It seems everyone likes to be in the big tent. The lousiness of much of today’s movies, television and music is beyond the scope of her book.Įlsewhere in the pages of “Blockbusters” is a key observation about we as audience members and consumers. Still, to see how many our favorite films, music and books are conceived, developed and marketed as mere products leaves me cold. My even mentioning aesthetics here is almost naïve. Entertainment is big business and has been for a long time. The machinations of today’s entertainment companies are ugly and cynical, with little regard for artistry. It can feel a bit like a backstage journey through our cultural dystopia, sort of like sending a sausage lover on a tour of the Jimmy Dean plant. And while “Blockbusters” is an engaging read, the book is dispiriting in some ways. However, Elberse has done her homework, talking to those on the front lines and crunching numbers as she takes us behind the scenes of various industries where, as they say, content is king. The strategy is not foolproof, evidently. The article states: “The past 18 months have seen more executive turnover than usual: four out of the six main studios have seen change at the top.” Meanwhile, Rich Ross, the studio head behind “John Carter,” soon after it retched at the box office, got his walking papers. For instance, in that same December 2013 Economist article, the writer points out that bigger and bigger budgets have had the not insignificant effect of many unemployed studio executives. Of course, it’s hard to create a systemized approach to selling to such a fickle public as ourselves, and there are points throughout the book where the reader may beg to differ with Elberse. By 2010, Elberse writes, this practice had nearly run the network into the ground. Executives there went through a phase when they didn’t spend the money to attract big-name stars and likely hit projects, keeping tight budgets on the development and production of its shows. The author contrasts this with the opposite tact taken by the television network, NBC. The real goal is overall profitability,” says Alan Horn, former head of Warners and apostle of the blockbuster approach. “In a good year, a major studio is happy to bat.
The result of this event film strategy during the past decade was a highly profitable for Warners. When successful, these hit movies are so profitable they cover for any big-budget miscues and also pay for the rest of the studio’s less costly output.
Cameos sprinkled throughout the book include LeBron James, Lady Gaga and Jay Z, as well as a host of entertainment executives and Internet visionaries.Įlberse looks at Warner Bros.’ strategy of identifying a few projects each year in which to invest huge amounts of money and resources with the hopes of creating a handful of blockbusters. Television, music, international soccer and opera are just a few of the areas she looks at. In her new book, “Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment” (Holt, 307 pages), Harvard Business School Professor Anita Elberse highlights how major content producers build their strategies around the pursuit of megahits. The coin of the realm is the blockbuster. Sure, there are independent movies, foreign fare and a few decent studio films each year, but for the most part today’s cinematic offerings consist of sequels, live-action comic book features, action flicks, special effect fests and horror movies made on the cheap, along with some romantic treacle for date night. It’s safe to say that most Hollywood fare is aimed straight at your paperboy. However, for the rest of us, things are not so rosy. If you’re a 16-year-old boy you’re probably pretty happy these days with your choices at the multiplex.
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