Stars - Liam Tomkins

‘Neither producers nor audience need stars anymore’

How far do you agree with this statement?

Neither producers nor audiences need stars anymore because of franchises. Franchises offer much more to an audience than stars can. For example a franchise offers a continuing story, usually over several years. This allows audiences to watch the story and characters progress. At the time of first instalment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry was young and as the films were released he became older and older. This allows the audience that are of similar age to Harry to experience similar things as him as he goes through school, whilst they are also going through school. This allows the audience to relate to the characters in the film because they will be experiencing very similar things.

A franchise also offers an expanded universe for the audience. When films are released merchandise, toys, videogames and theme parks are opened and sold at the same time. This allows the audience to experience the film universe outside of the film. For example the audience can explore a completely different part of the film’s universe in a videogame. The expanded universe also allows the audience to feel more immersed in the film franchise because in most film based videogames you play as the protagonist in the film, but take on different adventures. This makes the audience feel more immersed in the universe because they have experienced other things from the protagonist’s perspective other than just what is shown in the film. For example when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, Star Wars: Battlefront was released along side it, allowing audience to take part in battles in the Star Wars universe. This makes the audience feel more immersed in the universe because as they are watching the film it is almost as though they are in another part of the universe battling with other players.

When audiences go to watch a new film in a franchise, having seen previous films, they know what to expect. This is important to the audience because if they did not know what to expect and end up not liking the film, then they have wasted their money. In a film franchise audiences are guaranteed the same basic idea as the previous film, but done differently. Films released as part of a franchise are the same but different as the films are released. This almost guarantees that the audience will not be disappointed if they enjoyed the previous films in the franchise because they know the basic idea of the film but do not know how the characters will solve the problem. For example, almost every Marvel film has the characters try to eliminate an evil, opposing force and always succeed in doing so. This means that regardless of what Marvel film you watch the ‘good guys’ will always come out on top and therefore the audience will leave the cinema happy and have an idea of what to expect from the next instalment in the franchise.

Audiences no longer look for stars when going to see a film, instead they will look for the characters in the films. Audience care more for the characters than they care for the people who play them. Due to this films have started to become more character-driven rather than star-driven. For example in 2014 only one of the 12 top films was star-driven, the remaining 11 films were character-driven. This shows that Hollywood has recognised that audiences prefer characters to stars and have took full advantage of this. There is much more variety in films when stars are not used as a major selling point. This is because a lot of stars have become typecast and can only play one type of role, meaning every film they are in will be very similar. For example, Tom Cruise is a typecast action star, meaning that if he plays any role other than the hero the audience will not respond as well because they are used to seeing him saving the day. This is a disadvantage because it means that if stars were used as the main selling point of a film, then almost every film being released will be the exact same. Audiences prefer the lesser-known actors because of this due to the fact that less popular actors/actresses are often not typecast because they will accept most roles in films. This allows the audience to view the actor/actress differently based on the roles they play in other films. Star War: The Force Awakens cast Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as the two main characters in the film, the only star appearances in the film were from Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, who both played much smaller roles in the film. This meant that the two main characters could be portrayed how they were intended because they do not have to be worry about ruining their typecast image.

Franchises are also very important to producers, more so than stars. A franchise is a cash cow to producers because they can sell the exact same product through multiple markets. For example videogames, merchandise and toys are sold alongside films for the sole purpose of generating more money for the studio because they know that people will buy them regardless of how the film is rated. This also offers a backup for the studios if the film fails, then they can make up any losses through merchandise or videogames.

Franchises allow the film to be sold to a much larger market. This is because franchises are globally recognised, whereas stars are recognised across one or two continents at best. Whereas franchises can be sold to almost every market even if they do not include any well-known stars from certain regions. For example Transformers: Age of Extinction generated revenue of $320,000,000 in China alone just because some of the film was based there. This means that producers can almost manipulate the franchise just so it sells well, by doing something as simple as changing where the film is set.

Sequels, re-makes and adaptations of films usually sell more than original ideas. This is because the audience enjoys a continuing story. This is advantageous to producers because when they produce a sequel they will already have character models for animated films, equipment needed to shoot the film and will also have the same people at their disposal to create a film. This means that the cost of producing a sequel is much less than it cost to create the initial film. This allows the producer to make a lot of money without spending a lot to create the film.

However stars can still sell a film, even though they are on the decline. There are only a handful of stars who can make a film sell just because they play a role. One of these stars is Leonardo DiCaprio who starred in Revenant. Revenant managed to knock Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the top spot at the box office, mainly due to the fact that DiCaprio played a large role in the film. This shows that audiences will still pay to watch a film that has a star as one of the main selling points, meaning that stars are not yet completely irrelevant. This is useful to producers because they can combine both franchises and a star role, meaning that the film should sell well due to the fact it offers everything a franchise does whilst having a star play a major role.

Every star is typecast, meaning they are known for playing one type of character, for example Tom Cruise is known as playing the American hero in almost every film he has starred in. This allows the audience to have expectations of the film because they know what type of character the star usually plays and will therefore know the basic idea of the film. This means that fans of a star will go and see the film just because they know the role they usually play and enjoy it. This means that producers will earn more money just because they cast a star that they know audiences enjoy watching play certain roles.

I agree with this statement quite far because whilst film stars may no longer be needed due to franchises, they can still be used to sell a film and are therefore still needed by producers.

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