The influence of movie's quality on its performance: evidence based on Oscar Awards

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a new framework that shows how different signals of movie quality along with key control variables affect consumers’ post-consumption evaluations, critics’ reviews (CR), and movie box office revenues. Design/methodology/approach – The data set consists of a sample of 332 movies released between 2000 and 2008. Regression was used to test the study hypotheses. Findings – The results suggest that the three signals of movie quality exhibit different effects on three movie performance measures. Of the three cues, the peripheral quality signal is positive related to movie box, moviegoers’ evaluations (ME), and CR. Furthermore, star performance quality is positive related to both ME and CR. Surprisingly, overall quality signal does not display any influence on movie performances. Research limitations/implications – The primary limitation is the use of cross-sectional study design and future research should apply for time-series technique to test the relationships between movie quality signals and movie performances. Practical implications – The findings suggest that consumers and critics evaluate movie qualities based on various movie quality signals. Furthermore, the characteristics of movies also have mixed impacts on movie performances. Movie studios may take these findings into account to produce better movies. Originality/value – This study proposes and empirically tests the impacts of three groups of movie signals – peripheral quality signal, star performance quality signal, and overall quality signal on motion picture performance. This study contributes to service quality literature and signal theory by categorizing different Academy Awards into three groups of quality signals and by empirically testing the proposed relationships.

An Empirical Observation of Chinese Film Performance Drivers

“…Nevertheless, the role of star power needs to be explored further once information on advertising and other promotional efforts are incorporated into the model. Liu, Liu, and Mazumdar (2014) suggest that ultimate box-office success depends on multiple stakeholders involved with financing, making, distributing, and watching the movie (see also Zhuang, Babin, Xiao, & Paun, 2014).…”

Is movie success a judgment device? When more is not better

“…The Oscars thereby serve as a priori guarantees for consumers and provide a relevant “signaling device, indicating which films are viewed by industry experts as being worthy of recognition” (Nelson et al, , p. 1). Nonetheless, despite such persuasive logic, previous studies have found mixed effects of Oscars on market performance (Anand & Watson, ; Gemser et al, ; Zhuang et al, ), with effects changing according to the set of predictors and the kind of customer reactions analyzed. Thus, additional investigation is needed.…”

“…If the available judgment devices are expected to reflect product excellence so that people use them to shape their evaluations of movie quality (Basuroy et al, ; Karpik, ; Kovács & Sharkey, ), their effects should be assessed on consumers’ brand‐related beliefs and perceptions of product quality. Indeed, such an approach is quite exceptional in studies of the motion‐picture industry (Zhuang, Babin, Xiao, & Paun, ), which commonly assume that the effects of additional pieces of information emerge with respect to what consumers choose to watch as represented by box‐office revenues (Budeva, ; De Vany & Lee, ). But, as widely reported in the literature (Basuroy, Chatterjee, & Ravid, ; Basuroy et al, ; Elberse & Eliashberg, ; Eliashberg & Shugan, ; Hennig‐Thurau, Houston, & Walsh, ; Holbrook & Addis, , ; Y. Liu, ; Reinstein & Snyder, ), the movies that consumers choose to watch and those whose quality they appreciate show large differences.…”

Portrayals of Masculinity in “Guy Movies”

“…This excess, though entertaining, does not exemplify a typical expression of masculinity for males. Because the movies in Ortega were award-winning, it was felt that this signified broad appeal to the general public (i.e., rather than to a small select audience; Zhuang, Babin, Xiao, & Paun, 2014). This, in turn, was an indication that the movies could reasonably be considered devoid of gratuitous melodramatic masculinity.…”