Worth their weight in stellar gold
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
In the movie-production biz, the name of the game and motivating bottom line is profit. Producers argue that the biz is more a business than an art form, because if they keep ending up in the red, they would have to stop making movies—so, where would the industry be, then?
That’s why, when they get together, production people and financiers keep comparing notes on the stars who consistently make films that gross the biggest amounts, and those who drive their producers sobbing to the poorhouse.
Logically, the biggest and most popular stars who charge the biggest talent fees would be at the top of the topgrossing list—but, it sadly turns out that it simply isn’t so.
In fact, some acclaimed superstars are infamous for their unfortunate propensity to come up with flops rather than profitable hits.
Which is why, after a number of years, they stop getting new offers and end up as celebrities who are mostly famous for being famous.
On the other hand, there are veteran stars who go from one new film production to another, because they’ve gotten the hard-earned reputation for deserving every million they earn, and are thus worth their weight in gold to producers!
One of those producer-beloved stars is Harrison Ford, who is credited for starring
in films that have grossed an impressive, career-long total of $4 billion!
That’s why, even if he’s lost much of his manly good looks and sometimes appears to not have slept for two months, he continues to topbill new productions.
But, in the past few seasons, a much less-heralded action star has slowly but surely earned the enviable reputation for being a consistent hitmaker, even if his starrers aren’t half as expensive to produce as many other action blockbusters.
He is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s now dubbed in the trade as “The five-billion-dollar Star”—because that’s how much his starrers have made, in a less extended time frame than Ford’s own, extended career!
That’s music to producers’ ears, so they keep getting him to energize their movies with his stellar clout and proven appeal to action buffs.
For proof positive, his filmography in the past couple of years has included “monster” and “sleeper” productions like “The Fast and the Furious” film franchise, “San Andreas,” “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Moana” and “Central Intelligence.”
Most recently, Johnson hit the headlines anew, in a nonshow biz context, when he intimated that he was “considering” running for president of the United States sometime in the future!
While some people thought it was a big, loopy joke, others noted that, especially in the “post-Trump” era, Johnson could win!
They ticked off his political plus points: “He’s a successful businessperson who knows how to speak to the masses, the literal embodiment of hard work, a role model for people to make something of themselves through sheer grit and motivation—and make a lot of money doing it!” —What do you think?
