Great films grounded in great insights tend to do well financially.

To illustrate this assertion, I have drawn upon the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the “100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time” (See list) along with the longer list of 300 films that were nominated for inclusion. We’ll consider just eight films from the list that I would argue are centered around core life insights: ROCKY (1976), STAR WARS (1977), IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997), ET – THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982), THE KARATE KID (1984), CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981), and BILLY ELLIOT (2000). 

According to figures on The Numbers, the range of production budgets across these films was $3.2 million to $11.0 million (average $7.2 million) and the box office gross across them ranges from $57.0 million to $793.0 million as of the year 2020 (average $293.4 million, see STAR WARS numbers as example).

So, like Han Solo in the original STAR WARS, even if you’re not into making films grounded in great insights for the potential impact on audience members, rather simply “to be well paid; I’m in it for the money”, such grounding still makes economic sense.

Some attribute the economic success of STAR WARS to its inclusion of simple insights and ideas like good versus evil and the presence of a great, unseen power in the universe (“the Force”) that can transcend cultures and ages (Taylor, 2015).  The first film and ensuing franchise involve multiple characters and multiple storylines surrounding such larger themes and that also deal with other universal themes like maturation (for Luke), redemption (for Han), love (for Han and Leia), friendship (for Han and Chewbacca), and legacy (for Obi Wan). 

People have questions about what matters in life, what to believe in, and what to dedicate one’s life to and can find answers offered through institutions like religion or science unsatisfactory (Hägglund, 2019).  It seems many have found the life answers offered by STAR WARS to be satisfactory.

And because of the life answers, the insights, STAR WARS and other films like those referenced above offer, consumers show up. They buy tickets, digital downloads, blu-ray discs, soundtracks, and merchandise of all types. They take expensive trips to theme parks and film locations connected to these films.

To paraphrase Princess Leia in her response to Han’s initial exclusive focus on financial return for his efforts, if you develop films upon core life answers or insights, you can be more confident in realizing a substantial financial “reward”.

But if you’re looking beyond amount of financial return from your film to the degree of meaningful impact it might have, a focus on core life insights is again key. We’ll address this next.

References

Hägglund, M. (2019). This life: secular faith and spiritual freedom. Pantheon.

Taylor, C. (2015). How Star Wars conquered the universe: the past, present, and future of a multibillion dollar franchise. Basic Books.