Box-Office Theory Sinks With 'Titanic'

In her first theatrical film, "The Peacemaker," the same seriousness was there. Some reviewers of that film complained, after years of criticizing American action films for being "comic book" movies, that the film was not comic book enough, a complaint some have had about "Impact" as well. Leder brings the same concern with character that is the hallmark of the best of American series television into the world of big-budget American films at just the time when there is the maturation of the audience for American films.

While there were a lot of adult women at "Titanic," using the term "maturation of the audience" may seem odd, since there is an industry awareness of the teenage girl market, which certainly helped the grosses of both "Titanic" and everything starring either Jennifer Love Hewitt or Neve Campbell. The teen female audience is, however, only part of the new women's audience, but it is not surprising that it has developed in the last 10 years, during the time the women's audience has developed. The teens of today have grown up with the post-feminist attitude that there are and should be movies for them, and it is an attitude that their younger siblings have as well--hence the "Coooool" at "Mulan."

Does this mean the end of the simple-minded, testosterone-driven blockbuster? Probably not. But it does mean that Hollywood needs to stop denying that there is a massive audience of women who will turn out for more than the conventional films.

And guys, too, for that matter. You and I have both assumed that the kid who said, "Coooool," was a girl. I didn't turn around to look but it may well have been a post-feminist boy.

And keep in mind as well that the highest approval ratings for "Little Women" were from men, ages 50 and older.

Tom Stempel is a professor of cinema at Los Angeles City College. The third edition of his book "FrameWork: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film" will be published next year by Syracuse University Press.

The seriousness with which a lot of its audience took "Titanic" changed the game, and "Deep Impact" is the beneficiary of that change.