Do famous actors pay off at the box office?

This month, we’ve seen the stellar performance of both Obsession (currently $147 million at the worldwide box office - almost 80 times its budget) and Backrooms ($118 million). A number of readers have been in touch to ask if this proves that ‘stars don’t matter’When a film from a new director without huge-name stars can beat a new Star Wars film into second place, it certainly puts the question about the value of famous names into sharp relief. It might be the oldest argument in the film business, and the two sides go like this:One camp says a famous face is the closest thing to insurance a producer can buy. Audiences seem to see them as consistent brands in which every film is a prototype and genre labels are fuzzy at best. The other camp points out that the famous names are only there to protect the risk-averse gatekeepers within the production and distribution supply chain. Once movies hit audiences, they just want it to deliver and be entertaining.While Obsession and Backrooms…