Wikipedia Data Predicts Movie Blockbusters (Infographic)

By Karl Tate
published

Infographic: The relationship between a film's level of Wikipedia activity and its opening weekend box office.
Scientists found that upcoming films with high Wikipedia activity tended to do well at the box office. (Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

Using a mathematical model, the data from Wikipedia  can be used to predict which movies will become the next blockbusters. The factors that contribute to the predicted future box-office revenue include the number of page views for each movie, the number of Wikipedia editors contributing to the page and the diversity of users visiting the page, according to the study published Aug. 21 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Karl Tate
LiveScience Infographic Artist
Karl has been Purch's infographics specialist across all editorial properties since 2010.  Before joining Purch, Karl spent 11 years at the New York headquarters of The Associated Press, creating news graphics for use around the world in newspapers and on the web.  He has a degree in graphic design from Louisiana State University.