Stars in peril

As low budget movies rake in the cash this year, star vehicles are tanking.

2009 has been a year rich in unexpected successes and flops, leading Hollywood studios to consider dropping big name stars for future projects, or at least drastically reducing their clout.

While small productions like «The Hangover», «District 9» and «Paranormal Activity» have been immensely successful in the past months, several big budget star vehicles have tanked at the box office.

Among the «victims»: «A Christmas Carol» starring Jim Carrey, «Surrogates» starring Bruce Willis, «Funny People» starring Adam Sandler, «Imagine That» starring Eddie Murphy and «Duplicity» starring Julia Roberts all did much worse than expected.

The upcoming «Twilight» sequel «New Moon» will not likely change the trend, either. The saga, made relatively cheaply and starring young talent whose stardom comes from the first episode, is expected to beat all the other competing movies, confirming the question: are stars still really necessary?

It wouldn't be surprising, therefore, if Hollywood decided to drop the stars as the studios reduce costs along with other businesses suffering from the credit crunch, with added troubles stemming from competition from the video game sector and the drop in DVD sales.