Are they all crazy or just risk averse? : some movie puzzles and possible solutions

Making profitable movies remains a very elusive goal. Author survey recent work on the nature film profitability and provide some support for the idea that decisions in the film business are made according to a risk averse objective function, not necessarily in the best interests of shareholders. Paper presented at the 12th biennal ACEI conference, june 12-15, 2002 Rotterdam, the Netherlands.