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Using data over the 2009–2016 period, this paper examines the impact of star power on box office revenues in China. Unlike most existing studies, we measure star power as a continuous variable based on the number of registered fans of movie stars on the most popular microblogging website in China (Sina Weibo). We also examine the impact of star power on box office revenues through three important channels (industry recognition, internet media evaluation, and internet media buzz). Estimation of log-linear specifications shows that directors play an important role in the financial success of movies in China. The direct effect of star power on the financial success of movies is negative, and the same applies to the direct effect of internet media evaluation. The indirect quality effect of star power through industry recognition is positive but insignificant. The marginal effect of industry recognition becomes significantly positive only when the level of star power reaches the second quartile of its distribution. The indirect signal effect of star power through internet media evaluation is negative and statistically significant. However, the indirect signal effect through internet media buzz is positive and significant at all levels of star power and this effect dominates the negative direct effect of star power once it reaches a threshold level. Endogeneity-corrected estimation results confirm that the total effect of star power on box office revenues in China is positive and significant. The Chinese movie industry, which appears to be dominated by low-quality movies, can benefit from further reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular movies grab and hold our attention. One reason for this is that storytelling is culturally important to us, but another is that general narrative formulae have been honed over millennia and that a derived but specific filmic form has developed and has been perfected over the last century. The result is a highly effective format that allows rapid processing of complex narratives. Using a corpus analysis I explore a physical narratology of popular movies-narrational structure and how it impacts us-to promote a theory of popular movie form. I show that movies can be divided into 4 acts-setup, complication, development, and climax-with two optional subunits of prolog and epilog, and a few turning points and plot points. In 12 studies I show that normative aspects in patterns of shot durations, shot transitions, shot scale, shot motion, shot luminance, character introduction, and distributions of conversations, music, action shots, and scene transitions reduce to 5 correlated stylistic dimensions of movies and can litigate among theories of movie structure. In general, movie narratives have roughly the same structure as narratives in any other domain-plays, novels, manga, folktales, even oral histories-but with particular runtime constraints, cadences, and constructions that are unique to the medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a meta-model of spiritual formation comprised of salient and consistent components from developmental psychology models. The model is comprised of six 'spaces' and is illustrated using the film The Visitor. This article provides a brief overview of spirituality and differentiates it from religion. The meta-model presented here is intended to be used by pastoral counselors and spiritual directors as a heuristic framework for understanding and facilitating an individual's spiritual formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rich literature focusing on adolescents' consumption of popular media often focuses on sexual content and the various messages about sex and sexuality available to youth. However, one particular concept that has received little scholarly attention is media messages about sexual desire among young people, especially teen girls. What messages about teen girls' sexual desire are available for youth in popular media? The following paper explores this question through qualitative content analysis of 130 scenes from 34 popular films featuring teen characters in lead and supporting roles between 2000 and 2009. Findings indicate that such films convey three primary messages about teen girls' sexual desire: desire is unspoken, only 'bad girls' verbalize desire, and expressing desire results in negative consequences. My analyses and discussion are informed by the sexual scripting framework and by critical feminist social thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research into the film industry focuses on aggregate level market analysis of a range of devices used by the industry to ensure the success of its films. In contrast, in this paper, we experimentally test how individual cinema-goers are influenced by two variables that have aroused considerable interest in the literature: critical reviews and the role of box office stars. As regards the former, the results of our experiment indicate that negative reviews by film critics are cues that affect cinema-goers' pre-film assessment of a film yet fail to exert any effect on post-film assessment. As regards the latter, a cast of box office stars is not seen to be an indication of quality per se for our experimental subjects. Nor do box office stars help to mitigate the potential effects of negative reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of the difference in consumer tastes and expert judgments on movies released between 2008 and 2012. Evaluation of films by consumers and critics were measured by scores on Internet Movie Database websites. Both consumers and critics showed divergent views on movies with more popular genres and they have less divergent views on film sequels. The judgments of critics were noted to have little influence on the taste of consumers.