A sports film is a film genre that uses sport as the theme of a film. While the sports film may be defined as a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the sport they follow) are prominently featured, and which depend on sport to a significant degree for their plot motivation or resolution, sport is ultimately rarely the central concern of such films. Rather, sport performs primarily an allegorical role in the sports film genre. Furthermore, sports fans are not necessarily the target demographic in such movies, but sports fans tend to have a large following or respect for such movies.
Subgenre
Several sub-categories of sport films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in live action, are somewhat fluid.
The most common Sport subgenres depicted in movies are Sport drama and Sport comedy. Both categories typically employ play ground settings, match, game creatures and other elements commonly associated with biological stories.
Sport films tend to feature a more richly developed sport world, and may also be more player-oriented or thematically complex. Often, they feature a hero of adventure origins and a clear distinction between loss and victory set against each other in a play time struggle.