Edgar Wright directing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nTen or 15 years ago, that combination would have felt like a guaranteed hit.<\/p>\n
And yet, audiences didn\u2019t exactly storm the theaters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in the \u201890s, if Cruise showed up in something like \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d, people were there immediately. That movie became a massive franchise largely because audiences trusted him.<\/p>\n
Not the brand, but him.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a huge difference.<\/p>\n
Maybe we\u2019re just old
Now, to be fair, there\u2019s a very real possibility that this entire column is just me aging in real time.<\/p>\n
Maybe younger audiences absolutely see Dwayne Johnson, Zendaya, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Ryan Gosling, and Glen Powell the same way I saw Arnold or Cruise growing up.<\/p>\n
Some of them probably do.<\/p>\n
Gosling especially feels close to old-school movie star energy. The man can do comedy, drama, action, musicals, weird indie films, and somehow still feels effortlessly cool while doing all of it. Glen Powell also feels like Hollywood is trying very hard to manufacture a classic movie star, and to his credit, he\u2019s got the charisma to pull it off.<\/p>\n
But even then, it still feels different.<\/p>\n
Not smaller, necessarily. Just \u2026 fragmented.<\/p>\n
Fame is wider now, but maybe not deeper<\/h3>\n
Here\u2019s the weird thing about celebrity culture in 2026:<\/p>\n
People are more famous than ever, yet somehow less culturally dominant.<\/p>\n
Someone can have 40 million Instagram followers, viral TikToks, constant headlines, brand deals everywhere, and still not be able to open a movie.<\/p>\n
That would\u2019ve been unthinkable 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
Back then, movie stars shaped culture. Everybody knew them. Everybody quoted them. Everybody watched the same movies.<\/p>\n
At school, kids weren\u2019t quoting algorithms or \u201c6 \u2013 7!\u201d. On the playground, you heard us screaming, \u201cAlrighty then,\u201d \u201cI have the need, the need for speed,\u201d \u201cShow me the money!\u201d and \u201cIf that\u2019s Seabass and the guys over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honestly, teachers probably should\u2019ve banned Jim Carrey impressions nationwide by 1995.<\/p>\n
But there was something communal about it. We were all watching the same stars.<\/p>\n
Now entertainment feels scattered into a thousand tiny fandoms.<\/p>\n
Hollywood replaced stars with intellectual property<\/h3>\n
Intellectual property is now the draw as opposed to actors, and if I\u2019m being honest with myself I get it.<\/p>\n
Actors got expensive. Audiences became unpredictable. Franchises felt safer.<\/p>\n
So instead of building movies around stars, studios started building movies around logos.<\/p>\n
Marvel became the draw. \u201cStar Wars\u201d found a new generation of fans. And \u201cFast & Furious\u201d figured out how to become a massive franchise and \u2026 family.<\/p>\n
The actor became interchangeable.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s probably why Tom Cruise still feels unique. He somehow survived the transition. He didn\u2019t just star in franchises; he became the franchise.<\/p>\n
People don\u2019t watch \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d because they\u2019re deeply invested in IMF organizational structure.<\/p>\n
They watch because they want to see what insane thing Tom Cruise is willing to do next without a stunt double.<\/p>\n
Maybe what we really miss is shared culture<\/h3>\n
I don\u2019t think this means movies are worse now. There are still incredible actors and fantastic films being made.<\/p>\n
And I definitely don\u2019t think we need to go back to treating celebrities like untouchable gods floating above society.<\/p>\n
But I do think something changed when actors stopped being cultural anchors and became content creators alongside everyone else.<\/p>\n
Movie stars used to feel like events.<\/p>\n
Now everything is an event, all the time, constantly fighting for attention.<\/p>\n
Maybe that\u2019s why we keep going back to old stars, old movies and old franchises. Not because the past was perfect, but because for a brief moment it felt like we were all watching the same screen together.<\/p>\n
I know I\u2019m old, but I kind of miss that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/assets.eastidahonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jim-carrey.jpg\")
<\/a>Jim Carry in 1994\u2019s \u2018The Mask.\u2019 | New Line Productions and Dark Horse Entertainment <\/p>\n