A tip of my bloggy soggy sombrero to Gary Burnaska for this bit from the Huffington Post where actor Brad Pitt spilled the beans about "A List" stars like him getting less money to star in movies.
It's about damn time, because very few of the alleged "A List" are anywhere near worth the money and perks they get.
Take Brad Pitt for example.
I remember someone, probably Pitt's publicist, branded Brad Pitt the biggest box-office star of 2011. A year when he starred in two money losers (Tree of Life, Happy Feet 2) and one modestly profitable movie (Moneyball).
That qualified him to be the top of the "A List" for 2011.
That shows how bad the A List really is when it comes to selling tickets.
Then there's a question you have to ask yourself, that Hollywood seems afraid to ask.
When was the last time you decided to buy a movie ticket or a DVD based on the people starring in it?
I'll bet dinars to donuts that 99 times out of a hundred you did not base your decision on the star, but on the type of movie, or the story.
Tom Cruise is another example, his starring vehicle Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was a monster hit, and everyone was expecting that success to be repeated with Rock of Ages.
It didn't. The audience wanted to see Tom Cruise battling spies and bad guys, but really didn't care to see him sing dated hair-metal.
Too bad it's taken the stagnation of the economy to get the studios to start taking stock of their stars and their true value. If they had done this years ago, they would be in a lot better shape to weather the weakest summer box office in almost 20 years.
There are a few, very few, stars who's name alone will get me to see a movie.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot more stars who's name will cause me to treat said movie like a diseased porcupine sitting on the hiking trail ahead of me.
The former relies on actors who are really good at what they do on screen and keep their mouth shut, or at least don't actively try to offend me, the rest of the time.
The latter? Not so much.
Furious,
ReplyDeletea question and a comment:
How is this the worst box office summer in 20 years? Was The Dark Knight Rises not enough to float the boat? I guess Avengers was not part of the summer?
And, I completely agree - I never choose a current film based on actors; I do, however, choose some based on director - although even that I am somewhat wary. I will give Tarantino about 2 more films, Chris Nolan 4 more films, and the Coen brothers 1 more film all without investigating the film. After that, I won't blindly go to see their movies any more (unless those films blow me away).
- Existoid
Existoid,
ReplyDeleteD can probably supply the figures, but my understanding is that overall BO take was about even with last summer, but total number of tickets sold was significantly down. Higher pricing for 3D helped bring up the total money earned. So, the worry is if the 3D fad goes south then the industry is too.
And I agree with you on Nolan. No matter what he does for the next few films, my butt's in the seat. For QT, I wait for video (Kill Bill made me mad). The Coens can get me to the theater, as long as it's not a remake of one of my favorite comedies (I'm looking at you, Ladykillers!)