The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jen Lawrence, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, and more, was released on Friday.
It seemed like it was a must-watch event. Ultra-celestial, embarrassments of celebrity wealth, don't come along every day.
Except that now they do.
Is there a star playing Spider-Man? How old. Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire play Spider-Man in the new movie. Sony Pictures Entertainment's runaway hit, "No Way Home," has taken in over $1 billion at the global box office, and also stars Zendaya, Jamie Foxx, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, and more. The cast was cited as the reason for 43 percent of opening weekend viewers in the United States. Twenty percent of them mentioned Zendaya.
Bradley Cooper, Ms. Blanchett, Mr. Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn are all in the film. They have 22 Oscar nominations for acting and three wins. The French Dispatch, Red Notice, House of Gucci, The Harder They Fall, and the superhero story "Eternals" are examples of star ensemble films. Angelina! Kumail! The person is Salma Hayek!
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When Disney marketed "Eternals", 11 actors had their names above the title.
Universal will release a spy thriller in the months ahead with five female stars, including Penélope Cruz and Jessica Chastain. Focus Features is working on a remake of "Death on the Nile" and Disney is making a remake of "Downton Abbey: A New Era." The Adam Project is a science-fiction adventure starring Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton, and Rege, and The Gray Man is a thriller starring Chris Evans.
Terry Press, one of Hollywood's top marketers, said that one day someone will decide to make one movie with two Batmans. She was referring to a movie that will be released in late next year, called "The Flash," which will feature Batman and the villain the Flash.
Star amassment is nothing new. The entire "Ocean's 11" franchise, including "Grand Hotel", "Thousands Cheer", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", and "The Dirty Dozen", come to mind.
They are everywhere now.
Why?
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One of the films with a lot of stars is "Thousands Cheer" from 1943.
Jeanine Basinger, a film scholar and the author of Hollywood histories like "The Star Machine," said that stars matter and that Hollywood leans harder on them when it gets nervous about a wandering audience. For studio executives who want to keep their jobs, stars are insurance, but also for viewers, who want to see a good movie.
It is nice to describe Hollywood's customer base as wandering. AWOL could be more apt.
The decline in box office for comedies, dramas, musicals, and thrillers seems to have been caused by the Pandemic. The movie made $260 million in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend. The two countries had total ticket sales of $283 million. 92 percent of the market was made up by "No Way Home". On the same weekend, the movie "Nightmare" was released. It took in over $2 million.
According to Sony, the majority of opening weekend ticket buyers were under the age of 34.
The Spider-Men took in over $82 million between Friday and Sunday. The animated film "Sing 2" had $23.8 million in ticket sales. Warner Bros. didn't generate much interest in the movie, which took in $12 million in third place.
The third movie in Matthew Vaughn's action-comedy series, "The King's Man", collected $6.4 million, a result that one box office analyst described as a franchise "collapse." American Underdog, a faith-based sports drama from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company, made $6.2 million on Saturday and Sunday alone.
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The movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home" made $260 million in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend.
Older people have been picked up by streaming services. Competition among the services has grown so much that many are fighting for subscriber growth. A-list actors are getting help from the streaming service, with megachecks like $30 million to Mr. DiCaprio for "Don't Look Up" and $450 million for two "Knives Out" sequels.
Bryan Lourd, the Creative Artists superagent who orchestrated the "Knives Out" deal, said that stars matter more than ever. It cuts through all the noise when stars meet their material.
There are other explanations. In a disrupted marketplace, stars are seeking safety in numbers and no one can be held responsible for failing to deliver an audience. Movie marketing is no longer carpet-bombing prime-time TV with ads, but more about using social media to reach fans. Ms. Grande has a large following on social media. Mr. Holland and Mr. DiCaprio have a combined worth of about 50 million.
Ms. Basinger noted that star power has waned. Intellectual property has become a priority for studios. There is less of a need to make new stars and keep older ones in top shape.
Movie stars were the brands in the past. The whole audience was reached. Not part of the audience. Everyone. That all fell apart. Adding up niches is what it is about now.
Few stars remain bankable in and of themselves, requiring Hollywood to stack casts with an absurd number of celebrities. The zone should be flooded.
Follow the leader is Hollywood's favorite game. One of the highest-grossing movies of all time is "The Avengers: Endgame," which features Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Chris Hemsworth, and a dozen other boldface names. The remake of "Murder on the Orient Express" was a box office winner.
Tim Palen is a producer and former studio marketing chief. The battle for attention that is raging is not new.
