What is ERC? What happens when a movie does not report to ERC?

ERC, or Exhibitor Relations Company, provides movie related data - including box office information - to its clients in the entertainment and media industries.  You can see this information on its website, and you can also follow ERC on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information quicker.

HSX uses the box office information provided by ERC when cashing out moviestocks and their related derivatives such as calls, puts, opening warrants and blockbuster warrants.

Moviestocks are cashed out at the ratio of H$1 for every $1 million earned by the movie at the domestic (United States and Canada) box office, after their first four weekends of wide release, or their first twelve weekends of limited release.

If a movie does not report to ERC over its thetarical run, HSX can use alternative sources of box office information - such as Box Office Mojo - when cashing out the stock.  Alternative sources are only used if the movie has not reported to ERC.  If a movie has reported to ERC, and an alternative source reports a different box office figure, HSX will use the ERC figure when cashing out the moviestock.

If no source of box office information is available, then the moviestock will cash out at $0.01.

ERC's box office information is also used to calculate starbond TAGs and adjusts.  HSX updates the starbond TAGs each Monday based on the data provided by ERC.

When a movie does not report box office to ERC, any starbonds attached to the moviestock will be removed, and they will not adjust after the moviestock has cashed out.  This happens even if HSX cashes out the moviestock using non-ERC information.