Stars

‘Neither audiences nor producers need film stars anymore’

How far do you agree with this statement?

The film industry has seen a massive decline in film stars in the past 10 years, in the past having a major film star in your movie would be a sure way to success in the box office. Times have changed and it seems now that franchise films are generally the most successful films in the box office. In 1996 the number one top grossing film of the year was ‘Independence day’ this was a star driven movie starring Will Smith who was a huge film star at this time. This was a trend that movies who cast major film stars came out top in the box office, from films such a Titanic starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Saving Private Ryan which had a major star director and cast. Film stars became a safety net for industries and producers that if they cast a huge film star in their movie that would bring profit to the film. But after 1998 the box office figures changed with the opening of a new franchise movie Star Wars, after the huge success of film, every year the top grossing film in the box office was a franchise film, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, Toy Story, Shrek ect. It became apparent that franchises were taking over and that they could offer things that star driven film couldn’t.

From then on franchises grew and developed so much that the best thing for producers to do would be to create one. Producers no longer felt the need to cast film stars in their movies because that had created know characters that the audience can connect with in many different realities. Franchises created a synergy, producers realised that they could sell this one movie many times in many different ways. And they did as franchises were growing technology was also rapidly growing and now major franchises like star wars, have video games, apps, books, sound tracks, toys, clothes, theme parks etc. The audience didn’t feel the need for a movie to have a film star because they became so familiar with the character and the characters story. Audiences fell in love with franchises because it wasn’t over once the film had ended, the story was no longer a 90 minute film People like the fact that once the film has ended they can go on to play 100 hours of video games where what they see is not dictated by the producers, they can choose what happens to the characters in their game. Audiences are now opened up to expanded universes, where they can build communities with other fans that will attend film events and go to the theme parks etc. so the experience is available outside the cinema.

·      Pros of Franchise

·      Stars kickstarting a franchise maleficent

·      Past 2 years star driven films number 1

·      Revenant

·      Typecast meets audiences expectations

·      Stars are still relevant