Wow, maybe the stars really will need all those freebies and gifts they had traditionally been getting, but then again, that stuff, too, is likely to be heavily cut back.
Sorry I don't have the links to it, but the news is out there if you want to find it by googling for it. Anyway, reports came out over the past week that Hollywood belt tightening is going on across the board and is hitting even the "major" stars, in many cases pretty hard.
Tom Cruise had to take a much smaller pay day for Mission Impossible: 3, uber director Peter Jackson who got a hefty pay day for King Kong won't see such a big pay day again in the future. Many others were mentioned in the article as well. The big names are seeing the studios pull back on the costs and budgets as they tighten their belts and try to bring in more profits amid a movie market where consumers refuse to just go to the theatres just because some supposed blockbuster is out.
The studios have been watching their market, at least for theatres in general, shrinking, and while they can bring in cash from DVD/VHS sales, the numbers don't add up the same way. With DVDs they tend to sell one disc per family, or per several families, and watch the disc get passed around to multiple persons/parties, while with theatre goers they can count on $5 - $10 per head for every person that gets a ticket to the show.
I don't blame the studios for cutting back at all. The salaries and compensation packages that have gone to the big names in Hollywood have long since gotten out of hand. Perhaps the studios also should be looking into the salaries of the execs in their own studios too, and they may yet get there. Either way, the gravy train that was Hollywood is apparently really slowing down.
Will it all be enough to encourage better product, and product that will be aimed at larger audiences (such as more family fare)? Hard to say for sure, but it might be a wise idea for the studios to really pay attention to which films and TV shows are really bringing in the numbers and which aren't.
