8 Movie Moguls' Stocks That Should Get Top Billing

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- The movie business is a crap shoot. Witness the handwringing over the expected $200 million bath Walt Disney(DIS ) is expected to take on its big-budget box-office flop "John Carter" that opened this week.

Most studios, Disney's included, now rely on their deep-pocketed, conglomerate parents for an allowance so they can continue to be free to gamble on making their next big franchise hit, which in Disney's case includes "Pirates of the Carribbean," now in development for the fifth film in the series.

And just witness the "Harry Potter" sequels that keep on giving to producer and distributor Warner Bros. parent Time Warner(TWX) , in the form of billions from film sequels to DVD sales, books and related consumer products. But Time Warner's most reliable income sources are its Turner and HBO network broadcast businesses.

So the studios will keep on trying, but the media industry isn't quite the big risk it was only a few years ago, as blockbuster movies are more the frosting on the cake for these companies, since their broadcast industry cash flow has allowed most to build themselves up into conglomerates where losses in one sector can be offset by gains elsewhere.