George Clooney, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks helped "Gravity" and "Captain Phillips" become hits in part because the over-50 demo loves stars their own age -- a problem for youngsters.
This story first appeared in the Nov. 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
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As moviegoers began lining up for Gravity in early October, box-office observers predicted that the Saturday haul would increase by 5 percent over the Friday opening. But defying the normal pattern, Alfonso Cuaron's space epic shot up 32 percent on Saturday on its way to a $55.8 million opening, one of the top October debuts of all time. The secret? Instead of younger males, who typically turn out on Friday nights, the film drew older ticket buyers -- and especially baby boomers -- who waited a day to see favorites Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
The weekend's takeaway: Stars still matter to the growing older demo of moviegoers. The largest segment of Gravity's opening-weekend audience -- 32 percent -- was 50 or over; nearly 60 percent was older than 35, according to exit-polling service CinemaScore. And they came not just for the visual effects: Forty-two percent of the audience said they showed up to watch Bullock, while 40 percent turned out for Clooney.
The same phenomenon repeated itself when Sony's Captain Phillips opened to a better-than-expected $25.7 million the following weekend. Twenty-eight percent of ticket buyers were 50 and older, and many were attracted by the reassuring presence ofTom Hanks.
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