Is "A-list" Enough?

Kevin Pollard

For as long as there have been movies, there have been movie stars. Every generation has them. A list of names that become synonymous with Hollywood royalty and the tinsel town ideal of celebrity. From the likes of Newman and Brando to Depp and Damon, this ever-circulating cast of A-listers has always represented the best that Hollywood has to offer. But is star power alone really enough to consistently bring in big box office numbers? Sixty years ago, the answer was “yes”, but today, the answer is “absolutely not”.

The early 1930’s was Hollywood’s “Golden Age”, where a big name in a film would all but guarantee success in the box office. According to an article from the “Chapman University Historical Review”, major studios recognized early on that “the bigger the star in a picture, the more likely it would achieve greater returns at the box-office…” (Chapman University). A huge reason for this is that, at this time, there were fewer stars, less-powerful studios (other than MGM) and not nearly as many films being released each year. This was also a time where if people wanted to see a movie, they had no choice but to buy a ticket and watch it in the theater. Today, the film industry is nearly the polar opposite; a large number of movie stars, incredibly powerful studios, and hundreds of films being released each year.

According to a list compiled by Forbes, this year in particular saw a huge number of flops from big names in Hollywood. Forbes created this list by looking at the percentage of each films estimated budget and seeing how much was earned back in theater revenue (Forbes).  Some of the films included on this list are Rock the Kasbah (Bill Murray,  $2.9 million box office), Blackhat (Chris Hemsworth, $19.4 million box office), Aloha (Bradley Cooper and Rachel McAdams, $26.3 million box office) and Mortdecai (Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow, $47.3 million box office) (Forbes). These numbers show that even though a film may have a star-studded cast, this won’t guarantee that the film will be successful. This marks not only a shift in the way Hollywood picks what scripts to turn into films, but also how box office revenue can be projected and managed.

The Hollywood Reporter examined this large fluctuation between movies that did well in the box office and those that did not. The article discusses how films with titles that connected to large audiences (ex. Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Age of Ultron) saw some of the highest box office numbers in history. On the other side of the spectrum, films that flop are doing so harder than ever before. The article touches upon how a few years ago, “a $15 million debut was considered poor for a major studio film- but now, $5 million or less is possible” (Hollywood Reporter, New Normal). Fox domestic distribution studio president Chris Aronson claims that “there is no bottom anymore” (Hollywood Reporter, New Normal). This is a scary reality for studio heads trying to compete in the cut-throat world of Hollywood. Virtually no film can promise big box office numbers, creating a scenario where studios must come up with new ways to select and market films they want to release.

Another article from The Hollywood Reporter highlighted some of the steps studios can take when trying to market their upcoming projects. One strategy lies in the using social media to create positive buzz around a movie. Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster notes that “it’s less about television commercials and more about shaping the social conversation”(Hollywood Reporter, 5 Lessons). Another strategy the article mentions is the importance of knowing when to release films to maximize viewership. In the example of Fifty Shades of Grey, one of the biggest questions surrounding this project was whether or not the books immense audience would turn up at the theater. Universal Studios made the brilliant decision to release the film on Valentine’s Day weekend, trusting that the film would make for an excellent date-night (Hollywood Reporter, 5 Lessons).

My overall takeaway from this issue is really quite simple: spend more time finding quality scripts and less time trying to create the next blockbuster. At the end of the day, if a script is bad, the movie will usually be bad. Even the best performers can’t make a filet mignon film out of a frozen burger patty script. Studios should start with the story, a good story, and build a solid cast around it. Films like this will most likely generate good social media buzz, put people in the seats and get studios back to making profit.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/11/24/2015s-movie-turkeys-the-unprofitable-films-that-flopped/#78b69b923b65

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-offices-new-normal-2015-849509

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-5-lessons-2016-852391?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Headlines_2016-01-07%2005:00:00_jstrause&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_headlines

http://journals.chapman.edu/ojs/index.php/VocesNovae/article/view/203/481

Works Cited:

McClintock, Pamela. "Box Office: 5 Lessons for 2016 From Hollywood's Record           Highs and Lows." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan.         2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

McClintock, Pamela. "Box Office's New Normal in 2015: "You Can't Cheat an Opening          Weekend Anymore"" The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 17       Dec. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Robehmed, Natalie. "Hollywood's Biggest Turkeys Of 2015: The Films That    Flopped." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Rudolph, Kalie. "The Golden Era of Hollywood: The Making of The       Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind." Chapman University     Historical Review 3.1      (2011): n. pag. Web.