Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

Why the future of popular culture will revolve around ever bigger bets on entertainment products, by one of Harvard Business School's most popular professors

What's behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Entertainment, 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?

Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School's expert on the entertainment industry, has done pioneering research on the worlds of media and sports for more than a decade. Now, in this groundbreaking book, she explains 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, she reveals 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 emerging from Elberse's unprecedented access to some of the world's most successful entertainment brands, Blockbusters is destined to become required reading for anyone seeking to understand how the entertainment industry really works--and how to navigate today's high-stakes business world at large.

Author: Anita Elberse
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Published: 10/15/2013
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.11lbs
Size: 9.54h x 6.39w x 1.13d
ISBN: 9780805094336


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/01/2013 pg. 20
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2013
Publishers Weekly 10/28/2013

About the Author
Anita Elberse, the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, is one of the youngest female professors to be awarded tenure in the School's history. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, and Fortune. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.


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