Blockbusters is the culmination of nearly a decade of research into the fields of entertainment, media and sports by Harvard Business School Professor Anita Elberse. In that time, Elberse has discovered the successful formula behind entertainment’s unique ‘blockbuster strategy’. She maintains that the heavy investment in a small number of ‘tent-pole’ products, rather than the even distribution of funds in a multitude of smaller bets, ‘is the surest way to lasting success in show business’.
In her introduction, Elberse convincingly argues that blockbusters are the way of the future for the entertainment industry by sharing the contrasting strategic approaches taken by Warner Bros Studio and NBC Universal. Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros from 1999 to 2011, was the first to really pursue the production of big-budget films as a business strategy, with unparalleled financial success. Warner Bros became the only studio to ever surpass $1 billion at the North American box office eleven years in a row. By taking a more conservative approach to its investments, NBC, on the other hand, lost its position as the highest-rated television network.
Through a detailed exploration of carefully selected case studies, Elberse continues to build her case, revealing the unequivocal rewards a blockbuster strategy can reap, despite its initial appearance as a counter-intuitive business model, as well as the risks run by entertainment businesses that refuse to take such an approach. What Elberse doesn’t share is how one identifies a project worth heavily investing in. Apparently, this is where the risk comes in.
Despite being a business book, Blockbusters is surprisingly accessible and easy to understand. Elberse favours an anecdotal and narrative-driven writing style over jargon-heavy breakdowns of data. Intermittently dotted throughout the book are graphs intended to visually illustrate many of Elberse’s findings. Unfortunately, these are often overly simplistic and poorly labelled, seeming tacked on rather than pivotal in reinforcing the view that adopting a blockbuster approach is the only way to remain competitive in the fickle entertainment industry.
Moving away from her focus on traditional media forms in the latter half of the book, Elberse interrogates the capacity of the digital landscape to democratise entertainment production, concluding that digital technology will not reduce the dominance of a small number of major players in the market. Drawing on many examples to reinforce her point, it is unfortunate that the majority of these are located before 2011. Given how quickly technological advances occur, many examples of blockbuster innovation Elbserse puts forward already feel dated.
The most discouraging revelation presented in Elberse’s findings is that pursuing blockbusters, while being the most lucrative option, is about appealing to the most general audience possible, implying that there are many more original and creative projects being overlooked in favour of the next moneymaker. That said, this is not the author’s concern, her intention being to highlight successful business practice, rather than question the merit of creative decisions.
There’s no doubt that Elberse has done some incredibly thorough and insightful research in the course of her ten years investigating the ‘blockbuster strategy’, but unfortunately Blockbuster’s conclusion isn’t as successful in drawing the multitude of threads together as one would necessarily like. By including so many examples of varying marketing and business strategies implemented by big players in sports, media and entertainment, it is clear that any number of variables can impact the bottom line and there is no ‘one size fits all’ blockbuster implementation method. The lingering question of how one reaches a position comfortable enough from which to take these kinds of financial risks is glossed over and secondary to the argument that the blockbuster strategy equals financial success.
Blockbusters is an insightful read that satisfactorily reveals why much of the entertainment industry’s output seems to follow a prescriptive formula. For entertainment fans, it offers an analysis of the kinds of products we can continue to expect, which may leave many discouraged. For industry insiders, Blockbusters better articulates the state of the entertainment industry in the United States, and the kind of business strategy that leads to optimum results, which – if Elberse is correct – can be extended to the business world at large.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertaining
By Anita Elberse
Paperback, 320pp
RRP $32.99
ISBN: 9781922070692
Scribe Publications
