box office

"...stars are essentially worthless - and absolutely essential."

- William Goldman

In the past, and on more than one occasion, I've discussed the changing nature of the entertainment business, and the potential collapse of the star system, or at least the complete upheaval of stars as we see them today. The end of stars as an idea is not terribly new, but the changing nature of film as a medium, society as a whole and our relationship with media in general give greater credence to (and new angles on) old arguments. Now that we're fully committed to a lack-luster summer at the B.O. the Hollywood PTB (Powers-That-Be) are genuinely open to exploring new business-models and market trends.

"We are all made of stars"

- Moby

A little while back I floated the idea that stars are beginning to lose their power to pull in a guaranteed audience. Apparently, I'm not the only person questioning the foundational principles of Hollywood business models. The concept of "content is king" is penetrating every aspect of the entertainment industry.

"A movie star is mythic, a movie star is like no one you've ever seen walking around in daily life... You don't see these people walking to the drug store, and the ones that you do aren't stars, they're actors."

- John Waters

Hollywood has gone through many changes in its just-over century long history. The introduction of sync-sound, color, television and home video, each changed the basic business model of feature films, but throughout the history of film the star has been a bankable commodity. Recent years, however, have shown a decrease in the reliability of a star's box-office draw.