SSC Film Studies

‘neither producers nor audiences need stars anymore’

A star is an actor or actress who is known for their appearance in films both because of certain genres and themes and because of their individuality.

Most people would agree that stars are not needed anymore due to the huge decline of star driven films in the industry. I think that stars are still needed but are becoming less relevant as producers and director are now making more franchises and they are becoming a lot more popular in the box office

In 2014 the top 20 grossing film chart showed that 16 of the top films where in fact Franchises and only four of the films where star driven these included Lucy staring Scarlett Johansson, Edge of Tomorrow staring Tom cruise, Noah staring Russell Crow. All these films didn’t make the top 10, the only star driven film which made it was Maleficent which some would argue that it is part of the Disney princess franchise but the leading actress was Angelina Jolie who is known for her big actions drama films such as Lara Croft and Mr & Mrs smith. In all of these films she plays a strong female character so this is why the director Robert Stromberg cast Angelina as Maleficent to enhance the character of Maleficent. In 2015 we seen an even bigger ratio of franchises to star driven as only three films made the top 20 American Sniper, The Martian and Home. Both American Sniper and The Martian made the top 10 showing that franchises dominate the chart but stars are still known because of older audiences.

Franchises are another big reason as to why stars are taking a big decline, Franchise give more to the produces and the audiences as they offer money through synergy to the producers if they are successful as they can go onto sell not only films but video games, toys and much more. As for audiences franchises offer a longer story told over time giving it an on going narrative experience. I think the reason that Franchises are so successful is because they offer personal connection with the audience for example the Harry potter franchise reaches out to a teenage audience, as the characters are relatable as we as teens are growing up with them. The Harry Potter franchise is one of the biggest franchises making a total of $7,726,174542 at the worldwide box office. This is because even thought it has one of the simplest story’s it gets more exciting every time. The first film shows the characters going thought the nervous of starting a new school and learning new things while fighting evil, but by the end we see the characters falling in love and the evil getting stronger.  Harry potter is just one successful franchise, but it also shows how important the actors are as the lead actor is Daniel Radcliff is known for playing Harry potter so if the director was to change the actor it would lose most audience as they have grown up seeing harry potter being played by Daniel.

If I had more time I would have talked about

·      Stars having a constructed image

·      Stars having cultural value

·      Home entertainment, social networking

·      Including more case studies