It is the motivation for class reunions, overextended athletic careers and short lived retirements. Its victims include Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Stephen King. It is the ever elusive attempt to re-capture ones glory days. It is also a syndrome that has bled over into Hollywood.
As of January 25, 2008 Sylvester Stallone became the latest to make a grab for former fame with Rambo. A repeat offender, Stallone released Rocky Balboa in December of 2006, the sixth and presumable last of the Rocky series. When initially announced, the movie was thought to be a joke. After all, how could a man pushing retirement age be believable as a boxing contender? Stallone defied the critics, turning out a movie that was entertaining, touching, and most importantly, believable. Audiences responded, turning the $24 million film into a well received hit with a final domestic gross of just over $70 million. Stallone hopes the same audience will turn out to support his latest sequel and continue to breathe new life into a career that has been on the decline since Cliffhanger.
Bruce Willis has seen much of the luster of his once bright career wear off in recent years. After the runaway success of The Sixth Sense and modest hits like The Whole Nine Yards and Unbreakable, Willis saw flop after flop chip away at his once seemingly unstoppable career. From Hart’s War to 16 Blocks, the new millennium has been peppered with box office disappointments for Willis. Even a bright spot like Sin City owes most of its success to the cult following of the graphic novel and its author, Frank Miller, as well as the unique stylistic choices made by director Robert Rodriguez. This was why some might have wondered if his decision to revisit the Die Hard series, which hadn’t seen new installment in over a decade, was an attempt to trade in on the good will of the series to kick start his career again. His previous attempt at a sequel had failed in The Whole Ten Yards, but when Live Free or Die Hard was released in June of 2007 it was met with critical and commercial success, propelling Willis back into the spotlight.
With these experiments in popularity regeneration proving a success, don’t be surprised to see more fading stars revisiting the roles in which they shone the brightest. Harrison Ford hopes to follow in the action heavy footsteps of Stallone and Willis with a return to the role he defined in the 80s in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this May. After nearly a decade of career stagnation, he should certainly see a renewed interest after this surefire blockbuster. With speculated additions to the Beverly Hills Cop and The Fast and the Furious series tempting Eddie Murphy and Vin Diesel, it seems that this is a trend that will not end soon.
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