You can’t forget Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise. That worked in his favor when people liked who Tom Cruise was, but now we know him as a control-freak, bat-sh!+ insane cultist... not so much.
You also can’t forget Clooney is Clooney. He is still likeable, but he is also boring as an actor; he never seems togo beyond a handsome smile. That served OK as a character actor (Gravity, ER), but makes for a poor lead role.
Likewise, Johnny Depp is a great actor, but a seriously off-putting lead. He’s weird. It’s wonderful for when the role calls for weird ( a perfect match for Tim Burton), but not great as a blockbuster lead. Case in point: His Charlie and the Chocolate Factory nailed Dahl’s novella, but reminded so many people, “No, it’s not just me... this is a disturbing story.”
On the other hand, Matt Damon works as an action hero. He’s likeable, but a bit boring, so he works as an everyman. Put him in something character-driven, and he just doesn’t hold up. And all but a few action-hero movies should be at least somewhat character driven.
Vince Vaughn screams out “douche!” That works great for roles that demand a douche (”Wedding Crashers”), but again... not an action hero.
Collin Ferrel just looks.... dirty. You know what? A lot of these guys are starting to look dirty... Adam Sandler... Vince Vaughn... Johnny Depp...
I would add:
Theater tickets are expensive, and the treats are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive, the stories are weak, and weakly told, the CGI effects all look like computer games (Edward Wood's special effects almost look good beside some of the stuff I see) and the images are blurry to the point of maddening (why do we have IMAX, 3D, 1080p, and on and on, and then the director blurs the image to make it look like a lot is going on?).