The effect of critical reviews on exhibitors' decisions: Do reviews affect the survival of a movie on screen?

This article aims to demonstrate that distribution intermediaries, namely exhibitors, are influenced by critical reviews in their programming decisions after the launch of a movie. More specifically, it tests the effect of critical reviews on the decision of exhibitors to keep or withdraw a movie on their screens from week to week. A unique data set comprising more than 165,000 weekly theater level decisions spanning over a decade is used for the analyses. Exhibitors' decisions are modeled through a discrete time survival model with random effects. Results show that a movie with excellent reviews has more chances to stay longer in a theater when compared to one with poor, fair, or good reviews, even after controlling for the previous week's box office. This finding suggests that a portion of the overall commercial performance usually associated with positive reviews can be attributed to the impact of critics' reviews on exhibitors' decisions to keep the movie on screen for a longer period.