Stars et box office: un état des approches théoriques et empiriques/Stars and box office: a theorical and empirical survey

Two biases define the star-system: firstly in the revenue sharing, secondly in the demand distribution. Consequently, a few people capture a huge proportion of profits and of market shares. Theory aims at explaining this double bias and provides different characterisation of the markets on which star-system appears. Empirical analysis of the movie market confirms the stars’ ability to catch the audience. However, despite their box-office appeal, stars threat the profitability of movies in which they play. Through their huge earnings, they capture the rent they generate, and sink the producers’ final profit. Therefore, why does the star-system keep going? Recruiting a star could be, in the producers’ minds, a way of minimizing risks, instead of maximizing profits.