People in the movie business explain that it is impossible to predict what will be a blockbuster or a flop. Each film is like a small business with hundreds of moving parts. The only way to manage risk is to make lots of movies; most won’t make money, but a few will hit it big and pay for the others. This is a risky way to run a business, and it also explains why there are so many bad movies, with terrible, derivative plots, that fail at the box office. Every year brings both a notorious clunker that cost hundreds of millions to make and an independent drama, with a great script, that cost
...more
