Hollywood is dying.
There are a number of reasons for this. At the top of the list, in my view, is the breakup in the monopoly on content distribution. The started with the introduction of the Internet, although it took a while to seep into video.
Over the last few decades, people have more choices. YouTube is now the top streaming service, with most of its content coming from people uploading their own stuff. In other words, Google doesn't even pay for the content although it does share the ad revenue with a few of the top influencers.
Not long ago, big names would rake in $20 million per film. Gone are those days.
The movie star was something that goes back 100 years. For much of the first half century, the studios cultivated the images of their top box office draws. We saw this continue into the 1990s, albeit in a slightly different way.
The Golden Age of Hollywood, roughly spanning the 1920s to the 1960s, was built on stars. Studios like MGM and Warner Bros. controlled every facet of an actor's image: from name changes (Norma Jeane Mortenson became Marilyn Monroe) to enforced diets, voice coaching, and even contractual bans on marriage or pregnancy to preserve the illusion of untouchable glamour. Fan magazines and controlled publicity cultivated mystique, making stars societal royalty. Bogart's cynical charm in Casablanca or Hepburn's spirited independence in The Philadelphia Story weren't just performances—they were brands. As film critic Bob Mondello notes, these figures drew over 80 million weekly theatergoers, turning cinema into a shared ritual.
The system's collapse in the late 1960s, triggered by antitrust rulings and the rise of television, marked the first fracture. Yet, a new breed of A-listers—Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt—emerged in the 1990s, proving stars could still open films without studio shackles.
The Death of the Movie Star
Here is a question: name a movie star today.
While they still exist, they are basically knocking in the doors of death, literally. Look at the age of those who come to the top of your mind.
They are all from the 1980s and 1990s. Stallone. Willis, Denzel. Clooney. Costner. Hanks.
All are above 60, with many over the 70 mark. People like Harrison Ford, a box office titan in the 1990s, is post 80.
Probably the biggest star over the last 40 years, and one who continues to be a huge draw, is Tom Cruise. Yep, he is now in his 60s.
If we look at the last 20 years, the franchise was the basis theme for Hollywood. There were a number of movies, especially under Marvel, where actors were plugged in. The character was bigger than the actor.
Think about the Batman franchise. How many actors have played that character since Michael Keaton donned the mask? Where are the Jack Nicholsons of the world.
Hollywood tried to feed us "star" actors only to realize they were flops.
MCU alumni like Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans have headlined billion-dollar hits as Thor and Captain America, only to flop in non-costumed fare—Hemsworth's Extraction series thrives on Netflix algorithms, not theater turnout; Evans's Knives Out leaned on its whodunit IP.
That sums up the last couple decades.
This is going to have tremendous impact over the next decade.
AI Will Do Just Fine
Who cares about the actors?
This is the message. When the character is the star, the actor is secondary. Expand this out to where AI can generate "humans", and this "person" can be the star. Outside of the likes of Tom Cruise, who is not replaceable.
I would say Kevin Spacey is one of the best actors of this generation. That said, how many people would turn out for a film based upon his name? Very few is my guess.
In other words, IP is the now the game. It isnt the actor or actress but the IP the studio owns. Anthony Mackie isn't the star as much as the Falcon in the Marvel series.
Why not simply generate an AI Falcon? While the technology is not there today, at least not to a suitable level, it is on its way. This is something we can see as the future trend.
We are seeing 2025 being a year of box office bombs. The receipts coming in are at or near record lows. October was the word US box office month ever when adjusted for inflation. In simple dollars, it reached a low not seen since the 1990s.
A few movies hit but that it is. The overall trend is clear. Hollywood is cooked. This is being supported by many different metrics, especially those within California. All production is down in the city and surrounding areas. Other markets are taking production.
Next up: AI.
By 2030, the entertainment capital of the world will be no more.
The death of the movie star is only adding to the misery.