Understanding macro-level trends in the entertainment industry is vital to the advancement of mass communication theories. The current paper works towards this end by providing a representative layout of genre patterns across the film industry. We analyze 9,068 films released from 1997 to 2017, and examine genre in terms of success, co-occurrence, release, and production. Consistent with past work, results highlight differences between genres that garner popularity (e.g., Action) and acclaim (e.g., Drama). Moreover, we found four unique genre clusters within our data indicating that specific genres tend to be featured together more frequently than others (e.g., Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, and Musical). We also demonstrate which genres have had increased (e.g., Adventure), decreased (e.g., Comedy), and consistent (e.g., Thriller) production across the 20-year span. Finally, we found differential release patterns across the calendar year, such that popular genres (e.g., Science Fiction) are frequently released during Summer and acclaimed genres (e.g., Biography) are frequently released during Fall and Winter. Taken together, the findings describe the mass-market film landscape and demonstrate variance in the production and appeal of different genres over time. Thus, these data can serve as a first step toward studying how the entertainment industry influences and reacts to audiences’ media preferences.

了解娱乐业的宏观趋势对于大众传播理论的发展至关重要。当前的论文通过提供整个电影行业的流派模式的代表性布局来实现这一目标。我们分析了从 1997 年到 2017 年发行的 9,068 部电影，并从成功、共现、发行和制作方面考察了类型。与过去的工作一致，结果突出了获得流行（例如，动作）和赞誉（例如，戏剧）的类型之间的差异。此外，我们在数据中发现了四个独特的流派集群，表明特定流派往往比其他流派（例如，冒险、动画、家庭、奇幻和音乐剧）更频繁地出现在一起。我们还展示了哪些类型有所增加（例如，冒险）、减少（例如，喜剧）和一致（例如，惊悚片）制作跨越 20 年。最后，我们发现了不同日历年的不同发布模式，例如流行类型（例如科幻小说）经常在夏季发布，而广受好评的类型（例如传记）经常在秋季和冬季发布。总而言之，调查结果描述了大众市场电影的格局，并证明了不同类型电影的制作和吸引力随时间的变化。因此，这些数据可以作为研究娱乐业如何影响观众的媒体偏好并对其做出反应的第一步。传记）经常在秋季和冬季发布。总而言之，调查结果描述了大众市场电影的格局，并证明了不同类型电影的制作和吸引力随时间的变化。因此，这些数据可以作为研究娱乐业如何影响观众的媒体偏好并对其做出反应的第一步。传记）经常在秋季和冬季发布。总而言之，调查结果描述了大众市场电影的格局，并证明了不同类型电影的制作和吸引力随时间的变化。因此，这些数据可以作为研究娱乐业如何影响观众的媒体偏好并对其做出反应的第一步。