Hollywood becoming more businesslike.

Most people going to blockbuster movies pay close attention to which actors and directors are associated with those films. It shouldn't be any surprise that film studio executives do also, says Timothy Baldwin, co-director of the Sports and Entertainment Academy in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, Bloomington. "More sophisticated business practices are creeping in and should be creeping in, because the amount of risk associated with these movies is so high as well as the amount of dollars at stake."

In addition to trusting their gut instincts, Hollywood executives are placing greater...