I notice one thing going on in the Hollywood film industry lately. It’s pretty weird, though… like the title says… actors that were once really huge and so big in the movies that they go back down to starring in low budget B movies.

Actors at the top of my head that absolutely went there… how about guys like Nicholas Cage, John Travolta, Dolph Lundgren, Eddie Murphy, Steven Seagal, Bruce Willis, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mel Gibson…. oh the list goes on and honestly Sylvester Stallone is on his way there.

They were once big name stars in the 80’s and 90’s…. all those big names starred in major blockbusters that were huge money makers but nowadays you don’t hear much from them anymore. You ask yourself, where did those actors disappear to? Well the funny thing is, those actors really haven’t gone away at all. They’re still working. It’s just that they make a lot of low budget b-movies that nobody knows about…. mostly straight to video stuff.

I would think that whatever big name budget movie they tried to do was a box office bomb… I think they were dropped out of their agency’s that allows them to do blockbuster films and now they’re all in an agency that they do low budget b movies instead. Yeah, they were all big names back in the old days, they were huge… but why they did they get demoted from huge star to b movie actor? I think the obvious answer is that they aren’t a box office draw anymore. It’s clear that these actors don’t do it for the money, though… they do it ’cause they love making movies. They just want to keep working ’cause that’s what they do.

Some of you may think that most of their low budget b movies are pretty bad but not all of them. On Netflix, I watched a bunch of Dolph Lundgren b movies…. some of them good and some of them bad. Same with JCVD. Same with Nicholas Cage, I saw a lot of his b movie stuff… some good and some bad. I think the best Nic Cage low budget movie I’ve seen so far was a horror film named “Mandy” that he stars in the leading role in… that film was actually pretty amazing and was blown away by it, you should check it out.

I just think kids in today’s generation of movies wouldn’t know who those guys are anymore since we’re all now obsessed with superhero films and remakes nowadays. I don’t think people care about Bruce Willis anymore. Nobody cares about Travolta anymore. All those actors I listed above, they are all still talented, though. They still got it with the acting even though they are getting older.

They went back down to b movies ’cause like I said above, they aren’t a box office draw anymore… and maybe another reason they went back down is ’cause maybe they no longer want the box office spotlight, ya know? They don’t really care about the fame ’cause they just want to work. They love acting and it’s a passion for them. They don’t care whether or not a movie is a hit.

I’m sure those guys would love to do big movies again but in this day and age, it’ll be hard for them to get there again.

Sure, Eddie Murphy has “Coming To America 2” coming out soon as a major motion picture but will it be a hit? I don’t know, we’ll see but I wouldn’t be surprised it bombs ’cause nobody knows who Eddie Murphy is anymore. I think he hosted SNL not too long ago, just to try to get his name back in the mainstream again.

Hollywood is a tough business.

Kev