“Once Upon A time in San Francisco – The Black Hatchet” and its sequels are Historical/Action/Adventure/ Martial Arts stories with the “superhero” element that is the most popular genre in American cinema.

 

The culturally diverse cast mirrors the most sought-after age group of 18 – 34, including the Black Hatchet, his love interest Lorna and his kidnapped sister Rose who is 14. Much of the cast is Chinese (this is a key foreign audience for action film distribution, see table below), plus Native and African American characters as well as commanding female characters, especially for 1906.

 

According to SAWA, Global Cinema Advertising Association, “specifically, cinemagoers are younger than the population with generally half of the visits made by people in the key 14-34 demographic. Cinema going has increased against all age groups . . . with the most dramatic growth seen amongst the over 25’s.”

 

In addition, according to the GITNUX Market Data Report 2025, “the most popular genre of movies by American audiences for the past 22 years is Action/Adventure . . . the three highest grossing movies of all time.”

 

According to AMERICAN FILM MARKET “action films . . . perform disproportionality best in Asia.” In their chart (below), zero indicates the global average performance, so a positive score indicates that the genre in question performs disproportionality well in that territory.

 

Therefore, Historical/Action/Adventure/Martial Arts films with a cross-section of cultures and women featuring Asian characters will be eye-catching to global, and specifically, Pacific Rim audiences generating desirable distribution channels.