Why Blockbusters Are Taking Over The Arts Harvard Anita Elbe

Why Blockbusters Are Taking Over The Artsharvards Anita Elberse On Wh

Why blockbusters are taking over the arts Harvard’s Anita Elberse on why the ‘long tail’ is not where the money is By Craig Fehrman Globe Correspondent, October 13, 2013, 12:33 a.m. The next few weeks seemed to bear out his prediction, as “The Lone Ranger” (reported cost: $215 million), “R.I.P.D.” ($130 million), and other big titles flopped. But then a funny thing happened. When summer came to an end, Hollywood had brought in more money than ever: a domestic box office of $4.76 billion. For every “Lone Ranger” there had been an “Iron Man 3” and a “Fast & Furious 6.” Hollywood wasn’t collapsing under the weight of its blockbusters.

It was enjoying its best summer ever. That might have surprised Spielberg, but it’s exactly what Anita Elberse expected. Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, has spent a decade studying the entertainment industry and how it’s changing in the online economy. Many observers had predicted the Web would revolutionize our culture and wildly expand our choices—and in some ways, it has. But in her new book “Blockbusters,” Elberse argues that for entertainment companies at least, the digital shift has only amplified the star system already in place.

Movie studios now succeed by sinking extra resources into a handful of super-hits, and the public responds by flocking to them. “Blockbusters” shows that this strategy has also worked for book publishers, music labels, TV networks, and video game companies. Elberse analyzes the realm of culture with a rigorous, numbers-driven approach. One of her central findings has been that Chris Anderson’s influential “long tail” theory, which imagined a digital future in which we would happily browse a niche-filled utopia, hasn’t quite worked out as promised. In the pages of the Harvard Business Review, and now in her new book, Elberse has mounted a forceful argument against it, showing that instead of producing a “long tail” of modest successes, consumers respond to an overwhelming mass of products by drifting back to the biggest brands.

“Blockbusters,” she writes, “will become more—not less—relevant in the future.” The notion that blockbusters are doing better than ever has been a big relief for entertainment companies worried that digital content would gut their business. For the wider culture, however, it might not sound so encouraging. Who wants to live in a world where there’s “Fast & Furious 12” and little else? It’s easy to blame movie studios and publishers for crassly chasing the easy money. But Elberse’s book shows the reasons lie with us, as well.

We may think we’ll use the Internet as a gateway to marvelous and obscure new music, books, movies, and so on—but to a significant extent, we’re really using it for a mass discussion of Miley Cyrus’s new number one hit. A blockbuster economy, it seems, is what happens when people get what they really want.

Paper For Above instruction

In the evolving landscape of the entertainment industry, the dominance of blockbuster movies and popular media reflects complex consumer behavior and strategic industry responses. Anita Elberse’s research at Harvard Business School provides a comprehensive understanding of how the digital economy has reinforced the star system, challenging notions like Chris Anderson’s “long tail” theory. This essay explores the reasons behind the resurgence and dominance of blockbuster products, the implications for cultural diversity, and the behavioral tendencies of consumers in the digital age.

Elberse’s pivotal finding that the film industry’s successful strategy involves investing heavily in a select few super-hits aligns with broader patterns across media industries. Her analysis demonstrates that despite the abundance of choices enabled by the internet, consumer behavior predominantly favors the most popular brands. Empirical data from music, film, and publishing sectors reveal a disproportionate concentration of sales around top-performing products. For example, in the digital music market, a small fraction of songs account for the majority of sales, illustrating a long tail that remains largely unexplored by most consumers.

This tendency towards concentrated consumption supports Elberse’s assertion that blockbusters remain central to industry revenue. Her critique of Anderson’s long tail theory highlights that, contrary to expectations, consumers do not extensively browse niche markets but gravitate toward well-known brands. This behavior is reinforced by marketing strategies and the cultural appeal of star power, which continually attract audiences to high-budget, big-name productions. The financial success of films like “Harry Potter,” “Inception,” and “Clash of the Titans” exemplifies this approach, with a significant portion of revenues generated from a small selection of blockbuster titles.

The economic logic underpinning the blockbuster strategy extends beyond cinema to music and publishing. Warner Bros., for instance, allocates substantial resources to a few key films, which consistently yield exceptional returns. Similarly, in music, high-profile artists and albums are orchestrated akin to blockbuster releases, designed to maximize profit. Elberse’s models demonstrate that this approach is not only profitable but sustainable in the current digital environment. The emphasis on blockbuster hits effectively creates a ‘winner-takes-all’ market structure, where dominant products crowd out niche offerings.

However, this phenomenon raises concerns about cultural diversity and artistic innovation. Critics argue that a focus on blockbusters may stifle creative experimentation and marginalize less commercially viable projects. Studios increasingly prefer to invest in safe, high-return projects, reducing opportunities for midlist productions and emerging artists. Spielberg’s concern about the impact on quality underscores this tension—while blockbuster success boosts industry profits, it risks creating homogenized cultural output lacking diversity and artistic depth.

Behavioral research, including that of William McPhee, illuminates why consumers prefer blockbusters. Elberse’s interpretation of McPhee’s experiments indicates that most fans are light consumers, favoring popular hits over niche content. Even more dedicated fans tend to prefer the biggest successes, reinforcing industry patterns. This aligns with her modeled findings, which show that a small percentage of top products generate most sales, and consumers often settle into familiar favorites.

This understanding reveals that market dynamics are driven both by supply—strategic investments and marketing—and demand—consumer preferences rooted in social and cultural factors. The digital environment amplifies these tendencies, as companies leverage data analytics and targeted advertising to highlight blockbuster titles. This strategic focus explains why the industry continues to thrive on blockbuster success stories despite ongoing debates about cultural quality and diversity.

The implications extend to the broader cultural landscape. While the commercial logic favors a concentration on big hits, it also limits options for consumers seeking niche content or more innovative, less mainstream art. The challenge lies in balancing profitability with cultural richness, a task complicated by consumer preferences that are inherently biased toward familiar and star-powered products. Ultimately, the future of entertainment will depend on shifts in both industry strategy and consumer behavior, with the potential for greater diversity if alternative models gain favor.

References

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• Elberse, A. (2013). Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment. Hackett Publishing.
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