Movie characters are a lot like real people in many respects. They have hopes and dreams, and they have problems of their own, only their problems tend to be much more dramatic and interesting. Most movie characters are also tasked with making a living so that they can support themselves in their little fictional worlds. Fake groceries aren’t free, and that fake mortgage doesn’t pay itself. So characters have to venture out into the phony “real world” and find imaginary jobs at wholly invented companies. There have been many memorable, fictional businesses in films over the years. But which of these ersatz companies would make the best and worst employers, if they were real?
Euroffice, a U.K. office supply website, has looked into it. Drawing on its vast knowledge of real working environments, the company has evaluated five famous movie companies, ranging from Initech from Office Space to Stark Industries from Iron Man, in three separate categories: job security, work environment, and pay. Their findings, presented in infographic form, should prove useful to people who somehow find themselves transported to a fictional movie universe and need to find stable employment.
Not surprisingly, Initech ranks the lowest of them all, scoring a miserable one-star rating in all three categories. So dreary is the environment there that Initech even rates lower than the Weyland-Yutani Corp from the Alien franchise, a business that routinely puts its employees in mortal danger. On the other hand, Weyland-Yutani pays pretty well, and the job does offer opportunities for travel. The Channel 4 news team from Anchorman, meanwhile, rates highly in all three categories, but there’s a major caveat: “All marks should be halved if you are female.” The title company from Monsters, Inc. would make a decent employer, too, but Euroffice includes “working with children” as both a perk and a con of the job.