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1. Introduction
Movie producers and theatres provide brief information in mobile applications and websites to communicate with movie-goers. Titles, casts, directors, genres, synopses and reviews are often presented. In light of their influence on movie consumption, research has extensively examined the role of stars and directors (Liu et al., 2013), genres (Redfern, 2012) and reviews (Moon et al., 2010). However, little research has investigated whether synopses have an impact on a movie’s box office performance. This is surprising as a plot summary provides an authentic portrait of the movie independent from other movie watchers’ viewpoints and experience, allowing people to make a decision based on own preferences. More importantly, from a marketing manager’s perspective, once a movie is produced, the synopsis is a contact point with movie-goers to effectively influence their purchase decision.
Our research is the first to use text analysis to examine the influence of linguistic cues of a synopsis on the movie’s box office performance. We identify the fit between genre and linguistic cues in view of enhancing box office performance. To inform how a synopsis may affect decision making, we draw on the study of content analysis (Weber, 1990). Content analysis has shown to be effective in predicting electoral politics. Linguistic styles of presidential candidates affect public perceptions and vote choice (Slatcher et al., 2007). In movie consumption, consumers may be more likely to choose the movie that has a plot fitting their expectations. The linguistic cues of a synopsis create perceptions on the extent that the movie has a story line that they would enjoy watching. Therefore, linguistic cues in a synopsis are likely to affect consumer perceptions and their movie-going decisions. If so, linguistic cues that fit the movie genre are likely to increase box office due to congruence with consumer expectation.
We analysed synopses from over 5000 films within a duration of 10 years with the computerised text analysis programme linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) (Pennebaker et al., 2007). The text analysis identified 11 linguistic variables that loaded on four dimensions of psychological processes. The four dimensions are compared and contrasted across genres, revealing the distinctive features as a reflection of genre schema commonly shared by industry participants (e.g. composers of the synopsis)...