Why Hollywood studios still wants Eddie Murphy ?

photo credit: stefernie

In 2002, Eddie Murphy starred in The Adventure of Pluto Nash – a USD 100 million movie but worldwide tickets sales was only USD 7 million. Also, Eddie Murphy charges USD 20 million a movie plus a cut of the gross sales.

If his movies no longer spells box-office, why Hollywood studios still wants him ? What Will Ferrell, Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy have in common ?

According to a NYTimes article,

“His [Eddie Murphy] audiences are very straitjacketed in their expectations of him, and by that I mostly mean fat suit, fat suit, fat suit.”

In addition Mr. Murphy’s name is a marketing hook on a DVD, and he remains one of the few American comedians who can deliver results overseas.

Hollywood understands that big-time comedy careers are often volatile. Plot the box office runs of Will Ferrell and Mike Myers against those of dramatic stars like Will Smith and Tom Cruise, and the comedians’ are all over the map. Because comedies tend to be easier to film (if not to perform), those players are at bat more often, and so a few misses are considered normal.

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