Globalization and the rise of action movies in hollywood

This paper shows that Globalization contributes significantly to the rise of Action movies in Hollywood. Incorporating both the intensive and extensive margins in trade, this paper develops a structural model to allow movie-quality production heterogeneity across genres and countries. The paper finds that Hollywood studios respond to export-market expansion by tailoring their products to international consumers’ preferences. As a result, Hollywood increasingly focuses on a few blockbusters, overwhelmingly in the Action genre. The movie industry becomes significantly more concentrated both domestically and abroad. Furthermore, a disproportionate increase in Action movies raises consumer welfare in some countries at other regions’ expense.