Blockbusters, Sleepers, or Flops: How Film Content and Film Characteristics Influence Cinemagoer Choice of Cinema

The Nigerian Cinema industry faces several challenges related to film content and film characteristics. Nevertheless, studies are lacking that empirically established whether film content and film characteristics influence cinemagoer choice of cinema in the Nigerian context. To achieve these unexplored particular objectives and establish a schema of the determinants of cinemagoer choice of cinema, a convenience sample of 323 cinemagoers was pooled in Awka metropolis, South-East, Nigeria. Moreover, the study employed multiple regression analysis to test the formulated hypotheses with the aid of SPSS Version 20.0 software at 5% level of significance. Findings indicate that the two stimuli examined, namely film content and film characteristics influence cinemagoer choice of cinema. More importantly, film characteristics have more influence than film content. Finally, the study concludes that for cinema operators to succeed in the present day Nigeria, there is the need for them to understand how and why cinema audience purchase cinema services, improve on the collaborations and connections with cinema distributors, and also understand the gradual process leading to what the audience likes in cinema settings. Recommendations for global and particularly Nigerian cinema industry stakeholders were made.