The stars you knew may not be the stars you know. The big names we’ve been used to simply are not drawing in paid customers the way they used to.
Will Smith‘s latest, “Focus,” is a flop. Its second weekend sealed its doom as “Focus” has now made just over $30 million in ten days of release. That used to be the 1st day take for a Will Smith movie. “Focus” will peter out at about $65 million.
Reese Witherspoon won the Oscar for “Walk the Line” back in 2006. That’s NINE years ago. Her last actual hit movie was “Four Christmases” at the end of 2008 with Vince Vaughn as her co-star. This year she was nominated for “Wild,” which earned around $40 mil worldwide, and few people saw. She was in “The Good Lie,” which made under $3 million.
Coincidentally, Vince Vaughn also nose dived after “Four Christmases.” He had a lame hit in 2009 with “Couples Retreat” and then it all went downhill. His new one this week, “Unfinished Business,” is a total loss.
Johnny Depp, we know, is a goner. “Mortdecai” is a catastrophe– $7.6 million domestic, $22.7 million U.S. Soon his list of failures may affect his “Pirates” movies. His non “Pirates” movies are walking the plank.
Hugh Grant? So charming for so many years. “The Rewrite” went straight to DVD last month. Grant next appears as Mr. Waverly in “The Man from UNCLE.” That’s a third or fourth banana spot. Once, he could have played Napoleon Solo.
The next big test? Sean Penn in “The Gunman.” The Oscar winner, political activist and philanthropist has not had anything resembling a hit since 2005 and “The Interpreter” which made only $72 million. So far “The Gunman” has a Zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s painful when the generations of box office attractions changes. But that’s what’s going on. We all feel older because of it!
