Examining Success Indicators of the Motion Pictures: the Case of the Russian Movie Industry

On the premise of the volatility of the results of the movie production process, the topic of the elements that can feasibly exert an impact on the ultimate success of a motion picture has become one of the most prominent among the industry professionals. However, the majority of scholars have centered around the scrutiny of the US market with scarce literature covering other geographies on the matter of the constituents of the feature film success. In view of this, the aim of the current study was to analyze the Russian movie industry in pursuit of revealing the components which are the most crucial for the higher commercial performance of pictures launched in the country. The focus of the research was on the examination of 710 films produced in Russia and released in the domestic cinema theatres during the period of 2007-2018. Consequently, the construction of the OLS regression model in Stata 15 indicated that the statistically significant elements, essential for the ultimate increase in the box office figures, could be associated with the distributing company, the production studio and the seasonality component of the release date of a certain motion picture. What is more, the greater financial performance was linked to the male director of the project, the series of various genres and the duration component of the Russian movies. On the contrary, the gender characteristics of the producers of the films, the rest of the crew members and the leading cast had no evident effects on the commercial upshot of the group of observations. As a result, the retrieved findings could facilitate the decision-making process of the industry experts and assist aspiring specialists in the elaboration of strategies for future movies’ production.