For example, the two leading actors in Alice, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter previously starred in Sweeney Todd, which was, by all accounts, a real stinker.
In its opening weekend, Todd was ranked at #5 and took in a measly $9 million and had a total domestic gross of $52 million during it's entire run. (See: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
Yet, the very same actors in another movie (Alice) are a hit.
The bottom line is that star power can easily make a hit out of a good movie that, without a big name star, no one outside of the actors’ immediate families would ever see. Sometimes, star power can even make a hit out of a mediocre move.
If, however, a movie truly stinks, it doesn’t matter who is in it. Movie stars cannot raise the dead, although many of them think that they can walk on water.