The absence of the American movie star
The wafting smell of popcorn and the blaring trumpets of the 20th Century Fox title card are immediately recognizable as sensations of the moviegoing experience. But despite its familiarity, moviegoing is a fleeting pastime—or at least one that is temporarily on hold.
“I think unfortunately we are watching the death of movie theaters,” said Minnehaha senior Frederick Reding, a soon-to-be Northwestern University theater major and longtime moviegoer.
Since 2019, box office ticket sales are down nearly 40%, according to Statista. Expectations of a movie theater revival in 2025 were met with unrealized results, and Netflix’s recent purchase of Warner Bros. Studios is another casualty of the “straight-to-streaming” world. The underperforming box office has been deemed a product of modern content accessibility, a world where people say “I’ll just wait until it’s on Netflix.” But the widely ignored box office roadblock is a lack of movie stars.
“I think the idea of the ‘movie star’ is quickly becoming less and less popular. If you think of five-to-ten years ago, our movies were filled with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey, and even The Rock. But now, with the dying art of the blockbuster, I feel like they are less crucial,” said Reding.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart were more recognizable than a next-door-neighbor, their “Hollywood” accents a staple of storytelling. In the 2020s, there is a dearth of generation-defining names.
If you’re looking for the prototypical moviestar, look no further than Tom Cruise—he sets the blueprint. Since the release of Top Gun (1986), Cruise has 37 films with leading acting credits—30 of them having surpassed $100 million at the worldwide box office.
The post-COVID film industry is still looking for its Tom Cruise. Few names, if any, have enough cachet to generate $100 million at the box office. Even Brad Pitt—one of the great movie stars of the 21st century—failed to reach $100 million on Babylon (2022), a large-scale commercial flop following the pandemic.
The industry’s ticket to financial success is locating a star who can garner the excitement of the youth, a generation that didn’t grow up watching Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt.
One candidate for the role of the modern moviestar is Timothee Chalamet; his desire to grab the torch as the next star, although polarizing, is undeniable.
“Chalamet has said before in speeches and in interviews that he’s inspired by greatness, and that he wants to be one of the greats,” said senior Elijah Jensen. ”And he actually backs that up. I’m just really drawn to that, so I like to watch all of his films.”
Chalamet just starred in Marty Supreme (2025), a heart-racing drama about table tennis prodigy Marty Mauser, which swiftly became critically adored and a box office hit—a combination that is more anomalous than common.
“I really liked [Marty Supreme],” Jensen said, “I went to see it five times.”
While Marty Supreme’s popularity is a glimmer of hope for the moviegoing industry, its success required promotion that is atypical of traditional film marketing.
“The marketing behind the movie was awesome and brilliant, with Chalamet having global superstars like Lamine Yamal, Anthony Edwards, the Biebers, and Tom Brady advertise,” said Jensen.
Just to surpass $118 million at the box office, NBA courts had “Marty Supreme” on their surface, the Las Vegas sphere was an orange ping pong ball, and world famous celebrities—like the aforementioned Anthony Edwards and Tom Brady—posted pictures sporting a Marty Supreme jacket. So, the film’s success cannot be entirely attributed to Chalamet’s stardom.
There is also an argument to be made that movie stars are just obsolete, and efforts like Chalamet’s are futile.
“I don’t think the problem is the actors, but the films being made. Modern movies don’t value their stars like they used to,” said senior Patrick Linder.
Filling seats is difficult, especially for an increasingly expensive $20 ticket. The movies that find the most success are high-budget franchise films, particularly Marvel or DC. Moviegoers are rarely going for the actors on the poster, but instead they’re at the kiosk because they want to see the latest installment of an established series.
But the film industry cannot be supported by franchise blockbusters; the success of independent or arthouse films like Marty Supreme is imperative for the moviegoing business to maintain its diverse range of entertainment quality and options.
“It’s up to us to keep watching movies in theaters to keep them alive,” said Reding.
