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Empirical Generalizations on the Impact of Stars on the Economic Success of Movies

Author

Listed:
  • Julian Hofmann

    (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie)

  • Michel Clément

    (University of Hamburg)

  • Franziska Völckner

    (University of Cologne)

  • Thorsten Hennig-Thurau

    (WWU - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster = University of Münster)

Abstract

Movie industry experts continuously debate whether the industry's enormous investments in stars pay off. Although a rich body of research has addressed the question of whether stars are critical to the success of movies, previous research does not provide a consistent picture of the impact of stars on the economic success of the respective product. To derive empirical generalizations, the authors (1) provide a meta-analysis of the relationship between star power and movie success based on 61 primary studies reporting 172 effects of star power on movie success and (2) analyze a comprehensive dataset from that industry with n = 1545 movies using two different types of star power measures (commercial and artistic success), while controlling for selection effects of stars. Based on these two studies, four empirical generalizations emerge. First, when ignoring selection effects of stars, the impact of star power on box office revenues is strongly upwards biased. Second, artistic star power is associated with significantly lower box office revenues than commercial star power. Third, on average, movies with a commercially successful star generate 12.46 million US additional box office revenues. In contrast, artistic star power does not result in a statistically significant revenue premium. Fourth, commercially (artistically) successful stars have a statistically significant "multiplier effect" of 1.127 (1.083) on other characteristics that influence a movie's box office revenues.

Suggested Citation

  • Julian Hofmann & Michel Clément & Franziska Völckner & Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, 2017. "Empirical Generalizations on the Impact of Stars on the Economic Success of Movies," Post-Print hal-01991308, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01991308
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.08.006
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Cuntz & Alessio Muscarnera & Prince C. Oguguo & Matthias Sahli, 2023. "IP assets and film finance - a primer on standard practices in the U.S," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 74, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    2. Richard T. Gretz & Ashwin Malshe & Carlos Bauer & Suman Basuroy, 2019. "The impact of superstar and non-superstar software on hardware sales: the moderating role of hardware lifecycle," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 394-416, May.
    3. Nicolas R. Weber & André Marchand & Reinhard E. Kunz, 2024. "The global impact of public and private funding on cultural and economic movie success: evidence from German film funding," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 48(2), pages 259-283, June.
    4. Jordi McKenzie, 2023. "The economics of movies (revisited): A survey of recent literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 480-525, April.
    5. Prithwiraj Mukherjee & Souvik Dutta & Arnaud De Bruyn, 2022. "Did clickbait crack the code on virality?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 482-502, May.
    6. Lili Kang & Fei Peng, 2024. "Star power as quality signal or marketing effect? A path analysis on China's motion‐picture industry," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 3639-3655, July.
    7. Rouven Seifert & Cord Otten & Michel Clement & Sönke Albers & Ole Kleinen, 2023. "Exclusivity strategies for digital products across digital and physical markets," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 245-265, March.
    8. Wu, Chunhua & Weinberg, Charles B. & Wang, Qiyuan & Ho, Jason Y.C., 2022. "Administrative trade barrier: An empirical analysis of exporting Hollywood movies to China," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 1253-1274.
    9. Ronny Behrens & Natasha Zhang Foutz & Michael Franklin & Jannis Funk & Fernanda Gutierrez-Navratil & Julian Hofmann & Ulrike Leibfried, 2021. "Leveraging analytics to produce compelling and profitable film content," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(2), pages 171-211, June.
    10. Olivier Gergaud & Vincenzo Verardi, 2021. "Untalented but successful? Rosen and Adler superstar Pokemons," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2637-2655, May.
    11. Ravula, Prashanth & Bhatnagar, Amit & Ghose, Sanjoy, 2020. "Antecedents and consequences of cross-effects: An empirical analysis of omni-coupons," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 405-420.
    12. François A. Carrillat & Renaud Legoux & Allègre L. Hadida, 2018. "Debates and assumptions about motion picture performance: a meta-analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 273-299, March.
    13. Schulz, Petra & Shehu, Edlira & Clement, Michel, 2019. "When consumers can return digital products: Influence of firm- and consumer-induced communication on the returns and profitability of news articles," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 454-470.
    14. Hansen, Nele & Kupfer, Ann-Kristin & Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten, 2018. "Brand crises in the digital age: The short- and long-term effects of social media firestorms on consumers and brands," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 557-574.

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