Product Overview

This case places students in the shoes of a movie industry executive at Universal City Studios LLC navigating uncertainties around future movie creation. It explores issues such as changing audience preferences, the rise of streaming platforms, and shifting distribution strategies. At the case’s conclusion, the protagonist must determine what future films to produce and the best strategies to distribute them, as well as consider the impacts of technologies such as AI on film production and communication. Numerous factors shape the film industry, including consumer behavior, global distribution, and innovation, each presenting its own communication concerns. How can studios effectively communicate across shifting consumer demographics, lifestyles, and personalities? What should studios consider to ensure a product successfully resonates beyond the United States? And how do innovations like AI reshape communication, such as changing outreach to consumers, redefining creative processes, and creating new relationships between AI platforms and studios? Students must consider these questions and others to devise production, communication, and distribution strategies for box office success. This case is taught in “Media and Entertainment Businesses,” an elective course for second-year MBA students that aims to prepare them for careers in the media and entertainment industry. The case would be appropriate for MBA or executive education courses related to media and corporate communication strategies, particularly courses on entertainment, consumer and audience behavior, media distribution, and business strategies for the creative, movie, and streaming industries.

Learning Objectives

- Develop a comprehensive understanding of the strategies and methodologies employed by movie studios to predict box office success. - Explore the intersection of data-driven insights and artistic creativity in the film industry. - Consider suggested guardrails for business strategies and models within the film industry