1 Introduction
2 Theoretical background
2.1 International box-office
2.2 Ethnic minority actors and domestic box-office
2.3 Intersectionality
3 Hypotheses
3.1 Main effects
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H1a(b): Black male (female) actors increase (decrease) a movie’s box-office in a country.
3.2 Moderation effects
3.2.1 Star power
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H2a(b): The higher the star power of Black male (female) actors, the more positive (less negative) their effect on the movie’s box-office in a country.
3.2.2 Previous releases
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H3a(b): The greater the number of previous releases in other countries, the more positive (less negative) the effect of Black male (female) actors on the movie’s box-office in a country.
3.2.3 Time-lag
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H4a(b): The longer the time-lag between worldwide release and release in a country, the more positive (less negative) the effect of Black male (female) actors on the movie’s box-office in the country.
3.2.4 Emerging country
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H5a(b): The effect of Black male (female) actors on a movie’s country-level box-office is less positive (more negative) in emerging (vs. developed) countries.
4 Data
Variable | Measure |
---|---|
Box-office | Revenue in $ in the country* |
Black male actors | Number of Black male leading actors over leading actors |
Black female actors | Number of Black female leading actors over leading actors |
Star power of Black male actors | Average movie gross in $ for each Black male leading actor, averaged across all Black male leading actors, prior to the movie’s worldwide release date* |
Star power of Black female actors | Average movie gross in $ for each Black female leading actor, averaged across all Black female leading actors, prior to the movie’s worldwide release date* |
Previous releases | Number of countries in which the movie has been released before release in the country* |
Time-lag | Number of days between the worldwide release of the movie and release in the country* |
Emerging country | 1 for countries classified as Emerging in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, 0 otherwise |
Sequel | 1 if the movie is a sequel, 0 otherwise |
Remake | 1 if the movie is a remake, 0 otherwise |
Real-life | 1 if the movie is based on real-life events, 0 otherwise |
Director power | Average movie gross in $ for the director prior to the movie’s worldwide release date* |
Minority director | 1 if the director is ethnic minority or female, 0 otherwise |
Critic review | Aggregated critic review score from rottentomatoes.com* |
Budget | Budget in $* |
Star power | Average movie gross in $ for each leading actor, averaged across all leading actors, prior to the movie’s worldwide release date* |
Distribution intensity | Number of theatrical engagements for the movie in the country (where one theatrical engagement means playing in a theater for one week)* |
Competitive intensity | Number of movies released in the month of a movie’s initial release in the country* |
Major producer | 1 for movies produced by major companies, 0 otherwise |
Cultural distance | Cultural distance between the USA and the country (Kogut & Singh, 1988) |
Indulgence | Country indulgence score (Hofstede et al., 2010) |
Post 2014 | 1 for movies released after 2014, 0 otherwise |
Female actors | Number of female leading actors over leading actors |
Number of actors | Number of leading actors* |
5 Estimation
6 Results
DV: | Likelihood of release | Box-Office | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | |
Unstandardized coefficients (SE) | |||
Black male actors | − 0.17 (0.05)*** | − 0.06 (0.05) | 0.37 (0.16)** |
Black female actors | − 0.18 (0.08)** | − 0.57 (0.07)*** | − 0.76 (0.22)*** |
Black male actors × star power of Black male actors | − 0.05 (0.01)*** | ||
Black male actors × previous releases | − 0.06 (0.04) | ||
Black male actors × time-lag | 0.05 (0.03)** | ||
Black male actors × emerging country | − 0.20 (0.09)** | ||
Black female actors × star power of Black female actors | − 0.01 (0.01) | ||
Black female actors × previous releases | 0.19 (0.06)*** | ||
Black female actors × time-lag | 0.08 (0.03)** | ||
Black female actors × emerging country | − 0.13 (0.11) | ||
Star power of Black male actors | 0.02 (0.003)*** | ||
Star power of Black female actors | − 0.01 (0.01) | ||
Previous releases | 0.03 (0.01)** | ||
Time-lag | − 0.20 (0.01)*** | ||
Emerging country | − 3.51 (0.09)*** | − 0.22 (0.13)* | |
Sequel | 0.03 (0.03) | 0.29 (0.02)*** | |
Remake | 0.04 (0.03) | − 0.09 (0.03)*** | |
Real-life | − 0.13 (0.03)*** | − 0.01 (0.03) | |
Director power | − 0.001 (0.001) | − 0.001 (0.001) | |
Minority director | 0.02 (0.02) | − 0.002 (0.02) | |
Critic review | 0.09 (0.02)*** | 0.19 (0.02)*** | |
Budget | 0.12 (0.02)*** | 0.37 (0.02)*** | |
Star power | 0.01 (0.002)*** | − 0.002 (0.001) | |
Distribution intensity | 0.50 (0.04)*** | ||
Competitive intensity | − 0.30 (0.04)*** | ||
Major producer | 0.05 (0.02)** | 0.03 (0.02)** | |
Cultural distance | 0.93 (0.03)*** | − 0.63 (0.10)*** | |
Indulgence | − 0.005 (0.0002)*** | 0.02 (0.001)*** | |
Post 2014 | − 0.38 (0.06)*** | ||
Female actors | 0.01 (0.02) | 0.10 (0.03)*** | |
Number of actors | − 0.01 (0.01) | − 0.06 (0.01)*** | |
Instrument | − 4.84 (0.25)*** | ||
IMR | − 1.15 (0.08)*** | − 0.11 (0.04)** | |
MPAA rating FEs | YES | YES | YES |
Genre FEs | YES | YES | YES |
Year FEs | YES | YES | YES |
Country FEs | YES | YES | YES |
Observations | 57,141 | 15,119 | 15,119 |
Pseudo R2 | 0.47 | ||
R2 | 0.60 | 0.77 |
Variables | Hypothesized effect | Result (DV: country-level box-office) |
---|---|---|
Black male | H1a: Positive | Positive |
Black male × star power | H2a: Positive | Negativea |
Black male × previous releases | H3a: Positive | Not significant |
Black male × time-lag | H4a: Positive | Positive |
Black male × emerging country | H5a: Negative | Negative |
Black female | H1b: Negative | Negative |
Black female × star power | H2b: Positive | Not significant |
Black female × previous releases | H3b: Positive | Positive |
Black female × time-lag | H4b: Positive | Positive |
Black female × emerging country | H5b: Negative | Not significant |