Chris Hemsworth's plight to establish himself outside the safety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued this past weekend as "The Huntsman: Winter's War" arrived in theaters to a resounding "meh." Though he plays the third lead and the movie belongs more to Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron, Hemsworth is the one being tagged for the film's minuscule opening weekend.
And to be fair, it's not as if the Aussie-born actor has had much success when not wielding his magic hammer. "In the Heart of the Sea" and "Blackhat," Hemsworth's most recent non-Marvel starring vehicles, both failed to recoup their production budgets, a virtually unheard of feat of failure in this day and age.
Hemsworth's struggle to break out on his own is characteristic of the New Hollywood where the success or failure of a film has less to do with the quality of its lead than ever before.
It wasn't so long ago when people were genuinely excited to see the new Julia Roberts movie, the new Will Smith picture, whatever action films Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise were working on. It was common to see audiences flock to an A-list star's most recent offering based on brand name power alone.
That has changed.
Now, people go to the movies to see the new "Star Wars," the new "Captain America," the new "Batman" and "Hunger Games." Hollywood has slowly transitioned away from star-based filmmaking to a property-run business model. What source material can we spin into a new franchise? What beloved series can we adapt for the big screen? The name power and star status of an actor or actress as the main draw for audiences to see a new film has more or less been replaced by the "star status" of the character or the property. Sure, Michael Fassbender is an Oscar-worthy talent, but when is he playing Magneto again?
Look around and you'll see the Hollywood wastelands littered with also-rans like Hemsworth who couldn't quite pop as legit movie stars. Jai Courtney, Sam Worthington, even Ryan Reynolds pre-"Deadpool" had more swings and misses than home runs on their stat sheets. Good films make good stars first and foremost. But it wasn't until Oscar Isaac joined "Star Wars" and "X-Men" that casual moviegoers started to take notice.
That's not to say that the idea of the movie star is completely dead. Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Downey Jr. can all help open a film on their own. But those types of stars have become noticeably fewer over the last couple of years.
There is a definitive shift taking place in Hollywood right now with studios valuing the name on the front of the script more so than the name at the top of their casting list. There will always be movie stars, but the days of the true leading man may be coming to a close.
Follow Brandon Katz at @Great_Katzby.
