Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Cantor Exchange Lets Movie Buffs Bet on Box Office Success

by Caleb Johnson on March 11, 2010 at 04:00 PM

It's one of our favorite pastimes -- betting what movies will soar and flop at the box office. By no means do these numbers indicate film quality, of course, but we still enjoy keeping an eye on them. Now, we have even more incentive. According to The New York Times, Cantor Futures Exchange will launch a Web site in late April that allows everybody from studio executives to film lovers to bet money on how well a film will do at the box office.

A contract will trade at $1 for every $1 million a movie is predicted to make during its first month of release. The Times uses the upcoming 'Robin Hood' flick starring Russel Crowe as an example: If it's expected to make $100 million (probably a reasonable figure), and you put down $100, you'll make a dollar for every million dollars it goes over that $100-million mark. Not only is this a fun way for movie lovers to make some extra cash, but distributors and studios could also pad their pockets if they correctly predict box-office performance. Cantor will make sure there's no conflicts of interest by not allowing industry insiders to bet more money on a flop than on a success.

Enterprising movie buffs can start depositing money into a futures account on March 15th. After that, study up on box-office trends. We'll see you at the movies, and, if you're lucky, at the bank, too. [From: The New York Times]

Tags: boxoffice, cantor exchange, CantorExchange, gambling, money, movies

Comments

2

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular