The Death of the Movie Star – Complex

The Hollywood Reporter piece didnt address this issue, but I wonder if Lawrences downfall has to do with movie stars existing in the age of social media, when fans feel like they have an interpersonal stake in celebrities lives. It doesnt matter that Lawrence herself does not have a public social media presence, because the prevalence of celebrities private lives bleeding into your feeds has made us all think we know them personally; the fact that Lawrence has had a dip in popularity, quickly going from quirky and beloved to annoying and crass (as even Chlo Sevigny called her), may have ruined the kind of unquestioned support afforded to previous movie stars whose lives felt distant. Passengers is an interesting failure, as it co-stars Chris Pratt, a fixture in box office heavyweights (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World). Pratt had previously been mostly known for Parks and Recreation, as the sweet but simple Andy, but became a boy-next-door-type hero on the big screen. But those movies did well not because Pratt was an A-lister; Pratt became an A-lister because of those movies. People bought tickets to see dinosaurs and intergalactic battles; he just happened to be the charismatic center of them. When Pratt returned to space in Passengers, a film that exists outside of a cinematic universe or a rebooted franchise, the success did not translate. This is what we call literally failing upwards.

Rewind 20 years ago, to 1999, and you could feel the movie star power sway the box office. Not one but two Julia Roberts rom-coms made the top 10 domestically (Notting Hill and Runaway Bride). Its hard to imagine that happening in 2019, and not just because theres a dearth of romantic comedies to begin with. Though we can trace this death back to 20 years ago, rewind back to 10 years ago, in 2009, and you can still see films like The Hangover and The Blind Side cracking the top 10, or The Sex and the City movie the year before that. The real anomaly of the decade would be Clint Eastwoods American Sniper, a military drama that took in more money than Minions or the second Hunger Games movie. It called to mind the success of Saving Private Ryanwhich did well at a time when movies like this could still thrive. In The Los Angeles Times, Steven Zeitchik wrote, Clearly a movie that captures the heartland (and the Sarah Palin and Blake Shelton endorsements that go with it) carries some major upside, especially when its combined with an art-house audience, a general action audience, a bestselling-book audience, an older-male Eastwood audience and a younger-female Bradley Cooper audience. This is a film thatand I realize the irony in saying this, given some of the bitter divisions around the filmis in some senses been as unifying as films get. Cooper here is given some credit, but is named at the end of a long list of factors that bolstered Snipers numbers.

So who did, or does, have star power? Will Smith, ScarJo, Kristen Stewart, and Dwayne Johnson are some of the stars that have it, Yamato says. But Hollywoods last old-school movie star? Its arguably Tom Cruise, whose knack for centering his middle-aged everyman brand within profitable action franchises (the Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher movies, the forthcoming Top Gun 2) is savvy role selection and smart business. Cruise is widely regarded as the last real movie star because of his unique sustainability in an industry that has seen so many stars crash, burn, or fade out. Cruise sizzled at an early age, sliding onto the screen (and into viewers hearts) in socks and a button-down, and is now the quintessential action star. In a Business Insider article aptly titled Why Tom Cruise is Hollywoods last movie star, the reporter Jason Guerrasio pointed out that Cruise doubles other actors who seem to be in his league: You could argue that actors like Brad Pitt and George Clooney are at the same level of movie stardom as Cruise, but its not the same. The two dont rake in the kind of box-office cash Cruise does (Cruises films usually make at least $200 million; Pitts and Clooney's films usually top $100-$150 million worldwide).

A go-to example of the death and resurrection of the movie star is John Travolta (and its detailed in The Hollywood Reporter piece, too). After a string of successes in the 70s, especially with Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978), his prowess as a bankable actor was questioned. That is, until he was revived back to A-list status by Quentin Tarantino, who cast him as the lead in his 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction. It wasnt until this year, though, with John Travolta, that I felt the downfall of the capital-M, capital-S Movie Star in such harrowing fashion as when I saw the 65-year-old actor in Fred Dursts The Fanatic. In it, Travolta plays Moose, a troubled man obsessed with a Hollywood action star named Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa). Ive never been more depressed about the state of cinema than when watching this film, in which Travolta, once on top of his game, stalking ex-child star Sawa, here playing an actor of much more importance, the kind of dying-breed actor Ive written does not really exist anymore. This meta realization renders this film even more shattering. Travolta had a streak of duds leading up to what The Hollywood Reporter described as a new career low. Pamela McClintock reported that on opening night, it grossed a mere $3,153 from 52 theaters scattered across the U.S. for a location average of roughly $60. She added, In a handful of theaters, it grossed $10 or less. RIP to the movie star.

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The Death of the Movie Star - Complex