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THE MARKET FOR MOTION PICTURES: RANK, REVENUE, AND SURVIVAL
Author(s) -
VANY ARTHUR S. DE,
WALLS W. DAVID
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1997.tb01964.x
Subject(s) - rank (graph theory) , imperfect , motion (physics) , economics , sample (material) , tournament , revenue , regular polygon , film industry , computer science , mathematics , artificial intelligence , combinatorics , movie theater , finance , art , geometry , visual arts , physics , philosophy , linguistics , thermodynamics
Every motion picture is an innovation that competes for theater screens and audiences during its brief life against a changing array of imperfect substitutes. We analyze a large sample of motion pictures as an evolving rank tournament of survival and death. The results indicate that the failure rate of motion pictures is time‐dependent and survival time is strongly related to the number of initial bookings. Weekly box office revenue is highly convex in rank, which is consistent with Rosen's superstar phenomenon. Our results have implications for motion picture licensing arrangements, which have been severely restricted by U.S. court decisions.