Johnny Depp ignited the first Hollywood e-cigarette in The Tourist (Sony, PG-13) in late 2010. Since then, nearly two dozen films grossing just under $1 billion at the domestic box office have depicted e-cigs (see table).
Major studio subsidiaries of America's biggest media companies (bold type) released two-thirds of the films and reaped three-quarters of the audience. Fewer than 20 percent of films depicting e-cigs were kid-rated — in US theaters, that is. Films with smoking R-rated in the US for other reasons are often youth-rated in other countries.
Despite earlier talk by e-cig marketers and Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh about using Hollywood to promote e-cigarettes, only Blu brand has been displayed on screen. Since Imperial Tobacco acquired the brand in 2015, it's appeared at least three times, according to Breathe California data.
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• Which companies are most associated with brand display?
• Who smokes brands on screen?
Tobacco content data from Breathe California Sacramento Region.