Software Predicts Movie Success

Found on Technewsworld on Friday, 16 December 2005
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A computerized analysis of 800 films demonstrated a significant level of accuracy in gauging their financial success. The software predicted the right revenue category for the film 37 percent of the time. Seventy-five percent of the time, the film ranked within one category of its actual performance.

Professor Ramesh Sharda, an information systems specialist at Oklahoma State University, has developed a computer program to help Hollywood predict the potential success -- or failure -- of a film.

Sharda selected seven criteria on which to predict a movie's potential viability in the marketplace. Those include its rating by censors (e.g. G, PG, R), strength of the cast, genre, competition from other films at the time of release, special effects, whether it is a sequel, and the number of theaters in which it will show.

Oh joy. I wonder how long it will take until the software also produces blockbuster scripts. Or they could hook it up to Pixar and let it render the movies. Expect more mainstream entertainment.