STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with betting on Hollywood.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: You will soon be able to place financial bets on new movies. Yesterday regulators in Washington approved the establishment of a Hollywood futures exchange.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Investors will be able to buy financial products based on a movie's box office performance. The idea is that buying these derivatives would help movie investors offset the risk of putting money into big movie productions. So you can now bet on the sequel to The A-Team if you'd like.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The Motion Picture Association of America derides this idea as legalized gambling on the industry and vulnerable to insider trading. One regulator who opposed the measure called it popcorn prediction markets. Others who voted in favor say it serves, quote, an economic hedging purpose.
Investors now will be able to buy financial products based on a movie's box office performance. The idea is that buying these derivatives would help movie investors offset the risk of putting money into big movie productions.