Desautels students uncover the secret to a successful movie

A team of Desautels undergraduate researchers from a business statistics class taught by Assistant Professor Juan Camilo Serpa examined data from online film sites like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, plus box-office sales, to come up with a picture of just what it is that makes a movie successful. The team studied elements like star power, ratings and budget to determine the most influential factor.

Big-ticket stars can be great, but generally, the single most important factor in making a box-office winner is budget. Also, the researchers were interested to discover that whether or not a movie is a sequel was not a determining factor at all.

Read full article: University Chronicle, March 1, 2017