Hispanics to Change the Face of Hollywood Movies, Panel Says
Changes are coming to Hollywood.
At a Los Angeles conference held on Sunday, an expert of panels said that Hispanics are the biggest fans of going to the movies in the United states, according to Variety.
During an hour-long panel titled "How the Hispanic Audience Can Make All the Difference," John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said. "We are a growth business, and Hispanics have a lot to do with it."
Peter Filaci, of Univision, said that 19 percent of U.S. box revenue comes from Hispanics, who only make up 17.5 percent of the population. Of course, this number will continue to increase. By 2024, there should be an increase of 5 million Hispanic consumers aged 18-49.
Statistics also show that Hispanics are more likely to see movies on opening weekend than other groups.
In a year, Hispanics see an average of six movies a year. Other groups see about four.
"Hispanics embrace moviegoing much more than other cultures in the U.S.," said Ray Ydoyaga, a Nielsen exec. "They believe it's important to stay in tune with what's new and they believe it's important to make a habit of going to the movies."
Roberto Orci, who has worked with Alex Kurtzman on movies "Transformers," "Star Trek" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," said that Hispanics' draw to technology was initially underestimated.
The presentation also reported that Hispanics represent "the biggest game changer since the baby boom."
In 2011, Hollywood began catering to Hispanic audiences. But it wasn't until 2013 that they saw the group's power, Yahoo reported. "Fast & Furious 6" is the ninth highest-grossing movie of 2013, and it was directly marketed to Latinos. And "Gravity," which was the sixth highest-grossing movie of the same year, was appealing to Latinos because of Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.
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