The Use of Live Action, Animation, and Computer-Generated Imagery in the Depiction of Non-Human Primates in Film

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Films offer a rare opportunity to share messages with a wide audience, although the messages provided can have negative effects on animal conservation, such as direct negative effects on animal welfare, increased illegal trade, and negative percepts among the public. Here we aim to understand how the medium used in film can impact the films gross profit worldwide and film critic consensus scores using 101 English-speaking films that portrayed any primate that debuted between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2019. We found that films with computer-generated imagery (CGI) primates were more likely to have higher profits and critic scores. We suggest that the use of the CGI medium can positively impact the general public perception of primates, and this has the potential to create positive implications for conservation. ABSTRACT: For over 100 years, non-human primates (primates) have been a part of the now hundred-billion-dollar global film industry in a variety of capacities. Their use in the film industry is of concern due to the negative welfare effects on individuals, the potential for increased pet trade, and the conservation impacts of public perception. While the effects on human perception of using live primates in film have been studied, little research has been performed on their appearance in animation and none in computer-generated imagery (CGI). We aimed to investigate how the portrayal of primates varied between depiction medium types and how this related to the films’ performance with critics and in the box office. We observed 151 primates in 101 different English-speaking films that debuted between 2000 and 2019. For each appearance we recorded aspects of primate portrayals based on accuracy, anthropomorphism, environment, and agency displayed, along with the depiction medium. We used structural equation models to depict the highest likelihood of the portrayal aspects on the medium’s relationship to the films gross profit worldwide and film critic consensus scores. We found that over the 20-year time frame, use of live primates has decreased, CGI has increased, and animations have remained relatively steady. While animation had no significant relationship to gross profit or critic consensus, both were significantly lower for films that used live primates and were significantly higher for films that used CGI primates. Due to the steady increase in the use of the CGI medium and its positive relationship with gross profit and critic consensus, it could have great effects on people’s perceptions of primates and implications for conservation efforts.