Latinos go to more movies than any other group

Latinos Attend More Movies Than Anyone Else But Are The Least Represented On Screen

Hollywood studios appear to be missing the mark when it comes to representing one of their biggest consumers on the big screen.  Latinos go to more movies than any other group, including whites, and yet they play only 4 percent of roles onscreen, according to a new study by the University of Southern California.  "Studios are always looking for the next big thing. If they looked at the statistics, they'd see this is it," said Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.  Across the 100 top-grossing films of 2012, Latinos (who constitute 17 percent of the U.S.) are the most underrepresented group, with only 4.2 percent of speaking roles, according to the study.  And yet Latinos, on average, attended 9.5 movies in 2012, more than Asian (6.5 movies), African-American (6.3) and white audiences (6.1), according to Nielson's market research. In terms of movie tickets sold in 2012, whites (78 percent of the U.S.) bought 56 percent of them, and Latinos (17 percent of the U.S.) bought 26 percent, according to a Motion Picture Association of America report.