Investing in Films

Tomorrow the much anticipated Iron Man 3 movie comes out in North America 😀 I can’t wait to see it! Other movies I’m looking forward to this summer are Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel, World War Z, Pacific Rim, and The Wolverine. What movie are you excited for this year? The film industry is a very lucrative space bringing in more than 10 billion dollars a year just in US domestic box office revenue.

How can ordinary folks like us get a piece of this market? I am successfully doing it in two ways right now. The first is to own a piece of the giant movie studios that are making these films 😉 They include names most people are already familiar with like Universal (Comcast), Buena Vista (Disney), Fox (NewsCorp), Paramount (Viacom), Sony, and Warner Bros. All these companies are publicly traded. Any time these studios make money, which they all do, you and I (as long as we own their stocks) will be the beneficiaries 😀 This is why I decided to invested $2,000 in Disney earlier this year. When The Avengers movie broke sales records and they announced more Marvel movies to come out over the next few years I knew Disney was going to take me places 🙂 I bought Disney in March and its shares have appreciated by more than 10% already woohoo \(^_^)/

But there are so many movie companies. How do you know which one to invest in? I would look at businesses that you think has the strongest brands. I like Disney because besides Marvel Entertainment, they also own Pixar Animation, ESPN, Lucas film, and about 27% of Hulu. And I like all those brands! Not to mention Disney is also in the business of lodging and merchandising. So they’re a very diversified and well rounded company ∩( ・ω・)  They even have a Disney University where cast member go for professional development and job training lol.

The second way we can profit from the film industry is to invest in movie theaters. Every year there are more visits to cinemas than amusement parks and sporting events combined. In 2011 I wrote about how I invested $2,000 in Cineplex. They are the largest theater name in Canada. And so far their stock price is up over 30% from when I bought them, woohoo again (^_^)