Movie lovers have long made bets among themselves over how well a particular release will do at the box office.

Beginning next month, they'll be able to make that bet through a futures contract issued by New York broker Cantor Fitzgerald.

Cantor has announced it expects final approval by April 20 of its domestic box office receipt movie futures contract, which will allow 24-hour trading based on a film's box office performance.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reviewing the proposal for box office futures to be traded on the Cantor Exchange.

Richard Jaycobs, president of the Cantor Exchange, says he expects most of the investors will be people already familiar with the vagaries of the film industry, including producers and distributors who want to hedge against their investment in a particular film.

However, anyone may invest and he says the "public response to this product has been very positive."

Cantor's Andrew Wing said the futures contract will "provide a new component into the film finance formula to combat the uncertainties of the home video market and the growing 3-D marketplace."

If a distributor or producer believes sales for an upcoming movie will exceed expectations, it can buy a contract that will boost its potential earnings from the film. Similarly, it can short sell a film's box office contract if it wants to hedge against a flop.

According to the New York Times, Cantor is not the only U.S. company planning a box office futures contract.

Veriana Networks, a media and technology company, has applied for approval to operate the Trend Exchange in Chicago, the Times reports.