A movie's story is a gimmick. A gimmick that never gets old from one generation of film goers to the next. It's relevant to movie fans for generations because the values in a story are the same for people across time. Everybody has wanted something and had difficulty getting it. That's what a movie's traditional arch-plot story is about.

Not everybody agrees on the importance of stories. There are successful filmmakers in the world that do not tell much of a story with their movies. They just do whatever comes to them and the audience shows up willing to receive it. Some filmmakers take this as a evidence that they don't need to have stories in their films. A film has to offer something to the audience. If it's not a story, then what is it?

Social Mileage

An audience doesn't always go see a movie for the experience while it's playing. For many the watching of the movie is not nearly as pleasurable and talking about it. The real payoff would be when using the movie to gain points in a social setting. The more difficult the movie is to watch, the higher the score. There is a significant art film community that doesn't judge movies on criteria that mainstream movies are held to. For these people it's your fault if you don't "get it".

You can make this type of movie, but you'll be at the mercy of fashion. The movie to see this week may next week become the recipient of a backlash and be forgotten forever more.

Titillation

There was a time when major studios would not make certain types of movies. They kept the subject matter tame with implied violence or sex. They put out movies that offend nobody in an attempt to please everybody. Small independents took what few resources they had and put them to good use showing all the stuff majors can't. Thus was born exploitation films. These are films not based on good stories but rather depiction of imagery that is compelling in itself: naked women, gore and guts, etc.

You can make a movie that just has cool stuff to see, but that stuff isn't as exciting as time goes on. You can just make a movie full of bare breasts but once bare breasts are commonplace your movie isn't valuable anymore.

Wish Fulfillment

Good stories well-told don't always go as we would like for them to do. Characters are put in difficult situations and don't say or do the things we would like them to. This is all true to life but it's not something many people want to see. These people want to see life as they wish it were. To do this you just fill the movie with situations where characters do and say exactly what audience would want to. Your movie then becomes a genie of sorts that grants them the ability to see things as they wish they were.

What this generation wants is not that same as the next. In earlier generations people would have wanted to see depictions of women getting married young and running a happy home, now many want to see women holding down important jobs and also have a family.

Feelings

Feeling something intensely is pleasurable. Be it joy or sadness. It's fun to feel. In life we don't always get dedicated time for certain emotions and we are taught to control them anyhow. We don't get to indulge in real life so sometimes we need a little help. Movies play out just like life does in many respects. We watch and we have thoughts. So a movie needn't tell a story but rather set up situations that evoke certain strong emotions and many will be satisfied.

What is sad now may seem trite in the future. The acting style may be off-putting, the dialogue may not sound fresh and it generally may seem stale. So it might work today but not tomorrow.

You might not be consciously considering your audience when putting together a movie you want to make, but you should. What will they get out of it should be primary in your mind or else you will be at the mercy of fate. This isn't to say that you have to judge every moment in a movie as to whether it elicits pleasure, but rather keep in mind what an audience wants over all and treat it as important.