film exam question

Neither producers nor audiences need stars anymore. how far do you agree with this statement?

originally audiences would watch a movie to see their favourite actors, however due to the development of cgi and animated movies; the films have become less about the actors used in the films and more about the technology used. It has become common for some films to use un-tried and inexperienced actors to play roles usually played by experienced and recognisable actors, an example of this i the new movie The amazing spiderman which has andrew garfield playing the lead role as Spiderman, Andrew Garfield has previously been in films but generally in independent films and has never been in a blockbuster. A reason producers feel the need to not use "stars" in their films is because to use them they would have to pay them a substantial amount of money, modern movie stars can earn anywhere between £10 million and £50 million per movie. so an advantage of not using a star would mean the producer could use the budget on other things such as settings etc.

producers used to rely on stars to attract a large audience and to generate better box office revenue. With the development of the internet and the price of the internet becoming more accessable in terms of price, this means that movies can use this as another avenue to promote and advertise their films. films now have their own websites, they are advertised on Facebook and other social networking sites this gives modern day films an advantage over older films as they do not have to rely on word of mouth.
all of these aspects mean that modern films do not have to rely heavily on stars to attract their audience.
there are examples of films which do not feature stars but have grossed in the top 12 films in UK box office, for example Slum dog millionaire  was 5th in UK's top 12 grossing films in box office.

evidence of films relying less on stars is shown when franchises such as the Saw films and the final destinations films are so successful, both these films use unused actors and use modern technology to attract audiences by creating very graphic and realistic death scenes, which make modern horror films have a sense of fabrication.