On the (rubber-clad) wings of Angelina

By Steven Zeitchik

Just what is it about Angelina Jolie? No, not the eight kids and eight-pound lips. We're talking about her recent track record of openings that's unusual for a female star and unprecedented for a female action hero.

Most actresses open movies when they're playing more sedate roles in comedies or dramas, may sort of help open thrillers, and struggle as a pure action lead.

Jolie is exactly the opposite: She's a can't-miss in action roles, kind of doesn't do much in thrillers and tanks in comedies and dramas.

Some numbers:

--Including "Wanted," she's now had five leading or co-leading action roles this decade -- three earned or will earn over $100 million, and a fourth earned $82 million.

--She's had three leading or primary roles in thrillers -- and averaged only about $36 million in each.

--In her three leading dramatic roles, she hasn't cracked $15 million.

She's basically a Julia Roberts for the new age, except while Roberts did it almost exclusively in the realm of rom-coms and weepies, Jolie does it almost exclusively in a realm that's previously been more verboten to women than the Illuminati.

Some of these gaps can be attributed to the size and expectations of the  movies themselves. But that doesn't account for the disparity between action movies and thrillers, which shouldn't on their face be nearly as wide as these numbers suggest. And it's not like all the dramatic flops were obscure specialty projects either -- they include bigger budgeted movies from the likes of Fox ("Life or Something Like It") and Paramount ("Beyond Borders").

One exec we talked to today explained the appeal of an action pic that stars Jolie as a movie that can hit to both sides of the field. Not only is Jolie believable as an action hero -- which means the target-demo males won't be put off (and in fact may be turned on) -- but with her high Q rating among women she opens up an action movie to female audiences too.

Seems like there's a lot to that, but there may also be something to this. Anecdotally, filmgoers have said it's increasingly hard to watch Jolie on the bigscreen because she's one of those stars whose presence immediately conjures up associations from her personal life (see under: the aforementioned babies).

Now, that may be true when we're seeing her as a devoted wife or pregnant mom -- movies like "A Mighty Heart" or "A Good Shepherd" -- and so audiences stay away. But it becomes less of a factor the further you get down the reality spectrum.

As a sort of semi-relatable character in a thriller, she's able to pull in a few more moviegoers, though she's still a little too much of, well, Angelina Jolie.

But when she transforms into a completely otherwordly character-- a leather-clad, gun-shooting  Fox from "Wanted" or Lara Croft from "Tomb Raider" -- then audiences can get into it and turn out for her films.

So basically, one of the biggest movie stars in the world will draw more box office the less she seems like herself. In the upside-down world of Angelina Jolie, that's just about perfect.

Comments

[Dan Zee]

What is it about Angelina Jolie? Are you kidding me? Not only does she always score at the top of any poll of celebrities that both men AND women would like to sleep with, but she's every fanboy's fantasy object! She's also a walking Frank Frazetta painting -- a graphic novel babe brought to life!

The fact that she can really act allows her pull off these action roles and make viewers believe in what they're seeing.

There shouldn't be any doubt that she can open an action movie! Look at the Tomb Raider movies. Terrible scripts and direction, but Angelina alone brought in the audiences. If Lucas and Spielberg had put her in Crystal Skull, the box office would have been at least $100 million more than it is!

If she wants to do indie movies, then she should, but the producers shouldn't expect big box office from a small film just because she's in it.

I'm not sure what Hollywood expected from the Daniel Pearl movie. Audiences knew the movie wouldn't end well and the bad guys win. These are qualities that don't exactly attract a mass audience.

But put Angelina in a classy graphic novel or action movie and watch the money pour in!

[Liz]

Dan Zee - undoubtedly, but the question this article explores is why.

I think the filmgoers are right; she's become too much of a celebrity to star in anything serious. She has to be otherworldly to really work in her role.

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