Where are the days of the red carpet? Those stars walking out of 
their limousines and waving at an ocean of fans, reeling them in 
to see the films. Today’s Hollywood has a different method for 
movie distribution and box office sales: tabloids.

Lately, it seems that the actor’s talent and the strength of the 
story is not enough anymore to increase ticket sales. Studios 
push the stars into situations that will attract paparazzi which 
means but one thing: free publicity. 

More recently, the TomKat brought in huge ticket sales for Steven 
Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, despite some complains from the 
studio executives that the relationship was taking too much 
attention away from the actual film.

Tom Cruise was the center of controversies that all began 
strategically a few months before the premiere of the film. He 
began a much publicized relationship with Katie Holmes, then made 
a very vocal appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show and was later 
criticized for his rough interview with Matt Lauer.

This may or may not have hurt the box office success of 
Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, but it seemed a second nature 
to a big budget extravaganza like Spielberg’s latest.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s recent relationship seemed develop 
around the same time their film Mr. and Mrs. Smith came out. Ben 
Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s relationship seemed to spark off 
before Garner’s Elektra opened.

Of course, there are some rare cases where all the attention 
hurts the film. Gigli was one of those situations where the film 
was completely overshadowed by the Bennifer Factor. The media 
focused so much on the glam-lifestyle of Ben Affleck and Jennifer 
Lopez that moviegoers went to see this movie with tomatoes in 
hand and somewhat of a chip on their shoulders. The film 
completely bombed at the box-office but it might have stood a 
slight chance if it was made on a more low-budget and low-key 
environment with less flashy stars.
 
When there is less scrutiny from the media and more focus on 
the actual story of the film, audiences go in with neutral 
expectations and leave more space to be pleasantly surprised. 
This was the case with a film like Napoleon Dynamite that did 
not have any major stars or gossip attached. Moviegoers went 
into the theatre with a clear mind and no biases. Another film 
that will offer that gossip-tabloid-free environment is 
Machiavelli Hangman that is predicted to be a major hit in 
2006, despite an incredibly low-budget.
 
Audiences need to get back in the mode of classic Hollywood where 
film are valued based on how its stars deliver the story, not the 
gossip. 

Lacey Warren is a freelance reporter for Hollywood gossip 
columns. While the gossip columns may be light on information 
about Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), many 
people including Lacey believe that it will be a film worth 
seeing.