ABSTRACT
Some studio executives are worried. According to Jack Valenti of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), movie budgets in 1997 averaged a record $75.6 million, an increase of 21% from 1996 (Schatz, 1999). Such high costs generate worries about the very survival of some studios because a few box-office bombs can drive a marginal studio into critical financial trouble. Schatz called the current movie industry “a tale of two Hollywoods: One is enjoying the best revenues and explosive worldwide growth, while the other staggers on the verge of collapse because of runaway costs” (p. 26).
