Death of the Movie Star?... or not
Ryan
This weekend, two new wide releases--movies that on paper would have looked like as sure a thing as Hollywood could hope for--rolled into theaters and landed with a thud. The first was "Rock of Ages," a fun and music-fueled romp based on a blockbuster musical and starring a strong ensemble cast with Tom Cruise at the center. The second was "That's My Boy"-- an Adam Sandler movie that looks about as Adam Sandler as movies get. Despite once high hopes for New Line and Sony, these titles came in at $15M and $13M respectively, beaten swiftly for the top spot by Dreamworks' second frame of "Madagascar 3." Every time this happens (and it has happened before and will happen again), there are countless articles written about the death of the Star System as Hollywood knows it. It may just not be that simple and perhaps it all just goes to prove William Goldwyn's point that "no one knows anything." But still... hard to wonder after looking at these numbers whether some re-balancing is in order.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2012/06/17/death-of-the-movie-star/