[Americana:] Hollywood Tests the Limit of Marquee Names a Single Film Can Hold

Boldface names have always mattered at the movies, but a number of recent casts have been full of them. That hasn’t always helped at the box office.

image from article: Marketing for “Don’t Look Up” has emphasized its star-studded cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. Credit ...Mark Abramson for The New York Times

By Brooks Barnes, The New York Times, Dec. 26, 2021 

Excerpt: 

Netflix is writing megachecks for A-list actors ($30 million to Mr. DiCaprio for “Don’t Look Up” [jb: see]) and ensemble franchises ($465 million for two “Knives Out” sequels). ... 

Movie marketing has also changed, becoming less about carpet-bombing prime-time TV with ads and more about tapping into social media fan bases. ... (Pity Mr. DiCaprio ... with only about 50 million ... .) 

The pandemic seems to have hastened a worrisome decline at the box office for bread-and-butter dramas, musicals and comedies — everything except leviathan fantasy franchises and the occasional horror movie....

[F]ew stars remain bankable in and of themselves, requiring Hollywood to stack casts with an almost absurd number of celebrities. Flood the zone.  ...

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