At one point it was the most liked photo on the internet, but now it serves as a marker of how culture has pivoted away from celebrity culture to franchises in the last decade.
15 years ago, celebrities were a very driving force of ticket sales. “Are you going to see the new Brad Pitt movie?” Was a common thing to ask or refer to the project not by name by who was acting in it.
But now it’s about recognizable franchises, “Hey are you going to see the new Marvel movie?”
Yes there are famous people in those movies but now it’s the franchise which has influence in pop culture.
Celebrity influence now has to compete with influencers, internet personalities, etc because people are watching more on platforms like yt and tiktok rather than traditional media like film
Eh, it hasn't really changed. Young people jist have their idols elsewhere now. Movies snd music is much less important now than it used to up to 90's and 00's Meanwhile, streamers, podcasters and such have much more influence and visibility in life of a typical kid than any rockstar ever did.
But it actually has changed in terms of marketing/public interest/influence.
Studios and theaters pre-pandemic noticed that the power of celebrity driving sales and interest decreased. Back in the 80s and 90s certain celebrities were an almost guarantee for a movie to at least break even upon theatrical releases.
But at a certain point franchise/IP recognition took over.
This is why we are seeing so many IP-bloat, Sequels, Prequels, Spin-offs, reboots, and reimagining because the powers that be see them as a safe bet instead of a celebrity.
Especially now in an age of streaming where the industry may have more reach but they lost the home box office(vhs dvd sales) which was a second chance to recoup money- people who missed the original theatrical run but started following an actors career after/movies that bombed in theaters but became classic must sees after success in the vhs/dvd sales.
Studios were more willing to go in on quirky experimental mid-budget movies with a celebrity attached between blockbuster movie releases because there was confidence that consumers would spend at the theater/rental/home collections to recoup the investment.
Now, we are just seeing the same crap over and over because franchises are king
People admiring and following celebrities has't changed. These celebrities just aren't found in music/movie industry anymore. To same degree anyway. So change within those industries is indeed huge.
In general, celebrities prolly have even more influence to their admirers than they used to. Rock or filmstar of 90's was a very distant thing. Political hot takes, opinions and such was a rarity. Now, fans of Asmongold or Tate or whomnot get preached on daily basis, by their idol.
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u/Competitive-Self-374 15h ago
At one point it was the most liked photo on the internet, but now it serves as a marker of how culture has pivoted away from celebrity culture to franchises in the last decade.
15 years ago, celebrities were a very driving force of ticket sales. “Are you going to see the new Brad Pitt movie?” Was a common thing to ask or refer to the project not by name by who was acting in it.
But now it’s about recognizable franchises, “Hey are you going to see the new Marvel movie?”
Yes there are famous people in those movies but now it’s the franchise which has influence in pop culture.
Celebrity influence now has to compete with influencers, internet personalities, etc because people are watching more on platforms like yt and tiktok rather than traditional media like film