The end of the movie actress was proclaimed three years ago. Now The Economist is willing to say the same about actors in general.

• Deadpool, with a relatively unknown star, has dominated the box office recently. Meanwhile movies such as Joy and Concussion, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Will Smith respectively, have struggled.
• These days audiences seem to go to the theaters to see special effects, and any relative unknown in a superhero costume can act in that.
• In fact, the stars of today owe their success in part to action flicks. Lawrence made her name from The Hunger Games, and Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley seems to have gotten a similar bump, being in consideration to play Lara Croft.
• Yet movies will continue to feature big name attractions. If nothing else a studio head that approves a flop with a mainstream star will likely face less blowback than if a similarly failed film had starred an unknown.
• Some actors continue to be able to pull in audiences though – mostly comedic ones such as Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy.
• This seems to be in part because such stars signal to the audience exactly what kind of film they’re about to see.
• Meanwhile some stars such as Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts continue to get movie offers even though they’ve been pretty consistent in making a poor string of movies.

Read more about the star power of Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger in markets abroad, the racial implications of all this, and other details here.

Source: The Economist