A-List Stars Flailing at the Box Office (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | August 21, 2009 | Brooks Barnes

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The spring and summer box office has murdered megawatt stars like Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Eddie Murphy, John Travolta, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.

Can Brad Pitt escape?

A-list movie stars have long been measured by their ability to fill theaters on opening weekend. But never have so many failed to deliver, resulting in some rare soul-searching by motion picture studios about why the old formula isn’t working — and a great deal of anxiety among stars (and agents) about the potential vaporization of their $20 million paychecks.

“The cratering of films with big stars is astounding,” said Peter Guber, the former chairman of Sony Pictures who is now a producer and industry elder statesman. “These supertalented people are failing to aggregate a large audience, and everybody is looking for answers.”

Mr. Guber added, “Even Johnny Depp” — starring in the drama “Public Enemies” — “didn’t exactly deliver a phenomenal result.” (The A-list results may be damped partly because Will Smith, a regular summer powerhouse, had no movie open this season.)

Mr. Ferrell bombed in “Land of the Lost,” a $100 million comedy that sold only $49 million in tickets in North America. Ms. Roberts missed with “Duplicity,” a $60 million thriller that attracted $40.6 million. “Angels & Demons” (Mr. Hanks) was soft. The same for “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” (Mr. Washington and Mr. Travolta).

“Imagine That,” starring Mr. Murphy, was such a disaster that Paramount Pictures had to take a write-down. Mr. Sandler? His “Funny People” limped out of the gate and then collapsed. Some of these may simply have not been very good, but an A-list star is supposed to overcome that.

The gradual trend away from big-star vehicles in the summer has been under way for years.

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http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090821/BUSINESS/908210335/1046/business/DAILY-BRIEFING?GID=PwH8hd8z+YrA1YkhpYPeLQFgwv7bJ1+XmM8XAkn3hhI%3D
9 people laid off from Coloradoan

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/1658CA6BB3624A4186257619004AEE8A?OpenDocument
Post-Dispatch cuts 18 jobs

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26719
The Progressive seeks support to continue publishing

http://www.npr.org/ombudsman/2009/08/free_transcripts_now_available.html?ft=1&f=17370252
Free Transcripts now Available on NPR.org

[Varda]

Yes we only go to matinees also (we’ve been to one movie this year, “Up”). For TV, antenna/tuner produces better picture quality. If broadcast TV had the content I wanted that would be the best option. We have cable but only because of sports. If I weren’t a sports fan the cable would go. For the few good TV series DVD is better. After I accumulate enough bonus points on my credit card , I’m going to get a blu-ray player. One local store rents them for the same price as DVD ($1/day). It doesn’t have to be expensive to have movie nights anymore.

[Luke21]

I don't know why anyone would pay to see the PC crap Hollywood throws at us. The theater itself is no longer a plus with the screaming kids and people chatting and beeping on cellphones.

[Luke21]

Rocky Six or whatever it was wasn’t bad. It actually featured a platonic friendship between Rocky and a young woman. It was unbelievable as heck, but better than most of today’s drek.

[abb]

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/
SHOCKER! Paramount Moves Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ To February 19, 2010

[My Favorite Headache]

Great news but let me add something to this here..Apatow needs to stay away from the scumbags that have littered our screens the last 15 years. He has a great sense of timing and eye for talent...bringing on Sandler as a star for Funny People was a huge mistake because Sandler is not funny and his shtick is the very reason I stayed home.

[My Favorite Headache]

It’s awful...save your money.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Might still do the netflix.

Ah well.....

[Mamzelle]

re: and a great deal of anxiety among stars (and agents) about the potential vaporization of their $20 million paychecks.)))

Had to read that again. Delicious.

[abb]

http://blog.newscloud.com/2009/08/evolution-of-community-newspapers-in-a-facebook-age.html
The Evolution of Community Newspapers in the Age of Twitter and Facebook

[Non-Sequitur]

Surprisingly Mery Streep seems to be the profitable summer star these days. Three years ago it was “Devil Wears Prada”. Last year it was “Mama Mia”. This year it’s “Julie and Julia”. None of them mega-box office movies but all made more than they cost.

[Brett66]

I realy liked the old Land of The Lost series as a kid. Farrel’s movie was a mess, it was adult-humor based on a kids show. The only direction the audience could figure out to go was out-of the theatre.

[abb]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-sinclair0821,0,5642917.story
Sinclair Broadcasting reaches deal with bondholders

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004184.html
Suburbs, the Safe Harbor of Reinvention

[abb]

More creeping and crawling.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4713/mr._president_help_save_the_news/
Mr. President, Help Save the News

[abb]

http://randompixels.blogspot.com/
The Herald fires the first shot at Random Pixels

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http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/08/boca_news_on_the_block.php
UPDATED: Boca Raton News Shut Down

[GOPJ]

Isn't every person on that list a liberal? If they only make movies for half the population - they can't be surprised when the theaters are half empty...

[abb]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-chicago-cubs-sale-ricketts-aug21,0,2253874.story
It’s official: Chicago Cubs to sell to Ricketts family

[highlander_UW]

Same here. I go to one, maybe two movies a year. I have a netflix account and don't really mind waiting for new releases to hit the rental market, although most of my viewing are actually older movies anyway. There are very few movies that have come out over the last decade that I'm interested in watching.

[El Sordo]

“Make a decent movie and I’ll go see it.”

Amen.