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
Joan Rivers Dies At The Age Of 81 September 4, 2014September 4, 2014Joan Rivers has died at the age of 81. The groundbreaking comedian stopped breathing during a medical procedure to repair her vocal cords last Thrusday, and was put under a medical induced coma until last Tuesday, where doctors put her on life support. Rivers was known for her razor sharp… Read More
Climb The Wall: “Game Of Thrones 3D”Art Hit The Streets Of London February 19, 2014February 19, 2014To celebrate the release Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season on DVD and Blu-ray, HBO Europe commissioned some incredible 3D muralĀ in London for its marketing campaign. Hit the jump to check them all out, and to see what a couple of fans did to be a part of the… Read More
New Sherlock Holmes Trailer November 4, 2009November 4, 2009The game is indeed afoot and Warner Brothers wants you to know about it this week! After a LONG wait between the start of this viral and now, WB’s have kick-started the campaign again. Nick reported yesterday on the start of a new game at 221b.sh yesterday. The game links… Read More