by Maybe it’s a Mission Impossible, or an excursion to the Marvel universe. Maybe it’s a deep, guilt-free dive into the Harry Potter canon, or a wild card movie you’ve never heard of, with a small budget and subtitles.
Whatever your choice of movie on board, it reveals a lot about you, your journey and your way of thinking, says Maura Chacko, and she should know, because without her and her team, you might not be seeing anything at all.
Chacko is senior vice president of content experience at Spafax, the world’s leading provider of in-flight entertainment. If you’ve flown anywhere on Earth, you’ve probably come across their services without even realizing it: they select movies, TV shows and audio programs for many of the world’s top airlines, including BA, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates . acquiring the rights to his selection, which he takes from the studio to the screen on the back of his seat.
“‘Comfort food’ content is very important,” says Chacko. “When you are tired, anxious or stressed, all you want is something comforting and familiar, so the Friends box set or a BBC classic like Downton Abbey They would be popular options on overnight flights. But for a daytime trip, when you’re feeling happy and alert, you might have more adventurous tastes, perhaps delving into a foreign-language film or a harder-hitting drama.”
Every month, Spafax teams sift through hundreds of hours of global content at their state-of-the-art headquarters near Mayfair, selecting and purchasing entertainment for millions of viewers miles above. Its reach puts Netflix and Disney+ to shame, encompassing everything from Hollywood blockbusters to artistic and cinematic hits, programming designed to entertain the entire world.
Nudity or violence? It’s complicated
The most popular genre? “Action and adventure, always,” smiles Chacko. “It’s so universal. Next comes the comedy, but it doesn’t always translate well across languages and cultures, while the flashy, big-budget special effects of a Tom Cruise movie are exciting for almost everyone. That being said, comedy classics like Big Bang Theory and Friends They are always at the top of the most viewed lists, and that trend is passed down from generation to generation.”
If you feel more emotional than usual when watching a movie during a flight, you’re not alone. “You’re much more likely to cry about something on a plane than if you’re sitting on your couch; that’s a fact,” Chacko says. “Altitude and the whole experience of flying make people cry more when they watch movies, in the same way that they alter their taste buds, so it’s not unusual to find yourself crying over something that doesn’t normally move you.”
Recent airline in-flight viewing figures perfectly reflect Spafax trend data. On Emirates, the most viewed content of 2023 is included Top Gun: Mavericknext to Lord of the Rings trilogy and all four John Wick hitman films. The romantic comedy by George Clooney and Julia Roberts Ticket to paradise also came out on top, as did the visually impressive Avatar: The Way of Water. Elsewhere, The white lotus was another success, with Qantas passengers collectively enjoying 300,000 hours of the second season last year.
But some genres or themes are firmly off-limits, says Julieta Bowyer, Spafax’s global content director, who oversees its industry-leading offering of non-English language films and TV shows. “Each airline has its own tastes in content and guidelines that reflect the sensitivities of its own nationality. For example, movies with nudity may be fine for a Scandinavian client, but violence for them is a no-no. Whereas a US-based airline may have a very low threshold for anything risky, but be absolutely fine with violence.” And attitudes closer to home? “Nudity and violence are generally not a problem in Western Europe,” says Bowyer.
Prohibited topics and genres
Other preferences are much less nuanced. Air disaster plots are prohibited, of course, but so are certain criticisms of governments (“the airlines have all nationalities on board”) and shows that can be considered incendiary for current geopolitical issues or conflicts. But it’s not always black and white. In December, for example, British Airways decided to “pause” the Jewish comedy Hapless from its in-flight entertainment, due to alleged concerns that it could trigger a backlash in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas, before committing to reinstating it in the next years. months.
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, can also prompt a rapid rethinking of content. “The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, for example,” Chacko says. “When something like this happens, you think about any movie that might have natural disasters: which one should you take off airplanes?” The decision is not made lightly, because it is very complex from a logistical point of view: “You physically have to remove the contents of each plane in the fleet, there is no central database from which it can simply be deleted, for example. which implies an enormous cost. In some cases, adding or removing movies is as simple as taking a USB flash drive or SD card on a plane, crazy as it may sound.”
A long way from VHS and Betamax
With more than 30 years of inflight entertainment experience between them, both Chacko and Bowyer have seen the industry transformed. “When I started 16 years ago, in-flight entertainment worked on a tape system: all the content on an airplane came on VHS or Betamax and was played on those screens that came down from the ceiling and that everyone watched together. remember that?”
Bowyer nods, laughing: “And the maximum duration was two hours and 15 minutes. Any movie longer than that couldn’t be shown; If it was shorter, a television episode had to be added to fill out the rest. When it finished, it would rewind and start again. Awful!”
It was up to the cabin crew to carry the fragile tapes, which would gradually disintegrate over the course of a season. “In very hot destinations they would even melt,” recalls Chacko.
Now, of course, we all carry our own screens. So is our appetite for in-flight movies waning? “Not at all,” Bowyer says. “Most viewers are used to two screens, scrolling while watching TV, so if anything, they feel more at home.” But even so, content providers and airlines know they can’t rest on their laurels. “The trick is to keep surprising viewers, giving them something they didn’t know they wanted.”
While Hollywood movies are the biggest hits, global content is also picking up pace, says Bowyer, who watches about 25 new movies each month. What is the secret of success? “There are no slow burners,” she laughs. “Flights are not like the cinema, where you stay there. If it doesn’t catch me in the first few minutes, it’s over, but if it’s a blow, I can feel it from the beginning.”
