MovieChat Forums > Coming to America (1988) Discussion > Weird how only movies in the 80's seemed...

Weird how only movies in the 80's seemed to spark careers...

posted 11 years ago by Trumerica
6 replies | jump to latest

There are a lot of hit movies in the 80's who featured actors who were nobodies then who became huge stars. It seems like today a movie will have one star and a supporting cast of nobodies who just do small straight to DVD movies or commercials. Or you may notice the actor later on but not even know their name.

[–] vmelkon 11 years ago

I bet as a CGI artist, you can get your work noticed and make it big today.

[–] gilknut 9 years ago

I think it's more accurate to say that it was always like that, up to and including the 80's.

After that, the world just got busier. During the 90's you got the internet, a lot more productions, a lot more people in the industry. If a movie were successful in the "old days", it got noticed because there weren't that many things to compete with regarding people's time and attention. Today there are way, way more productions available in so many media outlets that it'd have to be a very big movie, and a big part, for one person to get noticed so much that he/she achieves star status quickly. It's almost impossible, really.

IMDb-boards would be less confusing if people would mark their signatures clearly.

[–] megafauna005 9 years ago

What stars did this movie spawn?? Murphy was already a star. Arsenic did get a talk show but didn't do any big movies. The ladies in this movie went nowhere. Neither did Eriq Laselle. James Earl Jones was already a star. I don't see how this movie sparked anyone's career except maybe Arsenic but that was only temporary.

Jesus NEVER existed! He is Judeo Christian MYTH!

[–] gilknut 9 years ago

What stars did this movie spawn??

I didn't say it did, I commented on the OP's general observation (you're responding to my post).

In fairness though, the OP doesn't actually say it either. But I suppose one can guess it was implied.

It is often cited as the first time Samuel L. Jackson got any attention on screen (certainly it was his first speaking part in a really big movie), but obviously it's a stretch to say it made him a big star, at least directly.

"Flower bearer" Garcelle Beauvais also debuted in a big movie here, but she definitely didn't "take off" until many years later, and even now isn't what I would call a really big star (mostly TV-roles and a Playboy spread in recent years).

IMDb-boards would be less confusing if people would mark their signatures clearly.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Lokisgodhi 9 years ago

Actually no there aren't. The number of productions have gone down. The same with tv. Networks used to have summer replacement series, something they no longer do.

gilknut wrote:

I think it's more accurate to say that it was always like that, up to and including the 80's.

After that, the world just got busier. During the 90's you got the internet, a lot more productions, a lot more people in the industry. If a movie were successful in the "old days", it got noticed because there weren't that many things to compete with regarding people's time and attention. Today there are way, way more productions available in so many media outlets that it'd have to be a very big movie, and a big part, for one person to get noticed so much that he/she achieves star status quickly. It's almost impossible, really.