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The impact of film reviews on the box office performance of art house versus mainstream motion pictures

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  • Gerda Gemser
  • Martine Oostrum
  • Mark Leenders

Abstract

Critics and their reviews can play an important role in consumer decision making in general, and film choice in particular. In this study, we propose that consumers of art house movies are being led by film reviews when making a film choice (influence effect), whereas consumers of mainstream movies are hypothesized to rely mainly on other sources of information. Thus, in the latter case the review does not influence the moviegoer, but may still be a reflection of the ultimate success of the movie (predictor effect). Using the Dutch film industry as our empirical setting, we study the effects of reviews on the opening weekend and on the cumulative box office revenue. Our research shows that the number and size of film reviews in Dutch newspapers directly influence the behavior of the art-movie-going public in their film choice. The number and size of film reviews of mainstream movies, on the other hand, only predict movie performance. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Gerda Gemser & Martine Oostrum & Mark Leenders, 2007. "The impact of film reviews on the box office performance of art house versus mainstream motion pictures," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 31(1), pages 43-63, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:31:y:2007:i:1:p:43-63
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-006-9025-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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