The moviegoing industry is trapped in quicksand, sinking into a mass of franchise reliance and limited attendance, but maybe a hero can help lift it up—ideally another Tom Cruise.
Betting is fun, just ask the media
The rapidly growing gambling culture continues to infiltrate sports content, so much so that gambling content has become a staple of daily sports media.
According to S&P Global, in 2023, a total of $119.84 billion was bet on legal sportsbooks, up 27.5% from the year prior. Financial stability is being left to the fate of sports, and what looks like a dystopian reality from a bird’s-eye view is being pushed by the supposed ethical news networks as a more exciting approach to sports viewing.
“I see the casino ads and the Fanduel ads at least twice every commercial break when I’m watching ESPN,” said third-year Minnehaha student Evan Anderson.
It seems so simple. You watch sports, right? All you have to do is just parlay two picks, maybe throw in a player prop, and you can make hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
“My entire TikTok page is full of people making parlays,” said an anonymous Minnehaha gambler, “It makes [gambling] feel okay.”
Here’s the reality: the sportsbook always wins. It’s the law of averages; if the odds of a given line are 50/50, the sportsbook will profit, thanks to what is called a “vigorish,” often referred to as a “vig” or “hold.” The vig charges the bettor a commission for the sportsbook’s services — the commissions are built into the lines. A $100 bet with 50/50 odds could have a payout of $190, and the ten missing dollars remain with the sportsbook. On a high enough volume, sportsbooks guarantee success.
Gamblers chase the “big hit,” and the pay-day potential is enticing, but the fantasy of life after winning is more tantalizing than the common reality. According to the Milken Institute, on average, for every dollar that is bet, the bettor loses 7.7 cents. And despite the higher-than-not likelihood of failure, while feigning innocence, the media sells the fictional expectation that gambling is an easy way to make money from your couch.
“Cash in on your sports fandom” is the closing tagline of the latest PrizePicks ad. PrizePicks is a daily fantasy app that allows users to bet on over/unders with real currency and transactions, so it’s no secret that they benefit from making success in gambling appear more attainable than it is.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and researchers at the University of Bristol conducted a study to find how frequently viewers are exposed to gambling promotions when watching pro sports — the study looked at five NHL games and two NBA games in Canada. Over the course of the seven games, the study found that on average, 21% of each broadcast featured a gambling message somewhere on the screen, many of the ads being on the playing surface.
“There are media that obviously depend upon advertising, in a general sense, for their survival. But, I think if you look at [betting coverage] in the context of journalism ethics, the question becomes, ‘who are you looking to serve?’” said Jane Kirtley, the Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.
It should be pointed out that this isn’t the first harmful-in-excess product promoted by the media to strengthen a profitable business’ public image. To this day, alcohol is presented as a lighthearted way to celebrate a good time, and through the 20th century, every “cool” TV character could be seen with a cigarette in hand.
“I think with gambling, we know it can be addictive for some, but not necessarily all. And as long as it’s a legal activity, I think ultimately it’s going to come down to the media outlet to make its own determinations,” Kirtley said.
The news networks require profit from ad revenue to stay afloat, and the sportsbooks offer a hefty sum of cash. But not only do networks air betting commercials, platforms such as ESPN are riddled with gambling-themed shows and betting “experts.”
“If the gambling becomes the primary mover for the programming, then for me, it does cross an ethical line. Because to me, it’s not putting the consumer of news first,” Kirtley said.
Gambling has altered modern sports consumption, whether it be how people watch games, or how people talk about games. Gambling jargon has even become the foundation of analysis; every TV talking head refers to lines or props as a way to evaluate games.
The Supreme Court passed a law allowing for individual states to legalize sports gambling in 2018, and since then, 38 states have already welcomed the change. Country-wide sports gambling is relatively new, so parameters are struggling to keep up with the onslaught in popularity, and as of now, regulations on media are limited.
Unless the industry pivots, sports media is normalizing the money-wounding habit that consumers just can’t escape.
Credentialed Fan 