THB #5: Rules of Thumb

(Apologies for being a day late… the week caught up to me and pummeled my Friday.)

In 2006, I wrote The Hot Button Rules of Thumb. Fifteen year later, how do they hold up?

TOP TEN HOT BUTTON RULES OF THUMB

1. Great Media Outlets’ Standards Are Less Stringent When The Subject Is Entertainment And That Sucks.

Still true and even more so.

2. $150 Million Is No Longer A Blockbuster In Theatrical… But Right Now Represents The Start Of A Road To More Than $200 Million In Returns to The Studio In Most Cases Thanks To The New DVD Market And Expanded International Theatrical Market.

We have been through multiple paradigm shifts since this notion. This was written when DVD was superhot and the first year, coincidentally, where international theatrical box office was over 70% of the total theatrical take in more than 1 of the Top 10 movies worldwide.

The power of international has grown even stronger for blockbusters since and the DVD business has eroded to a blip. But the spending on television - a…