Why do the Actors Matter?

[MarkB]

I guess the big example in the genre would be Batman, where they went through three different Batman actors in four movies starting in 1989, and have gone through, what, three or four more since the Nolan reboot. But in those cases the succeeding movies were often only loosely connected if at all, with different directors each bringing new styles to the franchise - and when they weren't (i.e. the Tim Burton duo and Christopher Nolan trilogy) they did keep the same actor for those, at least for Batman himself.

Certainly the changes of actors and stylistic reboots are a major contributing factor to why the DC universe tended to feel much less connected and coherent than the MCU. On the other hand, it could easily be argued that the MCU has been hitting the point of diminishing returns in this regard for some time now.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But they don't. Returns for reboots, rehashes and endless sequential iterations are way down. Compare returns for, for example, the new Jurassic World reboot compared to the original Jurassic World movie, much less the original Jurassic Park movie (adjusted for inflation.) Granted, that's less recasting than rebooting with new characters, but the point is the same. The idea that the public demands endless iterations of the same thing is false. Interest fades relatively quickly.

The trouble is, it’s also difficult to convince the public to try something new.

 

[Ryujin]

Well, not a lot to add to this apart from that to say it's absolutely spot-on and covers everything I was thinking re: this issue and more eruditely at that.

Particularly important re: recasting in MCU etc. is your point where there's no point risking a recast unless there's a very major potential gain from doing so.

Personally I'd note that, imho, only Mark Ruffalo's sheer charisma saved him when they recast from Norton to him as the Hulk, because I'm sorry but I cannot take Ruffalo remotely seriously as a "troubled genius scientist" whereas Ed Norton absolutely had that in lock (and I think would have had better interactions with RDJ too).

His delivery of "I'm always angry" sort of made the character, in my mind.

 

[Morrus]

No, the public doesn't really demand it. The studios just play it super safe and refuse to take a risk on new properties, or they bork opportunities for new things to take off. The public is actually rather tired of Hollywood serving us warmed up leftovers. Few of these reboots and retreads are really all that popular.

People: Hollywood doesn't make new stuff!

Also People: The Oscars are so out of touch! I haven't seen any of those Best Original Screenplay nominees!

The studios make tons of new stuff. You just don't watch it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

People: Hollywood doesn't make new stuff!

Also People: The Oscars are so out of touch! I haven't seen any of those Best Original Screenplay nominees!

The studios make tons of new stuff. You just don't watch it.

I dunno about "tons" compared to yesteryear, but they certainly do make some and yes people should be watching - I know I am at least.

 

[Hussar]

They do and have recast in the MCU. I’m sure if they need to they will do so again.

True. But, when they recast Harrison Ford in the last Falcon movie, people bitched about it. That's the part I don't understand. It's not like Harrison Ford doesn't look the part of Thunderbolt Ross.

 

[James Gasik]

View attachment 411547 It has been done with Rhodes.

Nobody retired, but I gather there was casting issues and actor egos and such. It did not bother me. They were both fine.

Heck, they had two different actors for Howard Stark pretty much at the same time!