• Project Title: Critical and Consumer Choice: The Effect of Critical Aggregate Websites on Audience Engagement

  • BASIS Advisor: Dr. Jupin

  • Internship Location: Century Theatres

  • Onsite Mentor: Mr. Ryan Bordow

The state of movies in 2018 and 2019 is a pivotal one. With major franchises coming to a close and newer ones beginning to take up the positions once held by larger studios, the landscape of Hollywood is beginning to change. It’s now more important than ever that studios begin to learn both what critics and consumers ask for in a product, and how to craft a product that suits all parties. The spread of social media and the Internet has fundamentally changed how audiences choose what they want to watch, which also spells certain change for studios, no longer able to pass off subpar products to the general public. By working with Century Theatres, I will gather consumer opinions and compare them to worldwide data, collecting the information necessary to construct a model of the most profitable and critically successful movies in order to show the significance and structure of trends. I hope to not only investigate how critics write their reviews, but how the website assimilates data and the general effect it has on the movie-going public, and what effect this has on the worldwide industry as a whole.