Study finds our taste in movies is highly idiosyncratic

Taste in movies is idiosyncratic, and not linked to the demographic traits that film studios target, a study has found. It also shows that moviegoers' ratings don't always match those of film critics. The survey of more more than 3,000 people found that the best predictor of a non-critics' response to a film was the aggregated evaluations of other non-critics, such as those on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The results of a study revealed that there were generally low levels of correlation in movie preferences among non-film critics - in other words, their movie tastes were highly individualistic. 'What we find enjoyable in movies is strikingly subjective - so much so that the industry's targeting of film goers by broad demographic categories seems off the mark,' says Dr Pascal Wallisch, a clinical assistant professor in New York University's Department of Psychology and the senior author of the study.