Recipe for the perfect movie blockbuster found

Posted Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 9:43 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

A British professor claims to have discovered the combination of ingredients needed to make a blockbuster movie. The University of London's Sue Clayton analyzed the top-grossing film in Britain over the past decade for their basic composition. The result was a formula of elements that the ideal money-making movie should have.

For you aspiring filmmakers, the recipe is:

- 30% action - 17% comedy - 13% good versus evil - 12% love/sex/romance - 10% special effects - 10% plot - 8% music

Clayton also happens to be a writer and director. Her biggest effort to date is the critically-panned The Disappearance of Finbar which shows she has believed in the "10% plot" ingredient for some time.

According to the research, the film that most closely matched the ideal formula was Toy Story 2. The film made $245 million at the box office in the U.S. and 44 million pounds in the U.K.