The 2012 film 'Argo' appeals to a very different audience from Avatar. The target audience is probably older, of a higher social class and it does not appeal as much to a universal audience, due to its negative depiction of Iranians. The target audience is probably older as the film takes place in the 70s against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution, so this would appeal to an older audience who lived through the time and can relate it to their own experience of the event. It also probably has an older target audience as it doesn't have any action sequences (unless the ending counts as an action sequence), but instead relies on the drama to carry the film. Dramas are stereotypically enjoyed more by older audiences. However, that being said, Argo also has a wider appeal as it won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2013, and so it's audience rapidly expanded to any age 16+ who watch critically acclaimed films. When a film is given Best Picture many people watch it as they want to pass their judgement on it and see if it really is as good as was made out. An audience which it doesn't appeal to is the Middle Eastern audience, due to it's negative depiction of Arabs, in particular, Iranians. There was a huge outcry in Iran about the film, and they have begun work on their own film depicting the events of Argo in a different light, with the Iranians as the protagonists. This shows how the film targeted this audience very badly, but then it would be hard to create a version of the events that portrays both the Americans and Iranians in a good light.
'Anna Karenina' is an interesting film to study the audience profiling for, as it has three distinct features that dictate the audience. It's based on a classic novel, it's a period drama, and it's filmed in an arty, abstract way. The fact that it's a classic novel makes it appeal to a stereotypically older audience, who enjoy reading, and in particular enjoy reading old books. Anna Karenina to a modern audience reminiscences over Imperial Russia with all its glamour and balls, as opposed to the Stalinist legacy that Russia leaves now. Through this the film appeals to an older audience as they are stereotypically tired of misery and warfare in life and want to relax in their old age, so Anna Karenina takes them back to a time before the troubles of the 20th Century. The abstract nature of the film appeals to a lot of film buffs who are interested to see new styles of making films and new ways of telling stories. It could have been a ground-breaking film in the progression of abstract cinema, and although it wasn't and is now mostly forgotten, at the time it would have had a very interesting style. The film also manages to appeal to a younger audience through the casting of the actors Jude Law and Keira Knightley. Keira Knightley has been in many period dramas that have had an appeal to a younger audience, such as 'Atonement' and 'Pirates of the Carribean'. Jude Law is famously good-looking and appeals to a young, female audience, of which he has a large fan club. He also has experience in period films, such as 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Enemy at the Gates'. The prospect of having both of these actors in the same film would be very exciting for a young audience, and they may go to see it purely for this reason. It would also attract groups of Literature students from school, as it is based on a Classic novel.
