Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Movie Box Office: Real Betting Is On the Way | The Hollywood Reporter | Showbiz 411 | Entertainment News: "People in the industry like to place little wagers on the weekend boxoffice. They’re probably nothing more than five bucks, or a coffee shop lunch if “x” beats “y” this weekend. That sort of thing.

That’s about to change, though, in a major way. Soon, everyone —I mean, everyone — will be able to bet on the boxoffice, and make or lose lots of money on the outcome.

Cantor Fitzgerald’s Howard Lutnick is right now beta testing something called The Cantor Exchange. You can find it
here. Lutnick already operates the Hollywood Stock Exchange, where players trade “virtual” shares of everything including stars, directors, films, etc. It’s all innocent fun.

CX, as it will be known, is a different story. Cantor is awaiting regulatory approval before it launches officially. When it does, the boxoffice could become an interesting, maybe even dangerous, game. It’s real money, and it sure looks like anyone can play, even studio execs and theater distributors."

2 comments:

Scott Cupp said...

I'd put down $2 that Time Machine Hot Tub would be the #1 film of its debut week. I could probably get decent odds on that.

Deb said...

I try to imagine a scenario (ala "The Producers") where an attempt is made to make a movie so bad that it will be an enormous failure and the betting line will have an enormous payoff. But then I realize you couldn't make a movie bad enough to be absolutely sure it would fail.

BTW, my kids think Hot Tub Time Machine (the title says it all) looks hilarious! I guess it's not too soon for Michael Jackson jokes.