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Profitability trends in Hollywood, 1929 to 1999: somebody must know something1

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  • MICHAEL POKORNY
  • JOHN SEDGWICK

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the development of the US film industry from 1929 to 1999. Notwithstanding a volatile film production environment, in terms of rate of return and market share variability, the industry has remained relatively stable and profitable. Film production by the film studios is interpreted as analogous to the construction of an investment portfolio, whereby producers diversified risk across budgetary categories. In the 1930s, high‐budget film production was relatively unprofitable, but the industry adjusted to the steep decline in film‐going in the postwar period by refining high‐budget production as the focus for profitability.

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  • Michael Pokorny & John Sedgwick, 2010. "Profitability trends in Hollywood, 1929 to 1999: somebody must know something1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(1), pages 56-84, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:1:p:56-84
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00488.x
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    4. Rigby, Robert & Stasinopoulos, Dimitrios & Voudouris, Vlasios, 2015. "Flexible statistical models: Methods for the ordering and comparison of theoretical distributions," MPRA Paper 63620, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Borowiecki, Karol Jan & Dahl, Christian Møller, 2021. "What makes an artist? The evolution and clustering of creative activity in the US since 1850," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
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    7. Lorenza Lucchi Basili & Pier Luigi Sacco, 2019. "Shakespeare in Love: A Fictional Transliteration of the Grammar of Heterosexual Mating," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440188, January.
    8. Borowiecki, Karol Jan, 2019. "The Origins of Creativity: The Case of the Arts in the United States since 1850," Discussion Papers on Economics 11/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    9. John Sedgwick & Michael Pokorny, 2010. "Consumers as risk takers: Evidence from the film industry during the 1930s," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 74-99.
    10. Vlasios Voudouris & Robert Gilchrist & Robert Rigby & John Sedgwick & Dimitrios Stasinopoulos, 2012. "Modelling skewness and kurtosis with the BCPE density in GAMLSS," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 1279-1293, November.
    11. Arici, Cemali & Yucel, Eray, 2019. "An Economic Perspective to Independent Cinema," MPRA Paper 98679, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Feb 2020.
    12. Benjamin Bridgman, 2017. "Market Entry Mode: Evidence From The Golden Age Of Hollywood," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(2), pages 778-793, April.
    13. Park, Sungwook & Kwon, Youngsun, 2023. "Disentangling the effects on OTT platform performance of three strategies: Pricing, M&As, and content investments," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).

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