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Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Hollywood has a star problem. The newest generation of trailblazing men and women possess the kind of beauty, talent and charm that engenders public adoration. However, twenty-somethings like Zendaya, Paul Mescal, and Sidney Sweeney struggle to open their films on the strength of their names alone. They are simply not popular enough.
You won't find stars with cross-generational appeal on YouTube, either. Or any other online platform. Can you recognize Kai Cenat, the most subscribed sports commentator on Twitch? Or Bella Burch, who has racked up more than three-quarters of a billion views with a single video on TikTok? Even Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast), who has more than 338 million followers on YouTube, might stumble across the average 45-year-old without being recognized.
The inability to identify new heroes in popular culture has always been a sign of middle age. But there is usually a point at which these stars reach a wider audience. But in the past decade, this broader audience has become harder to find. As viewers were directed toward content they would like, popularity diminished. You can have a hundred million fans online and still not be recognized by people in your hometown.
This fracture in popularity is exacerbated by the fact that even viewers on the same platform will not necessarily see the same content. red notice, Heist thriller starring The Rock Most watched movie on Netflix. However, the film, which one critic described as a vacant proposition when establishing the franchise, never appeared at the top of my recommended viewing list. It's as if the algorithm knew I would go right past it.
One online content creator is currently trying to get past this barrier. In December, Donaldson launched his first game show on Amazon Prime. Beast Games will look familiar to anyone who watches their YouTube channel. The stunts, which have a tinge of Depression-era dance marathons, have just moved to a bigger stage. A hefty $5 million cash prize is on offer for those willing to subject themselves to extraordinary tortures while Donaldson, wearing a smart casual black blazer, shouts encouragement. The vibe is 2010 Factor X Money meets technology.
The show had poor reviews (it was “offensive” and “unattractive” according to British newspapers). Its partnership was with a financial technology company criticize. There have been worrying complaints about the set being an unsafe environment – as some A-list contestants have claimed lawsuit She filed a lawsuit against Donaldson and the show's production companies this summer. However, Donaldson says the show is number one in more than 50 countries.
If anyone can change their audience, it should be Donaldson. Now in his mid-20s, he has been uploading videos since his early teens and is known for studying formats and tweaking content to maximize viewer numbers.
However, Amazon is one streaming site among many others. It has more than 200 million Prime subscribers (fewer than MrBeast has on its own channels) and the video service's recommendation feed may prevent Donaldson from being seen by a new audience he doesn't already know. The odds of him becoming an internationally known star are low.
Screenwriter William Goldman once explained how stars were created. He wrote that it is not enough to be talented or handsome, something else is needed. in Adventures in the screen tradeDescribes seeing this transformation happen to Robert Redford. When Redford was a stage actor, the rooms did not quiet down when he entered. after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidThey did it. A large screen and audience were needed to achieve this transformation. (It was also suggested that the speed of this change and the fact that it had nothing to do with the actors themselves is what drove many stars crazy and insecure.)
The screens are still there. But the mass audience dispersed. The latest proof that celebrities are anyone, and therefore no one, comes from the celebrity video app Cameo. At the end of 2024, it launched CameoX – a service that allows users to self-record and sell personalized videos to fans.
In the past, Cameo had to agree that someone was popular enough to be on the platform. Admittedly, the bar was fairly low. But CameoX drops it to the ground. CEO Stephen Galanis says the change had to happen because the amount of fame in the world is “exponentially increasing”. This is correct. It's easier than ever to be seen by a large number of people online. But it's also true that it's difficult to be seen by a truly global audience. Without that, there is no such thing as fame.
