Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

June 17, 2015

C'mon Mr. Dinosaur. We're not even a mouthful.

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Bruce Hall: I keep going back to Harrison Ford, circa early Eighties. Ford's bread and butter is "lovable rogue who can charm his way out of a fight or at least make you laugh trying". But it took a while, even after becoming a household name, before Ford could legitimately land in this kind of a conversation.

Things move faster these days, and Pratt has gone from "eccentric supporting cast member on semi-fringe show" to "guy who swears he's not the next Indiana Jones" in even less time than his not-predecessor. I do agree however, with the notion that he will have to develop a franchise-independent popularity of his own, or become so closely identified with a particular property that it's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.

You know, like Indiana Jones.

Michael Lynderey: I had this argument with a friend of mine all the time, mostly about Shia LaBeouf, but also a few others. Even after Transformers and Indiana Jones, my friend wouldn't acknowledge that LaBeouf was a big star because those were all pre-prepared franchises (Eagle Eye making $100 million made it more okay). I vaguely agreed with him, but Pratt is someone who tests the question in a similar but maybe more difficult way. Guardians of the Galaxy had the Marvel brand, a slow summer, and great reviews - and of course, on August 1st, few actually went to see the film to see Chris Pratt. But didn't his charisma make the movie into what it was?




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Jurassic World is a film that oft used his name in the marketing, and its box office performance defies logic. But it's also the fourth in a franchise that has already broken the opening weekend record twice over. He should get a lot of the credit for Jurassic World, of course, but is Chris Pratt is a bigger star than Bradley Cooper or Jennifer Lawrence? Melissa McCarthy? I would say no, but I would also say that Hollywood largely doesn't have movie stars anymore, at least not in the old-fashioned way. There are so many of these blockbusters being made now with devoted audiences who essentially bought a ticket on the first day of filming, that it's hard to say who's a legitimate draw.

For comparison, just look at Chris Pratt's co-stars. Bryce Dallas Howard also had a big role in Spider-Man 3, which opened with $151 million and of course broke the opening weekend record in 2007. Shouldn't she get some credit (and for Terminator 4, Twilight 3, and one of her previous two films, The Help)? Or how about Ty Simpkins? Not only did he have a big role in Jurassic World, he was also a notable co-star in another film on the list of the four biggest openings of all time, Iron Man 3.

Those aren't exactly fair comparisons. But I think what I'm trying to say is that defining a movie star in the modern day is extremely difficult. Comparing blockbuster openings is probably the wrong way to do it. It's in relatively smaller films that do well consistently that you can really judge star power, with actors like Denzel Washington, Adam Sandler, and Melissa McCarthy (although for the record, my friend does think Chris Pratt is a really big star. Go figure).

Ryan Kyle: Chris Pratt is definitely one of the biggest stars in the world at the moment. He's the closest thing we've ever got to a new Harrison Ford and I bet Disney is kicking themselves for not carving out a role for him in the new Star Wars at this point. Smart choices and talent and a great personality in the media have made his rise pretty extraordinary, although he has always been working steadily in supporting roles for the past few years. It will be interesting to see what happens when Chris is cast in an untested property or smaller film and see if he can still pull in big opening weekends upwards of $20 million like Will Smith, Denzel Washington, and Brad Pitt can.


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