Film futures forbidden: movie speculation ban.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

HOW ARE movies like onions? They both have layers? They both make you cry? They both stink?

Nope. Thanks to the financial regulation bill that President Barack Obama signed in July, movies and onions are the only two commodities whose futures cannot be legally traded in the United States.

In June the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved exchanges in movie futures, which are essentially bets on films' box office performance. The commission explained that the futures contracts, which were expected to be traded beginning in July, were "intended to allow participants in the motion picture industry to manage the financial risks associated with the production and distribution of motion pictures." But Hollywood studios, worried that the...