Dead men’s pens: reinventing Wodehouse, Austen and Chandler
By Esther Bintliff
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In 2012 half of the 20 highest-grossing films in the US and Canada were franchises or sequels, including Men In Black 3, Madagascar 3 and the fourth Ice Age film. Anita Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, argues in her new book Blockbusters that this is simply smart decision-making on the part of the studios, and that entertainment businesses will increasingly make big bets on a smaller number of products. “I would guess publishers are dealing with the same problem the film industry is faced with,” she says. “Namely, there’s very high uncertainty as to what works and what doesn’t. To rely on proven models, characters or stories, that already resonate with people, is obviously one way of dealing with that.” Derek Johns, who in his long career has been an editor, publisher and literary agent, says the link is more explicit: “Everyone in publishing has sort of internalised the lessons of other businesses like film, in which brands are exploited almost ad infinitum.”
In 2012 half of the 20 highest-grossing films in the US and Canada were franchises or sequels, including Men In Black 3, Madagascar 3 and the fourth Ice Age film. Anita Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, argues in her new book Blockbusters that this is simply smart decision-making on the part of the studios, and that entertainment businesses will increasingly make big bets on a smaller number of products. “I would guess publishers are dealing with the same problem the film industry is faced with,” she says. “Namely, there’s very high uncertainty as to what works and what doesn’t. To rely on proven models, characters or stories, that already resonate with people, is obviously one way of dealing with that.” Derek Johns, who in his long career has been an editor, publisher and literary agent, says the link is more explicit: “Everyone in publishing has sort of internalised the lessons of other businesses like film, in which brands are exploited almost ad infinitum.”
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