As 2007 draws to a close, it is instructive to look over the box office figures for Hollywood. Using the arbitrary point of any film that took more than $50 million at the US box office, I count a total of 41 movies of which nineteen are fantasy, science fiction, or horror (Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ratatouille, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider, Evan Almighty, Meet the Robinsons, Enchanted, Bridge to Terabithia, Beowulf, 1408, Fred Claus, Saw IV, Halloween 2007, TNMT, and Resident Evil: Extinction).

Another seven films would also be listed as genre if they were books, either as thrillers, Westerns, or crime/mysteries (Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3, Live Free or Die Hard, American Gangster, Disturbia, Ocean’s Thirteen, and 3:10 to Yuma). Then there’s a small number of borderline cases that may be technically fantasy (The Simpsons Movie, Surf’s Up, and Bee Movie) but don’t fit the usual genre expectations or conversely are not overtly fantastical (300) but have stretched historical events to fit the epic fantasy template and therefore riff on genre story structures.

Nearly two-thirds of the top-grossing films of 2007 are genre films — and all of the top five and nine of the top ten (Wild Hogs scrapes in at #10). Same story in 2006: only one of the top ten films was non-genre, and it just made it. Same again in 2005, although at least this time the single top 10 film that was non-genre made it to #6. Lest you accuse me of choosing the $50 million mark to bolster my argument, note that sitting just outside the cutoff are many more genre films (Premonition, The Kingdom, Shooter, Underdog, 30 Days of Night, Stardust…)

And it’s not just box office; it’s critical praise as well. While many of the top-rating genre films are multiplex fodder like Spiderman 3 and Transformers, many are on RT’s list of top-rated films of the year. Even the multiplex fodder has been much more intelligent and rewarding than most years — with the exception of the uninspired franchise-churners Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean 3, the uninspired wannabe franchise Ghost Rider, and the existential horrors that are Fred Claus and Evan Almighty. Still, there are just as many non-genre films that tested the limits of human endurance like The Comebacks, Strength and Honor, and Lions for Lambs.

Now this raises some puzzles. Why, when movies are so dominated by genre, does the book industry still treat genre like a set of exclusive enclaves and assume that readers will never want to venture beyond rigidly defined walls? Why are non-genre writers so pompously dismissive of genre — even when they choose to write a genre book?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I strongly suggest that readers make an effort to break away from their usual hangouts in the bookshop and try something from another genre. Ask the bookseller for a recommendation in another genre based on other authors you like, even if it’s a high-lit author like Ian McEwan (in which case try Ian McDonald, Dan Simmons, Ursula K. le Guin, M. John Harrison or Michael Chabon). You may just discover you have a new favourite author. And vice versa. As a science fiction fan myself, I can’t thank Justin at Slow Glass Books enough for opening my eyes to crime writers like Jim Thompson and Dashiell Hammett. The last chapters of The Getaway and The Glass Key are classics in any genre — and were rewritten or entirely neglected in the movie versions; you won’t ever get what was so monumental about these books from their adaptations.

Set yourself a task over this holiday period: try a book in a genre you’ve never read before. And don’t cheat by choosing a book you expect to hate so as to reinforce your prejudices. Yeah, I’m onto you, Ms Winterson.