If musical films send us out of the theaters wanting to sing and dance, and romantic comedies inspire us to take vacations to gorgeous places where we can fall in love, then camping movies should make us want to camp, right?

Putting aside (for now) Teen Summer Camp movies (like Meatballs or Little Darlings), Survival movies (The Grey; The Edge), and Historical movies set in the wilderness (The Revenant; Jeremiah Johnson), let’s focus on modern movies with adult characters who go into the wilderness by choice, seeking adventure:

(The slices of pie are based upon domestic box office revenue, adjusted for inflation.)

Now let’s look at the same chart, but with the most memorable elements highlighted, kinda like how Jaws or Psycho are remembered regarding sharks and showers:

Yikes! That doesn’t make me want to camp at all!

Maybe I’m looking at this wrong… For instance, this article says Deliverance (besides ruining a few lives) brought $20 million in revenue to Georgia’s tourist industry, specifically whitewater rafting.

Oh well. Maybe those other genres will help us make more sense of the influence of movies on camping.