Star power has been dimming for years, but this summer was particularly low-wattage.
“Audiences want a good concept more than they want to see a big Hollywood name,” says Dergarabedian. While you could easily have put Tom Cruise in Avatar, he points out, “the film would have been a big hit with or without a name like that.” Iconic names such as Cameron Diaz and Mr. Cruise didn’t fare well this summer, either, he adds, pointing to the failure of their joint caper film, “Knight and Day.” “You can’t just throw a big name in a film anymore and expect audiences to bite,” he adds.
