Whatever Happened To The Movie Star?

March 11, 2016 in Daily Bulletin

The end of the movie actress was proclaimed three years ago. Now The Economist is willing to say the same about actors in general.

  • Deadpool, with a relatively unknown star, has dominated the box office recently. Meanwhile movies such as Joy and Concussion, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Will Smith respectively, have struggled.
  • These days audiences seem to go to the theaters to see special effects, and any relative unknown in a superhero costume can act in that.
  • In fact, the stars of today owe their success in part to action flicks. Lawrence made her name from The Hunger Games, and Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley seems to have gotten a similar bump, being in consideration to play Lara Croft.
  • Yet movies will continue to feature big name attractions. If nothing else a studio head that approves a flop with a mainstream star will likely face less blowback than if a similarly failed film had starred an unknown.
  • Some actors continue to be able to pull in audiences though – mostly comedic ones such as Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy.
  • This seems to be in part because such stars signal to the audience exactly what kind of film they’re about to see.
  • Meanwhile some stars such as Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts continue to get movie offers even though they’ve been pretty consistent in making a poor string of movies.

Read more about the star power of Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger in markets abroad, the racial implications of all this, and other details here.

Source: The Economist