Sports film

From ArticleWorld

While it is not usually deemed to be a genre in itself, the sports film is very popular and there are numerous films which fit into this category on general release. This is because sport is something which attracts a huge amount of fans and these people cover a real cross section of society. They can be any age, race or gender but all with one common tie – the sports team that they are supporting. By making a film on this subject they are guaranteed to have a large audience who would be potentially interested in seeing the finished product.

In general fictional teams are invented for the purpose of the film; this then ensures that people aren’t prevented from going to the film because it tells the story of a rival club to the one they support.

Boxing

Perhaps the most popular sport to include in a film is boxing. This means the film can be marketed as an action film or a sports film and so appeals to an even wider market. These films continue to be released, all with the common theme of boxing but with different back stories to tell, and they remain as popular now as ever. An early example of a boxing film is Body and Soul, which was released in 1947. From this time onwards the films kept coming, including the legendary Rocky series, and the Oscar winning On the Waterfront, in 1954.

The trend for high quality boxing films, which not only feature action packed fight scenes but offer engaging characters and plot development, has continued through the years with 2004 seeing the release of another Oscar winning boxing film, Million Dollar Baby.

Other sports

Most sports films are made about a sport which is widely popular or which has already had many films made on the subject. However it is becoming more common for the lesser known sports, or those which the fans are less fanatical about, to have films made about them. Skateboarding has had three films made about it in the last four years and with extreme sports becoming more accessible, due to increased television coverage, films about this subject are starting to be released.

In addition to this, sports films on snowboarding, tennis, rowing, table tennis and surfing have also been released in the last decade, signalling that the popularity of sports films is set to continue and grow over time.