a Historical/Action/Adventure/Martial Arts film and comic book with elements of the “superhero” motif (Marvel/DC/Dark Horse) that is the most popular genre in American cinema. Moreover, the cast and story is written to appeal to multiple International audiences.

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The culturally diverse cast mirrors the most sought-after age group of 18 – 34, including the Black Hatchet, his love interest Lorna and his kidnapped sister Rose who is 14. Much of the cast is Chinese (this is a key foreign audience for action film distribution, see table below), plus Native and African American characters as well as commanding female characters, especially for 1906.

 

According to SAWA, Global Cinema Advertising Association, “specifically, cinemagoers are typically younger than the population with generally half of the visits made by people in the key 14-34 demographic. Cinema going has increased against all age groups in the last few years, with the most dramatic growth seen amongst the over 25’s.”

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“Approximately ¾ of a typical cinema audience are frequent cinemagoers, who go to the movies on average at least once every four weeks . . . are usually young and affluent, with high disposable incomes. They are avid shoppers, into fashion and technology and lead busy and active lives . . .” 

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In addition, according to the GITNUX Market Data Report 2024, “the most popular genre of movies by American audiences for the past 22 years is Action/Adventure . . . the three highest grossing movies of all time are all Marvel movies.”

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According to AMERICAN FILM MARKET “action films . . . perform disproportionality best in Asia and weakest in Europe.” 

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Therefore, a Historical/Action/Adventure/Martial Arts film with a cross-section of cultures and women featuring Asian characters will be eye-catching to global and specifically Pacific Rim audiences generating desirable distribution channels.

 

In the chart below, zero indicates the global average performance, so a positive score indicates that the genre in question performs disproportionality well in that territory.