Efficiency in Film Distribution

Abstract The motion picture industry is indeed a risky sector. The difficulties in predicting success and the sheer amount of production budgets have led to spectacular failures and in some cases even bankruptcies as well. Despite the adverse nature of the industry, there are winners who not only are able to find success but are also capable of doing it consistently. Using data envelopment analysis and finance-related techniques on risk analysis, I compare the performances among a group of major film distributors/studios. I find that one studio, i.e. Disney, consistently operates on the efficient frontier and performed best when it comes to the risk and return analysis. Its strategies are distinct in that it focuses on fewer movies but bigger budgets per movie. It also restricts the genre of movies, with a significant weightage on PG- and PG-13 rated adventure films, with almost all of them, part of serialised franchises.