Betting On Box Office Opening Weekends Approved Dan Koelsch, June 15, 2010 Want to make some serious money predicting box office opening weekend results? Now you can, at via stock exchange. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a contract with the new Trend Exchange that allow traders to bet on a movie’s opening weekend gross. While a new revenue stream is always nice, there could be some serious downside to this. There has been a lot of opposition to betting on future box-office receipts within the film industry, most prominently from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), as it could actually hurt box office performance. This could also have a serious affect on the viral trends of new releases. Anyone with a stake in the exchange could manipulate word of mouth and other viral marketing of films if they had enough influence. As the L.A. Times writes:In a follow-up interview, [Bart] Chilton [a dissenting commissioner] added that he was particularly concerned about the ability of studios to manipulate the price of a future through marketing and other decisions, which he said was very different from existing futures contracts related to agriculture and other products. I would imagine this would bring a lot more pressure for hyped films to perform well, which only seems to make matters worse for a fickle industry. I don’t have a business degree, so some of the details on this fly over my head, but this is obviously a hotly debated issue. What do you think? News Viral News Box OfficeTrend ExchangeWeekend Box Office
Viral Video: Inception Trailer, 1950s Version October 5, 2010Youtube user krishnashenoi93 (via /Film) has made a really cool Inception trailer that is done in the style of the 1950s. I’ve seen a lot of parodies and remixes done to Inception, but this is one of the few really creative ones that is proficiently made. Check it after the… Read More
Salt Director Grateful For Wasted Taxpayer Money July 20, 2010We’ve been covering the Salt Day X Exists game for several weeks now, so I found this news from NBC LA rather interesting. Director Phillip Noyce made what almost seemed like a political comment, claiming that wasted taxpayer money actually helped the film. Read More
Viral Video Round Up: The Dark Knight, Y: The Last Man Rising, A Space Odyssey, And More! July 29, 2012The Internet is full of videos related to movies, whether they be fan made, studio made, or somewhere in between. We regularly bring you the best, most interesting, or just plain weirdest, and today we do it again. Check out the latest viral videos after the break. Read More