Examining International Country-to-Country Flow of Theatrical Films

Abstract

The present study examined the country-to-country flow of theatrical films. We hypothesize that a country's level of film imports is influenced by the domestic cinema market size of the exporter, and cultural and linguistic ties between the 2 countries. Regression models tested a dataset drawn from UNESCO's data on annual film imports from major cinema-exporting markets. Results revealed that trade traffic rises with exporters' and importers' home cinema economies, but is lessened by cultural distance between them. The test of the interactional effect of market size and cultural distance, however, reveals that the film flow's cultural discount was significantly moderated by the exporter's market size, which advances the literature. Finally, the flow escalates when both sides speak a common language.

The Globalization of Popular Music, 1960-2010: A Multilevel Analysis of Music Flows

“…Our explanatory analyses both confirm the importance of geo-cultural ties between countries (as observed in the negative effects of cultural and geographical distance), and suggest the existence of cultural-linguistic markets for popular music-in line with earlier studies on film and television (e.g., Fu & Sim, 2010;Straubhaar, 2014). We make advancement by showing that the centrality of cultural production is a strong additional predictor of global chart success.…”

“…While earlier theorizations propounding a model cultural imperialist model-in which monopolistic core countries prevail over peripheral and semi-peripheral ones (Wallerstein, 1979)-have been largely dispatched (see Crane, 2002), media economists have further scrutinized the impact of structural and economic conditions on cultural trade. The buying power of markets-often measured by market size, population size, or prosperity-has been identified as a predictor of international cultural trade dynamism (e.g., Fu, 2013;Fu & Sim, 2010;Hoskins, McFadyen, & Finn, 1997). More specifically, a large domestic market, often accompanied by a wider and more vibrant local cultural production, accrues a "home market advantage" (Waterman, 2005).…”

Audience Heterogeneity and the Effectiveness of Market Signals: How to Overcome Liabilities of Foreignness in Film Exports?

“…It is therefore not surprising that the main effect of cultural distance on international film success tends to be negative: the higher the cultural distance between two countries, the more foreign the films from one country appear to audiences in the other country, and the less trade of films between these two countries. Craig et al (2005), for example, found that Hollywood films were more successfully exported to foreign countries that are culturally similar to the United States (see also Fu & Govindaraju, 2010;Fu & Sim, 2010;Lee, 2006).…”

Economics of motion pictures: the state of the art

“…Many studies, in particular the earlier studies in this literature, rely on aggregate or macrolevel data to test the cultural discount model. For example, Fu and Sim (2010) and Oh (2001) investigate international trade in films and find support for the cultural discount hypothesis. Jayakar and Waterman (2000) analyze US film exports, and Lee (2002) investigates competitive balance of film trade between the USA and Japan, both studies finding support for the cultural discount hypothesis of media market dominance.…”