Assessing The Business Case For Asian-American Casting In Hollywood Films

The Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) population has been subject to recent attention due to their relative underrepresentation in Hollywood films. Through use of secondary sources, spanning academic literature and box office receipt data, a preliminary relationship could be discerned between the presence of AAPI cast members and improved box office results. General academic literature points to an “ingroup” effect occurring when an individual views a film casted with actors of a similar background. The extent to which film studios can capitalize on this “ingroup” effect, either in casting or through external marketing efforts, will help improve the box office receipts for films that participate in diverse casting. Finally, there are a variety of alternative rationales for studios to adopt diverse casting measures for AAPIs beyond the immediate revenue gain in box office receipts, tied to the tastes and preferences of the AAPI cohort and the potential for international market expansion. Ultimately, more research is needed to quantitatively define the relationship between increased viewership and diverse casting, as well as more AAPI-casted films to empirically explore this relationship