SSC Film Studies

“Neither audiences nor producers need film stars anymore”

In recent years, we have seen a decline in film stars due to many factors including franchises, technology and home entertainment. As a result, we have to question their relevance to audiences and producers.

Firstly, there has been a recent decline in film stars because of a new generation who haven’t grown up with stars such as Will Smith or Tom Cruise. They don’t care about them because they mean nothing to them. However, they aren’t completely irrelevant because the older generation do still want to see film stars, for example the expendables released in 2010 featured Sylvester Stallone, famous for Rocky and Jason Statham, known for intense action roles. It grossed over $268 million and four years later, despite a decline in action genres popularity, Expendables 3 was released with the same cast and grossed a similar $209 million suggesting that many were people were drawn in by the cast.

Another reason for a decline in film stars is franchises, nowadays; franchises offer the same thing that film stars did ten years ago. People now look for a story that may take years to complete like Harry Potter were it took 8 films. Audiences also want to see a character; they connect to the more now then the film stars, especially if the character originates from a book, comic, game etc.  This all links to an expanded universe that is more engaging for an audience and allows for younger people with a shorter attention span to keep interested. People are also kept interested because the story is now no longer just on the cinema screen. There are many branches of toys and books that come from the original film and people buy them.  This shows that peoples are more interested in stories and characters then film stars.

On the other hand, film stars can be used to help a franchise, for example, Maleficent released in 2014 grossed $757.8 million worldwide but was an introduction to a possibly wider story. It was a film that normally would have been considered a failure due to it being different to other Disney princess films and the fact that the lead is a strong female character. Casting a huge female star like Angelina Jolie made this film successful because she attracts audiences with her established fan base.

Star driven films are successful without being linked to a franchise as well. For example this year, The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio managed to knock off Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the number one spot, the biggest film of the year. This proves that with a well-known star, a film will do well for producers.  However, it is becoming increasingly harder for these films to complete with franchises as shown from the results of 2014’s top 20, the first film on there that was successful only based on star power was Interstellar at number 10. With only three more star driven films in that list it suggests franchises are dominating.

Furthermore, franchises allow for synergy, which means producers can sell the same story and characters again and again, whether thats toys or games and produces more money. Games are now a big contender for the film industry all together, therefore a reason for a decline in film stars. Games are a much cheaper alternative to cinema trips as there is over 100 hours of game play available which can be played over time, you go to the cinema for two hours once. Games linked to films also allow a game players unique view of that cinematic universe not just the restricted view shown through the directors vision. A game also allows the player to be a part of the story and become fully submerged, an experience that the cinema can't offer. Moreover, video games have made the character more important than the star as the player sees the world through the characters eyes, not by looking at a star portray a character.

Another reason film stars are in decline is because of competition from TV. TV offers a more character based story which audiences like because of the complexity of it. It is also another cheap alternative to cinema, Netflix being £5 a month providing audiences with a hundred hours of TV shows. With an expanded universe and seemingly never ending story, people become quickly more engaged with TV series and don't care who its played by.

On the other hand, film stars are relevant all the world around. For example, Brad Pitt isn't well known in Asia and wouldn't sell a movie there, however, Donnie Yen, the biggest film star in Asia, would sell films there. Coincidentally, he has just been cast in the next instillment of Star Wars: Rogue One meaning that film should appeal to everyone world wide and will do very well at the box office.

• tech 
• expectations 
• international audiences