in other words, movies are now 'commodities'
Here's the trailer for Takers, the first movie where you can trade box office futures on a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-sanctioned exchange.
According to Variety...
To win approval, Media Derivatives agreed to a number of conditions that are designed to address concerns about market manipulation. ... Among them is a rule that will require "entities and individuals who control a film's marketing budget, release date or opening screen number" -- in other words, a studio and its top executives -- "to provide the Exchange with information regarding such decisions whenever that entity or individual holds a position of 1,000 or more contracts."
Takers opens August 20th. Better get your bets in quick; the financial reform bill includes language that would ban box office futures-trading, effectively reversing the CFTC's ruling.