Bankable star

In the film industry, a bankable star is an actor famous or charismatic enough to be "capable of guaranteeing box-office success simply by showing up in a movie". A bankable director is a similar notion.

Overview

Media consultant Blake Harris states that a bankable star is one of the "3 minimum ingredients to any film package", the other two being a successful director and a script or a strong story idea. The involvement of a bankable star in a film gives investors confidence that they will achieve a return on their investments, by ensuring that the film is widely distributed and that at least some people will pay to see it (i.e. that it will "open"). Harris adds that obtaining a bankable star for a package is not easy, because of the dearth of such stars, stating that at any point in time there are no more than "a dozen or so" stars whose mere involvement will ensure that a film will be made.

Analyst Alex Epstein states that bankable stars — or, more generally, "bankable elements" — are how "hookless" films (i.e. films without a compelling concept that makes people interested in them in their own right) get made, giving Dances with Wolves as an example of a movie where the involvement of Kevin Costner as the bankable star guaranteed that the movie was made. Writer Melissa Robbie concurs, stating that some movies are high-concept (i.e. they have what Epstein terms "hooks") whereas others are simply star vehicles for bankable stars.