Why Is Genre Important For Audiences & Institutions?

Genre is important from audiences because it allows them to know what kind of film they're about to see. It allows them to know what to expect when they walk into a movie theatre. If someone has bought a ticket for a comedy film, they exppect to walk in, sit down and laugh their heads off for the next hour and a half. They don't expect to walk in and be horrified by a dead man lying on the floor... In the film that is.

The producers and institutions have to know what kind of film genre they're going to produce right from the word go, so they know to get the right actors, props, set, dialogue etc.

When promoting the film advertisement also tells the audience a lot about the film. For example, the SuperBad Trailer tells us about the comedy of the film. Immediately, because the distributors and film producers knew what they wanted to get across to the audience, the audience can tell what kind of film they'd see if they went to see Superbad at the  movie theatre.