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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
 Posted - 11/15/2009 : 3:42:00 PM
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As usual, our fearless leader is right again. A recent Reuters story:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.
After buddy comedy "The Hangover," a movie with a little known cast, made $459 million at global box offices this past summer, several films have shown that a great concept or story can trump star appeal when it comes to luring fans.
[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5AC5AI20091113?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true[/url]
Here's Ken:
As for the dearth of actual stars, a combination of factors is accounting for this. The biggest and most obvious is that in an era of CGI blockbusters, it’s the premise that sells the movie now, not the stars. As Iron Man demonstrated, getting the right actor is far more important than getting the biggest actor. Batman movies have been successful with numerous actors, and then they’re James Bond and Doctor Who. Notably, when Tobey Maguire started complaining about back problems while attempting to renegotiate his contract for the Spider-Man series, Columbia famously just shrugged and said they’d look for another actor, then. Maguire’s recovery was immediate. Perhaps he learned from the example of Alec “Hunt For Red October” Baldwin.
[url]http://Jabootu.net/?p=1732[/url]
What was the old dream?
Start acting in the entertainment industry. Get good enough so that producers would break down your door trying to get you in their movie. All of them waving paychecks in the millions. And then pick and choose the projects that "challenged" you.
Now it seems like producers are waiting for the actors to break down their doors in hopes they can get warm bodies in front of a green screen.
It seems like television shows may be the last refuge of stars who want to keep some control.
Is the movie star dead?
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"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2009 : 5:00:38 PM
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It could be. But then, this could be another example of what was pointed out by another Jabootuite; the producers will look at the sucessfull movies, see that they had little-known names as the leads and decide that this was the "sure-fire money-making gimick" instead of looking at the movie itself for clues.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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nshumate
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
464 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2009 : 05:59:41 AM
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As screenwriter Bill Martell says:
Two producers might see the movie BACHELOR PARTY and come up with radically different theories. One might believe the film was a surprise hit because it had a sympathetic lead character (Tom Hanks) in a situation we can identify with and understand (leaving his irresponsible frat-boy college life behind to get married and settle down) who becomes involved in a series of outrageous funny incidents (remember that donkey?) before learning a valuable lesson about himself (he loves his bride-to-be more than he loves partying with Adrian Zmed and Michael Dudikoff and more than he lusts after his ex-girlfriend). The other producer might believe the film was a surprise hit because it had a donkey in it - all films with donkeys are funny!
One has a reasonably good theory on why BACHELOR PARTY was a hit, and the other is the dumbest thing I've ever heard... and that donkey thing really happened to a writer I know! A producer had him rewrite his script - adding a donkey - because everyone knows that donkey was the reason why BACHELOR PARTY was a hit.
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip262.htm
Nathan Shumate
http://www.coldfusionvideo.com |
Edited by - nshumate on 11/16/2009 06:01:14 AM |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2009 : 1:51:56 PM
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I don't think movie stars are dead, I just think Hollywood is realizing (once again) that there has to be a balance. Stars aren't guaranteed box office? What else is new? Back when they were the biggest stars in the world Sylvester Stallone couldn't bring in a dime for Rhinestone, nor could Julia Roberts with Ready-to-Wear, Kevin Costner with Revenge, Clint Eastwood with Honkeytonk Man, etc. It's always been a combination of star and concept.
The real lesson to be drawn, I think, is that you can get away with a no-name cast if you have a great script. But that's the trick. It has to be great. How many great scripts are floating around Hollywood at any given time? Ten? Fifteen?
By contrast, you can fudge a little on quality if you have one or two big name stars to add to the marquee. It's doubtful that The Bucket List would still have made $175 million worldwide if it had starred, say, Bruce Dern and Ossie Davis. $1.75 million would have been more like it.
Stars play a part. Even if the concept is there, the right star can give it an extra boost. Maybe Ocean's Eleven would have brought in over $400 million worldwide anyway even if it hasn't starred Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Bernie Mac. But I kinda doubt it. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 2:21:28 PM
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Looks like there are still some true movie stars after all.
[url]http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blindside.htm[/url]
I'm sure that Reuter reporter believes this movie would have performed just as well at the box office if it had starred Ally Sheedy or Samantha Mathis instead.
Again, star and concept. Also execution doesn't hurt either. Bullock would've been packing in these type of crowds years ago if she hadn't gone through that stupid ya-ya faze. |
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