American actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford on the set of Star Wars: Episode IV – A … [+]
Is Star Wars your state’s favorite summer action movie of all time or is it Aliens or Jurassic Park? A new study has some answers.
In a new report published by PlayUSA that is based on a study by Richfield Research, director Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park was named the favorite summer movie by eight states in the U.S., including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee and Virginia.
Richfield Research surveyed 2,000 Americans in May and coupled the results with data collected from Google Trends from 2019 to 2024.
According to the study, the median age of the participants surveyed was 35, with 54% identifying as women, 44% as men and 2% as other.
Director George Lucas’ original Star Wars movie from 1977, which was later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, was found to be the most popular movie in only one state—Minnesota.
The finding is surprising considering Star Wars’ lifetime domestic gross of nearly $461 million, which adjusted for inflation equates to more than $1.6 billion in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. That makes Star Wars only second on the all-time list behind Gone with the Wind, the box officer tracker reported.
Actors Michael Biehn, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser and Jenette Goldstein, in a scene … [+]
What Else Is Popular And Where?
Another popular summer action movie in multiple states, according to the PlayUSA report, is director James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi hit Aliens. The report said the Sigourney Weaver movie was favored in Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
Cameron’s 1991 release Terminator 2: Judgment Day—starring Arnold Schwarzenegger—was favored in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg’s first Indiana Jones movie—1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark—was found to be the favorite summer action movie in Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
Broken down by generations, the study found that Rocky II is the most popular summer movie with Baby Boomers, while Generation X favors Terminator 2. Millennials are the biggest fans of Jurassic Park, according to the study and Generation Z hails Mad Max: Fury Road.
PlayUSA said the study was based on 350 action movie titles from Wikipedia, The Numbers, IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. To conduct the study, Richfield Research also analyzed the highest-grossing “traditional” action movies of the last 50 years—but excluded movies that “heavily overlap in genre.”
See the breakdown of each state’s favorite summer action movie in the map and the list below. Oddly enough, some states favored movies that weren’t hugely popular at the box office—and at least one that wasn’t released during the summer movie season.
A map of every state’s favorite action movie.
- Aliens: Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma
- Armageddon: South Carolina
- Creed: Kentucky
- Die Hard: Maryland, South Dakota, Washington
- Fearless: Arkansas
- First Blood: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia
- Hard Boiled: Montana
- Independence Day: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
- Jurassic Park: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Virginia
- Kill Bill Vol I: Kansas
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania
- Old Boy: Washington D.C.
- Police Story: Iowa
- Raiders of the Lost Ark: Oregon, Utah, Wyoming
- Rocky II: Connecticut, Rhode Island
- Rocky III: Delaware
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope: Minnesota
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Vermont
- The Matrix: New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas
- The Matrix Reloaded: Alaska, Idaho
While the 2024 summer movie season has had its highs with hits like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Bad Boys: Ride or Die—and lows with the underwhelming performances of The Fall Guy and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga—there is a positive from the PlayUSA report and Richfield Research study.
According to the report, 73% of Americans find that a summer action movie is better to see in a theater rather than streaming. Only 57%, however, plan on seeing a summer action movie in theaters in 2024.
