What does a star do?
Eduardo Porter and Geraldine Fabrikant have written a N.Y. Times piece titled called “A Big Star May Not a Profitable Movie Make.” And we all know that to be true, but what is the ultimate bottom-line rule of thumb that any producer needs to accept when he/she pays big bucks for a star to play the lead role in a film?
Here’s what you get, and I swear to Krishna this is as much of a basic and fundamental rule as William Goldman‘s “nobody knows anything.” Pay for a big star or two and you’ll get people to pay attention to your movie when they first hear about it for ten seconds or less. During which time they will perk up and say to themselves, “Oh…what’s this one about?” And that’s all you’ll get. Six, seven or eight seconds worth of attention.
Without a big star’s name, chances are the average would-be moviegoer won’t pay attention at all. It would be nice if detections of stellar quality in a film (as initially confirmed by general advance buzz or film-festival consensus) mattered to people but it doesn’t seem to, for the most part. But a star’s name will get you those ten seconds or less with Joe Schmoe. I think that’s a completely reliable assessment.
And then the movie will pretty much sink or swim on its own. If people want to see it based on their own criteria (and not Kenneth Turan‘s or Hollywood Elsewhere’s or Scott Rudin‘s or anyone else’s…the ticket buyer decides solely according to his or her wits and gut instincts), and if they like the teasers or trailers and if there’s any kind of buzz in the air about it, they might give it a shot. Maybe.
So to underline this one more time, I think it’s fair to say that spending $10 or $12 or $15 million for a name-level star or two will persuade many millions of people to consider the idea of seeing your film for seven or eight or nine seconds.
But don’t kid yourself into thinking it means that they’ll show up. Because people really don’t give that much of a damn about you or your movie or what you spent to put it together and have it sold. A certain portion of the online generation will absorb the buzz about a film (and then pass the word along to their friends via text messaging). A microscopic portion of the public will re-consider seeing your film when the opening-day reviews are published.
But most people out there, I believe, are indifferent and/or don’t give a shit. This isn’t 1939 and they’re not movie loyalists, and they’re not your family or your childhood friends, and they don’t really care if you live or die or suffer a heart attack on the street. What they care about is doing the thing that they want to do on the spur of the moment when Friday night rolls around, and that’s all.
Are you Hindu? I think you’d have been safe swearing to God on this one, but Krishna is a whole lot funnier.
I wholeheartedly agree.
The best thing you can hope to do is create a really good buzz, and not the kind you see in like you me and dupree.
you need something like snakes on a plane, but not specifically on that level.
you just need to have a really great trailer, just zach braff did with garden state or bennet miller did with capote, and that alone should get you going.
The worst thing you can do is populate the trailer with too many good reviews. I know when I look for a good movie to see, the less independent reviews, the better.
The trailer also needs to have the right amout of heart,comedy and a pint of tragedy..and thats for a good overall movie.
If you are talking about pure comedy, then show me the good bits and the not so good bits, but weave them right so they don’t seem like they’re the only good parts in the movie. The thing is you need to find good writers(or if you’re lucky, a good writer/director)and have them work directly with the director to find a good middle ground so you don’t have a badly directed movie with a good script(i.e. Willow).
you also need to make sure that the studio you are working with are good creative types(fox searchlight is the only ones who fit these descriptions from what I’ve heard) who are also good financial types(none exist,right?)and then you would be very lucky.
Movie stars, and very few of them are worth $20M, are worth the extra $’s because they get people to pay attention to a movie. Considering the fragmented entertainment world we live in, this is very important. People still go and see a movie on opening weekend because of a Will Smith or a Tom Hanks or a Johnny Depp. Of course, this doesn’t work in all circumstances, The Pursuit of Happyness will be a test for Smith, but in the right roles stars do bring audiences … and it is for these audiences that they should be paid the mucho moolah.
This is even more important internationally. As we all know “acting” doesn’t translate as well as starpower in the international markets and since a majority of a movies’ box office revenue now comes from overseas markets, starpower, true starpower, is worth more than ever.
Are you Hindu? I think you’d have been safe swearing to God on this one, but Krishna is a whole lot funnier.
I wholeheartedly agree.
The best thing you can hope to do is create a really good buzz, and not the kind you see in like you me and dupree.
you need something like snakes on a plane, but not specifically on that level.
you just need to have a really great trailer, just zach braff did with garden state or bennet miller did with capote, and that alone should get you going.
The worst thing you can do is populate the trailer with too many good reviews. I know when I look for a good movie to see, the less independent reviews, the better.
The trailer also needs to have the right amout of heart,comedy and a pint of tragedy..and thats for a good overall movie.
If you are talking about pure comedy, then show me the good bits and the not so good bits, but weave them right so they don’t seem like they’re the only good parts in the movie. The thing is you need to find good writers(or if you’re lucky, a good writer/director)and have them work directly with the director to find a good middle ground so you don’t have a badly directed movie with a good script(i.e. Willow).
you also need to make sure that the studio you are working with are good creative types(fox searchlight is the only ones who fit these descriptions from what I’ve heard) who are also good financial types(none exist,right?)and then you would be very lucky.
i first became interested in Babel because of Brad Pitt,later i found out about the others actors (Bernal and Kate) and about the director and the story and became obsessed,I CAN NOT AWAIT FOR THIS MOVIE.
but it all started with Pitt
i first became interested in Babel because of Brad Pitt,later i found out about the others actors (Bernal and Kate) and about the director and the story and became obsessed,I CAN NOT AWAIT FOR THIS MOVIE.
but it all started with Pitt