Indeed, that was the appeal of the buddy comedy "The Hangover."
"Movie stars still hold an incredible value both creatively and financially," said "Hangover" director Todd Phillips. "But it's getting to be more about the movie and whether it delivers on the promise of its trailers and commercials."
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Internet plays a role
Moreover, in the Internet age, word of mouth about movies spreads instantly.
"There used to be a free weekend where marketing departments could open a movie and if it didn't work, word didn't get out until Monday, but that's evaporated with Facebook and Twitter," Phillips said. "The water-cooler effect is much more immediate."
Even before a major movie hits the big screen, Twitter users and bloggers are weighing in -- which can help or hinder a studio opening a movie.
"The world has changed, throwing conventional wisdom out the window," said former studio marketing executive Peter Sealey. "The star-power opening is fading in importance and the marketing and releasing of movies is going into new territory where the masses are molding the opinion of a movie. People no longer say, 'It's a Tom Cruise movie, let's go see it!' With social networking, you know everything about a movie before it comes out."
Doug Belgrad, production president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, whose studio is behind "Year One" and "Pelham," said stars alone no longer can compete against the draw of franchise movies and sequels like "Transformers" and "Harry Potter" that come with a high degree of public awareness.
"Movie stars in the right films provide a certain amount of value from a marketing point of view," he said. "But there is no star power that you can throw at a movie that gives you the kind of brand awareness you get from pre-sold titles."
This summer's woes come at a time when studios are already battling the climbing cost of making and marketing movies as well as a decline in DVD sales, which have long supported the economics of the film business.
A telling test case will come this week when Johnny Depp, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, appears as 1930s gangster John Dillinger in Universal's crime saga "Public Enemies, which cost $100 million to produce."
Given the poor performances this year of dramas targeted to adults, the prospects of the Michael Mann-directed film gaining mass audience appeal appear dim.
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Recent movie duds
