NEW YORK, March 7, (RTRS): Are movies your way of escaping the daily grind? You’re not alone, with a Reuters/Ipsos poll finding more than two out of five people across the globe go to the cinema often to suspend reality, if only for a few hours.
The survey of more than 24,000 adults in 23 countries was released as the global movie industry prepared to honor its top talent at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
It showed that of the 42 percent of people most likely to go to the movies as much as they can to escape reality, the majority were from Turkey (67 percent), India (61 percent), South Korea (54 percent) and Australia (52 percent).
“Movies are now celluloid books,’’ said John Wright, senior vice president of market research company Ipsos.
“What one generation did in curling up and reading an exciting or romantic novel to escape or to dream is now manufactured weekly for the younger generation who are the most avid filmgoers,’’ he said in a statement.
Not everybody, however, believes in the escapist power of the movies, with the poll showing that the majority — or 58 percent — do not consider movies as a diversion from the real world and do not watch as many films as they possibly can.
Countries whose inhabitants are most likely to feel this way are Hungary (76 percent), the Netherlands (74 percent), Mexico (74 percent), Sweden (71 percent) and Germany (70 percent).
There was, however, little difference between men and women, or between various income brackets. Perhaps not surprisingly, respondents under 35 years-old were more likely to escape to the movies (49 percent) compared to older people between 35 and 54 (36 percent).
Wright said this could be explained by the younger generation’s addiction to technology.
“With the explosion of far-reaching and hands-on technology, people don’t just watch movies, they experience them as immersed participants in a multidimensional experience or they can create something themselves and share with it the world by simple upload, no popcorn required,’’ he said.
The following results table from the survey conducted between November and January begins with the countries where citizens are most likely to agree that “movies and films are my escape from the real world — I watch as many as I can as often as I can.’’ All figures are percentages.
Movies are an escape from reality
Country    Agree    Disagree
Turkey    67    33
India    61    39
South Korea    54    46
Australia    52    48
Spain    49    51
China    49    51
United States    49    51
France    48    52
Brazil    47    53
Great Britain    46    54
Argentina    45    55
Japan    41    59
Canada    39    61
Russia    36    64
Poland    36    64
Italy    35    65
Czech Republic    33    67
Belgium    33    67
Germany    30    70
Sweden    29    71
Mexico    26    74
Netherlands    26    74
Hungary    24    76