Florian Kumb provides a comprehensive review of the current state of the international literature on the motion picture industry and then applies a mix of appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods in three empirical studies. He enters uncharted research territory examining the effects that major film characteristics cause in the post-theatrical exhibition, he identifies key factors that influence public film funding decisions, and then forecasts the future market development of a European film-financing network. The author shows that the characteristics of local movies, public film funding, and the local film financing network are major reasons for the low international competitiveness of Germany's motion picture industry.