Does the star power matter?

Abstract

This study investigates the role of superstars in the Korean movie industry. We apply a two-step approach: the first step is to test the significance of the star power during 1988–1999 in Korea; the second step is to estimate the magnitude of star power. The appearance of a star actor increases the probability of a hit or success by 15–19% and star power is higher than a director power. A domestic award is associated with positive performance. We find that the top 15 players among 68 actors and actresses significantly impacts on the success of movies.

Notes

¹The Yule distribution is a discrete probability distribution named after Yule and Simon. Simon (1955) originally called it the Yule distribution. The Yule distribution is a distribution of probabilities of occurrence that follows Zipf's law. The frequency of use of the nth-most-frequently-used word in any natural language is approximately inversely proportional to n. Zipf's law is an experimental law, not a theoretical one.

²The genre are eight kinds: Comic, Hiteen, Erotic, Action, Child, Socio-political, Melo and the others.

³If a movie received an award in the national or international movie festival, this movie is considered as a good movie by viewers because the award is a signal which certifies the quality of the movie.