Publications

December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Supplement

The Metropolitan Opera (B)

By: Anita Elberse and Crissy Perez

In April 2007, the New York City Metropolitan Opera's general manager Peter Gelb looks back on the first season of a daring experiment to broadcast performances live in high-definition to movie theaters across North America. While the "Live in HD" program has received... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Arts; Fine Arts Industry

December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

The Metropolitan Opera (A)

By: Anita Elberse and Crissy Perez

In April 2007, the New York City Metropolitan Opera's general manager Peter Gelb looks back on the first season of a daring experiment to broadcast performances live in high-definition to movie theaters across North America. While the "Live in HD" program has received... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Advantage; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

18 Oct 2013
News

The Rise of the Blockbuster

August 2014
Case

Netflix in 2011

By: Willy Shih and Stephen Kaufman

Reed Hastings founded Netflix to provide a home movie service that would do a better job satisfying customers than the traditional retail rental model. But as it encountered challenges it underwent several major strategy shifts, ultimately developing a business model... View Details

July 1996 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Coming Soon: A Theater Near You

Designed to illustrate the complexity of buyer-seller arrangements in an established industry. When movie studios negotiate with theater operators to show new films, the costs to the studios of making the films are largely sunk. Similarly, the costs to the theaters of... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Industry Structures; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

17 Nov 2016
News

Wrestler, Actor, Producer, Case Study Protagonist? Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Stars In His Very Own Harvard Case

26 Jul 2016
First Look

July 26, 2016

Disney Studios In December 2015, Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, celebrates the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens—only the latest in a string of big bets that he has overseen. Disney pursues a “tentpole strategy” that revolves around at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Apr 2018
News

Why Too Much Experience Can Backfire

September 2014
Supplement

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (B)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Wesley M. Cohen, Kynon Ingram, Tushar Kothalkar, Maxim Kuzemchenko, Santosh Malik, Cynthia Meyn, Stephanie Healy Pokrywa and Greta Friar

This supplemental case follows up on the Netflix Prize Contest described in Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A). In the A case, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings must decide how to organize a crowdsourcing contest to improve the algorithms for Netflix's movie... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software

01 Apr 2020
News

Facebook May Be Hit Harder Than You Think by COVID-19

February 2019 (Revised November 2021)
Case

MoviePass

By: Willy Shih

Mitch Lowe, the CEO of MoviePass, was having trouble convincing people of the viability of the company's business model. The company was building a multi-sided platform and was planning to extract value from increasing traffic to movie theaters through a number of... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Start-up Growth; Start-ups; Business Model Innovation; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Multi-Sided Platforms; Business Startups; Planning; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

February 2023
Teaching Note

Bear to Bull? An Analyst’s Journey with Netflix

By: Aiyesha Dey and Joseph Pacelli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-001. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said “hell freezing over” was more likely than him upgrading the “sell” rating he had maintained on movie and television streaming giant Netflix since 2011, despite meteoric subscriber... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Analysis; Stock Shares

October 2013
Case

Rhythm & Blues

By: Willy Shih

The bankruptcy filing of Rhythm & Hues, who received an Oscar for the arresting visual effects in Life of Pi, raised questions about the challenges faced by the firms like it as well as the broader post-production industry. The rapid pace of technology certainly... View Details

Keywords: Post-production; Visual Effects; Digital; Entertainment; Animation Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Los Angeles

April 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

BitTorrent

Involves the copyright issues associated with Bram Cohen's revolutionary software program BitTorrent, which makes it possible to transfer very large files, such as movies, at a high speed over the Internet. The program, which is available for free over the Internet, is... View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Applications and Software; Copyright; Internet and the Web

21 Oct 2010
News

Harvard Business School Faculty on Facebook and Privacy

November 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Hollywood in India: Protecting Intellectual Property (A)

By: Lakshmi Iyer and Namrata Arora

In January 2010, Fox Star Studios is preparing to release the Bollywood film My Name is Khan in Indian and international markets. What strategies should the company adopt to protect their intellectual property? How much should the company invest in anti-piracy... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Copyright; Lawsuits and Litigation; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; India