Blockbusters

Anita  Elberse

Book | 2013

Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

Abstract

What's behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Enterprises, and the NFL—along with such stars as Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals? In this book, drawing on my case studies and other research on the worlds of media and sports, I explain a powerful truth about the fiercely competitive world of entertainment: building a business around blockbuster products—the movies, television shows, songs, and books that are hugely expensive to produce and market—is the surest path to long-term success. Along the way, I reveal why entertainment executives often spend outrageous amounts of money in search of the next blockbuster, why superstars are paid unimaginable sums, and how digital technologies are transforming the entertainment landscape. Full of inside stories about some of the world's most successful entertainment brands, Blockbusters is aimed at anyone seeking to understand how the entertainment industry really works—and how to navigate today's high-stakes business world at large.

Keywords: entertainment; business; strategy; media; Sports; Digital technology; blockbuster; superstar; film; television; music; publishing; performing arts; nightlife; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology; Marketing Strategy; Music Entertainment; Success; Sports; Business Strategy; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Music Industry; Fine Arts Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Publishing Industry;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Elberse, Anita. Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2013.

Should the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament gamble most of its player budget on superstar player Rafael Nadal, even after the event’s previous two editions saw Nadal and Roger Federer pull out at the last moment due to injury, leaving the tournament without any top-five players? That is the question that Richard Krajicek, former Wimbledon champion and current tournament director, is debating with Jolanda Jansen, the director of the venue that hosts the event. It is June 2017, and earlier in the day, Nadal won the French Open (“Roland Garros”) for a record tenth time. Krajicek’s plan for the upcoming edition was to focus his recruiting efforts on five exciting, mostly younger, players, and assemble a group of top-20 players around them—but after Nadal’s record-breaking performance, Krajicek is now considering pursuing the Spanish superstar for the 2018 tournament after all. What is the best course of action?

Roger Federer, widely regarded as the best tennis player in the history of the sport, walked onto the court to thunderous applause during in the second edition of the Laver Cup in September 2018. Named after tennis legend Rod Laver, the Cup pitted many of the greatest players from Europe against those from the rest of the world. Federer was more than one of the Laver Cup’s main stars—he was an owner and co-creator. In fact, the idea for the event had originated in his boutique company TEAM8, which he co-founded in 2013 with his agent and business partner Tony Godsick. The Laver Cup’s success had not gone unnoticed in the world of tennis. With traditional tennis tournaments such as the Davis Cup attracting new investors and with governing bodies such as the Association of Tennis Professionals planning to relaunch their team event, the competition for top players and for desirable slots on an already very full tennis calendar was stronger than ever before. Was TEAM8’s Laver Cup well positioned for long-term success?

In July 2013, composer, writer, actor and rapper Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Tommy Kail, and producer Jeffrey Seller met to discuss how to launch Hamilton, a new musical based on the life of the first Treasury Secretary of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. With a hip-hop score and an ethnically diverse cast that looked nothing like their historical counterparts, Hamilton was an unlikely candidate for success on Broadway. The trio needed to decide which of two popular routes was best to bring their new musical to Broadway: either take the production straight to Broadway in a 'cold open,' or strike an 'enhancement deal' with a non-profit theater so the musical could be tested before mounting a more expensive Broadway run. Could a hip-hop musical about a largely forgotten Founding Father be a Broadway blockbuster? And if so, what was the right next step in bringing Hamilton closer toward that goal?

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Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

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