By Phin Upham
Top movie stars can make $10 million or more for a single picture. Movie studios justify this by stating that superstars are what drive people to go to the movies. But this might not be true if research is to be believed. Neal Meaney, a researcher whose company Epagogix provides analytical research for the film industry, told Intelligent Life that only three current actors have enough star power to get people to buy tickets: Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.
As for other actors? According to Meany, it’s irrelevant if a movie has other major stars in it or a cast of unknowns. His firm has developed algorithms which use elements of a script such as the presence of a sidekick or an empathetic main character to predict the box office a movie will do. In most cases, Meany is able to predict this number to within $10 million.
Find the entire article at: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/features/anonymous/slaves-algorithm?page=full
About the Author: Phin Uphamis an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or Twitter page.
