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Literally. The Hollywood Stock Exchange is set to launch April 20 as a real-money exchange (up to now HSX has been about buying and selling shares for fun). Essentially, it's a way to place bets on box office projections. The site will list current and upcoming releases with their projected four-week domestic grosses and allow exchange users to take long or short positions on the films. As I understand it, if a particular "stock" trades at $40, the market is predicting that the movie will gross $40 million in the first four weekends. The exchange is in its final stages of review by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Doesn't sound quite as nutty as the lottery - but close. From THR:
Distribution execs with access to early boxoffice data will be barred from making trades on the exchange after a film has opened. But film financiers will be allowed to invest in HSX an amount equal to a minority percentage of their total investment in a movie.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.