Publications

Article

Demand and Supply Dynamics for Sequentially Released Products in International Markets: The Case of Motion Pictures

By: Anita Elberse and Jehoshua Eliashberg

Keywords: Supply and Industry; Product; Markets; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

Read Now

September 2018
Supplement

AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (B)

By: Henry McGee and Aldo Sesia

The (B) case describes how AMC reacted to the threat from the subscription service MoviePass and provides AMC’s second quarter fiscal year 2018 results. View Details

Keywords: Exhibitors; Movies; Film Entertainment; Competitive Strategy; Finance; Performance

18 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Collective Genius’

making great films. No one voice dominated, as often happened at other studios. Another major shortcoming of the diagram in figure 1-1 is that it fails to convey how collaborative the process of making a CG film at Pixar actually was.... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Improving Brand Recognition in TV Ads

searching for valuable information that is relevant to them. They also want to be entertained, and the 'hard sell' that turns them off can be at the level of simply presenting the brand's logo for more than a few seconds." Mystery ads try to View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

29 Sep 2011
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Leveraging Intellectual Property

File-Sharing and Copyright Researchers Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf argue that file-sharing technology has not undermined the incentives of artists and entertainment companies to create, market, and distribute new works. Key... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Blockbuster! Why Star Power Works

surest way to lasting success in show business. “The battle for star talent is one of the most fascinating aspects of today's entertainment business” In my book, I show that the biggest investments have the highest average returns. Take... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

of Fujifilm, a company approaching its 75th anniversary. In Fujifilm: A Second Foundation, a case coauthored with HBS associate professor Giovanni Gavetti and Yaichi Aoshima of Hitotsubashi University, Tripsas presents the instructive dilemma faced by Fujifilm as its... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

January 2006
Case

Negotiating for the Motion Picture Association of America and the Motion Picture Association: Jack Valenti (A)

By: James K. Sebenius, Ellen Knebel and Erin Egan

Summarizes the background and career highlights of Jack Valenti, longtime head of the Motion Picture Association of America and the Motion Picture Association. Sets up three difficult negotiation challenges facing Valenti over a rating system for movies, the financial... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Negotiation; Problems and Challenges; United States

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Giant Cinema

By: Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback, Erik Stafford and Kathleen Luchs

The owner of Giant Cinema must decide whether to invest in a digital projector, a new technology for screening films, or purchase a traditional projector. The impact of the new technology is uncertain, and the case describes probabilities for different outcomes that... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Film Entertainment; Technology Adoption; Financial Strategy; Investment; Outcome or Result; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details

April 2025
Case

Netflix in 2024

By: Jan Rivkin and David Allen

In 2024, Netflix appeared to emerge victorious from the “streaming wars” that it had waged in recent years with the likes of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, and Amazon. What had allowed Netflix not only to succeed in the streaming wars but also to thrive for... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

March 2011
Teaching Note

Hollywood in India: Protecting Intellectual Property (A) and (B) (TN)

By: Lakshmi Iyer

Teaching Note for 711017 and 711018. View Details

Keywords: Markets; Strategy; Intellectual Property; Crime and Corruption; Film Entertainment; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; India

July 2010
Teaching Note

Xanadu on Broadway

By: Anita Elberse

Teaching Note for 508062. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Film Entertainment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Failure; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

29 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 29, 2008

and even remade as movies have come to dominate mainstream media content. At media giant Sony, Ken Munekata, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), and Atsushi Fukuda, President of Sony Digital View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

September 2004 (Revised February 2010)
Case

The Passion of the Christ (A)

By: John A. Quelch, Anita Elberse and Anna Harrington

Bob Berney, president of Newmarket Films, must decide on a distribution and marketing strategy for Mel Gibson's controversial new movie, The Passion of the Christ. Fueled by Gibson's star power as well as an extensive prescreening campaign among Christian leaders and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Film Entertainment; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Distribution Channels; Religion; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

June 17, 2016
Comment

Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers

By: John A. Quelch

Recent events in Orlando underscore an important marketing truth: consumer safety and security are mission critical. A popular nightclub, Pulse, known as a safe place for the LGBT community, is put out of business at least temporarily by a terrorist act. Not far away... View Details