A+ Profitability and Films the Flunk

Descriptive statistics were calculated for each of four variables: opening weekend sales, total gross sales, number of release theaters, and amount of weeks in the top 60. The sample mean and median provide analysts with a measure of central location in regards to a portion of the data set. Range, sample variance, and sample standard deviation produce quantitative judgments about the variability of the data sampled from a larger population of observations. Outliers, as defined as being more or less than 3 standard deviations from the mean, did not exist when the data was thoroughly analyzed; although some movies did appear to perform abnormally high at first glance. A positive correlation exists between total gross sales and each of the other variables, albeit some were considerably stronger than others.

The sample mean was calculated by dividing the sum of the observation values by 10, or the number of observations. For opening weekend sales, a sample mean of the 10 chosen movies was $30.17 million. Total gross sales of all sampled films held a mean of $95.803 million. The two figures could allow a reader to draw a general conclusion that for a majority of the films, approximately 31.5% of total gross sales were made during a film’s debut weekend. The average number of theaters in which a movie was released is 2,482.4. A sample mean of 13.9 was calculated using the number of weeks the sampled movies were in the top 60 films.

The mean is usually used as a measure of central location. However, the average is extraordinarily sensitive to abnormally large or small observations (Anderson et al., 2011, p.90). When using data with extreme values, the median is desired because its calculation depends less on the broadness of the rang...

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...equels to high grossing films tend to be less profitable. Elaborate visuals and movies with large production budgets tend to do a better job of generating gross sales.

However, lavish expenses equal lower profits. Studios should look to the amateur Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity phenomena for advice on lucrativeness. Creativity is the most critical asset to a successful film. Superfluous explosions, extravagant lighting and redundant heroic tales are worthless when the theater is empty.

Works Cited

Anderson, D. R., Sweeney, D. J., & Williams, T. A. (2011). Essentials of Statistics for Business and Economics (6e ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Hom, D. (2011, August 18). Are Movie Sequels Profitable?. Tableau Public. Retrieved September 14, 2011, from www.tableausoftware.com/public/blog/2011/08/are-movie-sequels-profitable-1279