Potential Adoption of Film (Diffusion Theory)

 

Diffusion Theory of Movies

    The pioneers of film focused on just that- film. It was a series of photos taken in rapid succession shown through a zoetrope. Once the technology started to advance, and individuals could get more frames per second, the idea of major motion pictures started to take off. This included mostly silent black and white films, but the idea was getting more popular nonetheless. The early adopters saw the potential, and invested in new technology, which lead to better cameras and equipment. These early adopters are one of the reasons that television became so popular. Since zoogyroscope, movies have advanced exponentially. 

    We are currently at the tipping point between the Early and Late Majority phases. When marvel movies come out, people flood to the movie theatres. Recently, a new Spiderman movie was announced. The tickets got released Monday, November 29th, at midnight. So many people bought tickets that it crashed the internet. People were in virtual wait lines for hours going until 3 am. Almost every ticket for the showings on the first day were sold out immediately. We are currently living in the peak time for movies, until the technology that allows people to virtually be in the movie or something comes out.

    I believe that we will not see the saturation phase of motion pictures for a very long time. Movies as a concept are a timeless classic, that simply adapt their technology and ideas over time in order to revamp themselves to the Adoption Phase. The terms that come to mind when thinking of examples are 3D movies, Imax, and surround sound. Back in the 50's there were movies where people were wearing blackface, and now there's movies such as Moonlight supporting this new generations ideals. The industry is ever-growing and ever-changing that will continually update to match the times and technology. 

    There will always be laggards, but the amount of people that have never seen a movie at this point is little to none. The laggards most likely consist of the older generation who don't have the ability or technology to watch movies. They are an iconic medium which has the capability to possibly be at 100% penetration.