After his massive comeback in 1994 with Pulp Fiction...he had a string of blockbuster hits.
But something happened?
I can't pin point it...at some point he kind of became a Nicolas Cage.
Any ideas?
I thought of Battlefield Earth from 2000, but even after that he was able to make movies that weren't VOD or straight to DVD/Video.
Instead all of them went straight to the theater from 2000 to 2010 and many of them hits.
He's a bad actor and he's ugly - no big mystery there. He also talks funny. He's trying to recapture his career with vanity projects.
Do you mean straight to video?
FROM PARIS WITH LOVE (a great movie, one of my faves of his) might have been the first notable step in his second/third cinematic decline?
share1. he got older in his 50s/60s
2. The movie landscape changed from headlining A list movie star vehicles to mainly scifi/fantasy based IP (Star Wars, Marvel/DC etc) yes they'd always been those mega franchise movies since pretty much 1977 but they sat alongside the big star vehicles of Clint, Arnie, Sly, Mel, Bruce, Ford, Cruise, Costner, Cage and Travolta etc (especially in the 90s).. now the movie star vehicles are pretty much obsolete unless its part of a big IP franchise (Terminator, Rambo, Die Hard etc - and even those have become subject to diminishing returns).. so unless the big name ex A listers happened to headline one of those big franchises so they can come back in a legacy/support role (Ford/SW, Sly/Creed) or even main (Indy/Rambo..Cruise in MI & TopGun) they now have to do the straight to DVD/streaming stuff that the likes of B listers like Dolph, Van Damme, Seagal etc had already been doing prior to the IP dominance age.. or TV/stream stuff ..
Travolta may have had huge iconic hits as big as in any mega franchise but nothing that really lends itself to a 'legacy sequel' that he can comeback with in this era (similar to likes of Costner - no sequels ever likely to Untouchables, Dances with Wolves, Waterworld, Robin Hood , or Mel who would've been in MadMax4 & Lethal5 had he not been blacklisted) - SNF? Already had a duff sequel and one cant really picture a late 60s version of that character now, Grease? the same.. Look Whos Talking? again already had silly sequels (and isn't thought of as much of a classic now), I guess they could do a Face/Off 2 with Cage even but at this point it'd probably be a stdvd thing. unless Tarantino decides to dust off The Vega Brothers (with Irishman CG deaging) or Stallone casts him as the villain in Expendables 4 JT may not even be in another theatrical released movie (and the whole business is uncertain now anyway) so ultimately hes pretty much back to where he was pre Pulp Fiction (or even worse as the films aren't even theatrical now and back then at least he had Look Whos Talking)
Great post!
Totally on the ball.
I think he still thinks he's got that "star" capacity he was riding on the mid to late 90s when he was actually making movies that were just as popular as Tom Hank vehicles. John just didn't learn to take a step back and reassess his standing as a Hollywood movie star and instead kept going full steam ahead doing what he wanted.
It could be combination of having too many yes people and not a good enough manager help him cultivate his persona as he gets older. You have to admit he looks silly with those hairpieces. I actually think he looks pretty cool with a bald head. He should only use wigs for movie roles.
Nothing derailed his career. He just stopped making money for the studios. It started with Lonely Hearts in 2006. Followed by Wild Hogs & Hairspray. By Old Dogs he had lost his status and was not considered for major roles.
His fan base had moved on and the film industry was changing rapidly.
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Uh, Wild Hogs grossed 168 million in America (253m worldwide), while Hairspray did 118 million (203m worldwide). There was even Oscar talk for the latter. Funny choices you use to explain his downfall.
I think it started before that with Basic and Love Song for Bobby Long. He was averaging more losses than wins by this point.
After From Paris with Love was not another Taken (same director) his career derailed totally into straight to DVD territory. He needed a hit and didn't get one.
It had been pretty much straight to DVD since The Forger, which was 2014. He made a slight comeback on TV with The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. However, when he went to bring his passion project Gotti to the big screen, it tanked big time with critics and audiences and he has been in the same boat as Cage ever since.
shareOne word: Franchise.
I think it's because he only has stand alone hits (and not franchise movies to fall back on) Baring 'Grease 2' (which might have been a hit if the original cast returned....or even been invited) and the 'Look Who's Talking' franchise (which was stretched to saturation point) he never thought of making 'Face Off 2' (or anything else with John Woo) and sadly, any wannabe franchise pics he made, flopped hard......I'm looking at YOU 'From Paris With Love' (a movie I really enjoyed)
Whereas his (box-office) contemporaries (Stallone, Gibson, Schwarzenegger, etc) had franchise pics to fall back onto, when pickings got slim....Around this point, only Ford, Hanks or cruise could still pack out cinemas with fresh stand alone produce....but both Ford and Hanks 'standing' has also fell of late.
Only Tom Cruise can make stand alone megahits nowadays (but usually they have one eye on being a franchise)
Spot On!
shareFor sure. Having a franchise is crucial to an actor's longevity and success. You have to have a sure money maker in your arsenal that keeps the studios keeping you around.
I think the main thing that killed Travolta the mega star was getting old and fat. He simply wasn't getting his pick of scripts.
He also never developed a shtick, like Pacino did, or DeNiro, where they always play the same sort of cool guy in every movie they show up in. People like that stuff. That's how aging actors keep getting work.
he's got nothing to prove to anyone since Vincent Vega.
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