Hollywood Shift?
Something is up in Hollywood. You may have noticed the last time you went out to the movies, and you may not have. The most profitable (Paranormal Activity) and highest earning (Avatar) movies of all time are largely devoid of super-star actors. The same is true for this year’s 2010 summer openers.
Tom Cruise, largely considered to be one of THE faces of Hollywood, recently released a new action/comedy called Knight and Day. On its debut weekend Knight and Day movie toiled behind in 3rd place, 50% behind the #2 slot. At this point this film is going to be lucky if it breaks even.
Sure, Toy Story 3 was backed by the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen - but we didn’t watch the movie to hear them. We watched it because it has been 11 years since the previous (excellent) installment and we want to know how then (extremely excellent) trilogy concludes. With the exception of Toy Story 3 the biggest hit so far this summer has been The Karate Kid starring two fairly well known actors, yet certainly not ones which have their faces blasted into Mt. Rushmore Hollywood edition. Other summer releases include a somewhat star-studded A-Team and Get Him to the Greek which are lagging far behind in box office earnings.
Is there a dynamic shift happening in Hollywood? Have entertainment consumers finally started to look beyond the people and further into the stories? Can the big names still bring it?
More interestingly, was can the possible shift be attributed to? Technology? Boredom from familiar faces and run-of-the-mill-same-old-plot story lines?
Obviously, I have not cited nor tracked near enough data to draw conclusion from, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the trend continues (with the personality of Johnny Depp of course being the outlier).
Tell me what you think.
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