RESEARCH - Film Audiences.

The audience of a film are the people who watch the film (in a group or individually). The target audience are a specific group of people that the film is aimed at, it can be based upon age, gender or a combination of factors. 

As many thrillers contain strong language and violence, making them unsuitable for a younger audience, they are usually rated 18. This means that the target audience of a thriller is adults/young adults. Some thrillers are rated 15, this would mean that the use of strong language and violence may be milder and that the target audience includes teenagers.

Romance thrillers are usually aimed towards younger females, an example is He loves me... He loves me not. (2002) which is rated PG-13.

An example of a psychological thriller is Shutter Island (2010), the rating of this film is 15 meaning that the target audience is males aged 15 years and above. A psychological thriller will usually attract an older audience due to the complexity of the storyline. 

The aspect of science fiction  action and war in techno thrillers means that they are usually targeted towards a male audience, such as The Matrix (1999).

2012 (2009) is a disaster thriller rated PG -13, again, this allows a younger audience to watch the film and extends the target audience. Many disaster thrillers have a target audience of teenagers, both male and female. The storyline of 2012 would appeal to both genders.