Harvard professor Anita Elbere provides an informative and surprising analysis of blockbusters. Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment shows how blockbusters are made. For example, major Hollywood studios who used to produce many more movies than they do today have adopted the “home-run” strategy to making movies. That’s great when a movie like The Avengers makes over a billion dollars. That approach doesn’t work so well as Disney found out when John Carter flopped. I learned a lot blockbusters from Elberse’s book. For example, Disney paid Robert Downey, Jr. $50 million to play Tony Stark in The Avengers. Was the money worth it or not? Elberse has her own ideas about investing in Superstars. We’re stuck with this Blockbuster mentality In entertainment it seems. Now, I have a better understanding of how it works. GRADE: A
Table of Contents
Prologue: Show Business—a Business of Blockbusters 1
One: Betting on Blockbusters 15
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Grand Central Publishing, Marvel Entertainment
Two: Launching and Managing Blockbusters 56
Lady Gaga, Octone Records
Three: Investing in Superstars 83
Real Madrid, Boca Juniors
Four: How Superstars Use Their Powers 118
MGM and Tom Cruise, Maria Sharapova, LeBron James
Five: Will Digital Technology End the Dominance of Blockbusters? 150
YouTube, Hulu, the Metropolitan Opera
Six: Will Digital Technology Threaten Powerful Producers? 187
Radiohead, Major League Baseball, the National Football League
Seven: The Future of Blockbuster Strategies 220
Jay-Z, Lady Gaga
Epilogue: No Business Like Show Business? 251
Marquee New York City
Notes 267
Acknowledgments 289
Index 295
The sad story behind JOHN CARTER is that the suits at Disney wanted it to fail and worked hard to see that it did. Apparently they had another franchise they wanted to concentrate on and needed JC out of the way. It wasn’t a bad movie.
Bob, I liked JOHN CARTER (and of course, so did Bill Crider). Disney stock took a hit after the mismanagement of the JOHN CARTER fiasco.
Sounds interesting, though I have to admit JOHN CARTER didn’t really do it for me.
Jeff, for Edgar Rice Burroughs fans JOHN CARTER was a dream come true. Rumors of a ERB Mars movie made the rounds in Hollywood for decades.
I liked John Carter of Mars well enough, though the books are superior. It wasn’t given much of a push by Disney and the subject of swords-and-planets is niche so it didn’t have much of a chance. As for blockbuster mentality, I see so few movies I hardly know.
Rick, trust Anita Elberse’s analysis of the blockbuster mentality. Sadly, it’s the prevailing strategy in Hollywood and in the major publishing houses.
I used to love Robert Downey, Jr. but clearly any interest in his craft has given way to starring in films like this and the IRON MAN series and the SHERLOCK series. How much money do you need? At one point, he was considered more than just the man under a uniform. There are almost no blockbusters I have any interest in.
Patti, the blockbuster mentality tends to crowd out the more original and challenging movies. I think $50 million would be more than enough for me.