For a few years, I headed the investor relations department during my corporate days and spent many waking hours working with the New York Stock Exchange and the institutional analysts who feed the machine. During one of my weekly visits to the Big Apple, I got into a conversation with one of the market soothsayers about the movies.
I love movies. They are a true escape for me. So, when the guy in the other overstuffed chair said, "Hey, I've got a movie tip for you,", I listened. It seemed that 20th Century Fox had been on the downslide with a series of box office disasters and was relying on movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" to keep the cash flowing. But my colleague said that the studio had decided to take a real flyer, literally and figuratively.
Space movies were not even in the lexicon at the time and one with an ensemble of unknown actors and a director with barely a decent credit to his name seemed far from a good bet. My friend said he didn't know much about the film himself but one his co-workers in Hollywood had read the script and seen some sample footage that looked pretty exciting.
If it hadn't been a movie, I'm sure my interest would have ended then. And if I hadn't like "American Graffiti" from director George Lucas, I wouldn't have gone one step further. But if the studio, with its stock selling for $6 a share, was taking a gamble on this film, why shouldn't I?
The film, which hadn't been named at the time, would come out in theaters in a year. If nothing unusual happened before its release and I still felt uncomfortable after a few months, I figured I could get my $6 a share back before it tanked.
I really need to finish this story now. I did invest. At $600 per block of stock, all I would be losing was a new car. There was really no great fanfare for "Star Wars" the movie until it hit the theaters. As it turned out, it was a game changer for the film business. It's wide release across the county set the standard for blockbuster films for years to come.
20th Century Fox stock doubled in a week. It tripled in six weeks and a year later, it was four times what I paid for it. 21st Century Fox, the parent of the film studio now owned by Rupert Murdoch, is still selling for $28 a share. It no longer owns the Star Wars franchise. That has gone to Disney. But it still holds the rights to the first 3 movies in the series.
I haven't taken too many flyers in the stock market and certainly never expected this one to do what it did. A movie that you can see in a theater and hear people talk about is much more fun to me than investing in the latest app or a new processor. Don't worry, the 401K is still mostly in mutual funds...but I did invest in Marvel Comics before the Avenger series was brought to the screen by my old friends at 20th Century. The latest news is that Disney is buying out Marvel stock at a 30% premium.
It's a good thing that I just like movies. But I've at least had two fun rides on the roller coaster I'll see you in line as "The Force Awakens". I'll be the one with the blue light saber and the smile on my face.
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