Movies give us shared stories which entertain, inspire and soothe us, and in trying times, this function becomes ever more essential.
In the 1940s, musicals provided a colourful escape from war, stories of rebellion in the 1970s gave hope to audiences losing faith in political systems and modern-day superhero movies provide easy delineation between good and evil in murky times. So what will be the escapism of the 2020s?
Film data hound Stephen Follows studied the financial performance of 4,271 movies, looking for patterns between their levels of positive messages and financial profitability.
Click here to read his results