Marquee Stars provides a more precise and timely way to measure the viability of marquee talent than quick glances at the latest box office returns or even the occasional survey of industry sales people. Brand name personas are ranked based on objective financial criteria and presented in a clear table format similar to stock market listings.

Talent, of course, is both personal and creative and its artistic worth should never be quantified. But the work product of film talent generates promotion, reputation, celebrity and brand name recognition. A professional brand name is a MarqueeStar - a shadow public persona separate from its actual private person. In short, MarqueeStar persona equals brand; and the momentary marketplace footprint of persona can be described in dollars and cents. Consequently the MarqueeStar tables do not gauge career merit or quality filmmaking, nor do they predict future revenue windfalls or shortfalls. They simply provide side-by-side algorithmically-adjusted appraisals of the recent gross revenue performances of theatrical personas: one of several legitimate considerations when casting, greenlighting, acquiring or distributing a motion picture.

In terms of marquee power, however, in the Marquee Stars^SM universe “you’re only as good as your last three pictures.” Fundamental to the Marquee Stars approach is the adjusted 1- to 3-picture average from the most recent theatrical films for each MarqueeStar persona. Gross performance revenues have been used for computation rather than net revenues because gross revenues are a cleaner indicator of a MarqueeStar persona’s ability to attract income. Also, only films younger than 10 years or with cumulative grosses better than a 2009-constant-dollar value of $5.2 million (€3.75m, £3.58m, ¥479.84m, Cn¥35.48m, Rs250.24m, Kr₩6.87b, руб 152.90m) have been included. Excluded titles have negligible impact on a MarqueeStar persona’s overall audience perception. Moreover, despite the unquestioned importance of small screen earnings (i.e. video, television, Internet and ancillary sources), such data tend to be subservient to box office in that the theatrical release remains the king market-maker worldwide.

Updated weekly, the Marquee Appraisal Guide^SM includes the current top-performing theatrical talent: marquee movie stars, support players, directors, screenwriters and producers. They are ranked by their 3-picture Opening Weekend Average (OWA) and by their 3-picture Average World Gross (AWG). The revenue averages themselves have been calculated using present-value U.S. dollars, as opposed to constant dollars, and have been discounted over time to give greater weight to the most recent films as well as to simplify rating comparisons between reports. Discounting factors also have been applied to films that are more high concept or ensemble in nature than specifically talent-driven. (For greater detail, see Frequently Asked Questions.)

Table Groupings

Marquee Anchor & Support Player Tables - rank lead, support and featured actors from live-action commercial films. Players appear on A- and B-Lists, and may appear in one or more subdivisions, as determined by the market positioning of their pictures and their corresponding prominence (i.e. billing block, promotional campaign, dramatic role, critical notice, Golden Globe or Academy Award consideration, related Internet click traffic and some focus group polling). Subdivisions include:

Anchors - marquee star players from qualifying feature films.
Support - major co-star and character players from qualifying feature films.
Featured - standout cameo or bit players from qualifying feature films.

Off-Camera Talent Tables - rank directors, screenwriters and producers from all commercial films, including documentary and animated features. Personas appear on A- and B-Lists as determined by the market position of their pictures. Director tables reject the Alan Smithee pseudonym. Screenwriter tables presume preeminence of the final â€œandâ€ credit. All off-camera talent tables recognize credit arbitrations by the appropriate guild.

Basic Reports

Most Active MarqueeStars Reports - MarqueeStar personas from theatrical motion pictures released within the past two years and ranked in accordance with either their 3-picture Opening Weekend Average (OWA) or their 3-picture Average World Gross (AWG). These reports include both Marquee Anchor & Support Players and Off-Camera Talent.
Less Active MarqueeStars Reports - MarqueeStar personas from theatrical motion pictures released within the previous four years and ranked in accordance with either their 3-picture Opening Weekend Average (OWA) or their 3-picture Average World Gross (AWG). These reports are available for Movie Star & Support Players only.

Data Definitions

3-Pic Opening Weekend Average (expressed in $ millions) - refers to the qualifying 1- to 3-picture average of the first breakout theatrical weekend gross (not necessarily the premiere weekend) in its top-performing territory (usually Anglo-American domestic). Reports sorted by the 3-Pic OWA provide the first of two major talent rankings as a leading indicator of financial performance.
3-Pic Average World Gross (expressed in $ millions) - refers to the qualifying 1- to 3-picture average of the final world cumulative theatrical gross. Reports sorted by the 3-Pic AWG provide the second of two major talent rankings as a lagging indicator of financial performance.
Box Office Quotient (BOQ) - roughly represents the revenues impact of promotional moneys spent on a MarqueeStar persona’s pictures. As a rule, the larger the BOQ, the greater the marketing clout. The BOQ also functions as a strength indicator for the 3-Pic OPA, loosely similar to Wall Street’s stock trading volume. Defined mathematically: BOQ = cumulative gross / opening weekend per screen average
Gross-to-Opening Ratio (GO Ratio) - represents the ongoing breadth of a MarqueeStar persona’s popular appeal or his/her “legs”; that is, the degree to which audiences have been willing to “go to the movies” on behalf of that persona’s films. The greater the GO ratio, the greater the repeat business for that persona’s pictures. The GO Ratio similarly functions as a strength indicator for the 3-Pic AWG, loosely similar to Wall Street’s stock trading volume. Defined mathematically: GO ratio = cumulative gross / opening weekend gross
3-Pic Average Domestic Gross - (expressed in $ millions) refers to the 3-picture average of the final Anglo-American (US & Canada) cumulative theatrical gross.
3-Pic Average Foreign Gross - (expressed in $ millions) refers to the 3-picture average of the final overseas cumulative theatrical gross.
3-Pic Opening Screens Average - refers to the 3-picture average number of screens for the first breakout theatrical weekend for each picture’s strongest territory or opening territorial group (i.e. France, Belgium and French Switzerland).
3-Pic Per-Screen Average - (expressed in $ thousands) - refers to the 3-picture opening weekend per screen average.
Recent Title in Category identifies most recent film associated with persona in this table division.

Notation

*	indicates data based on one picture; ranks both breakthrough newcomers and one-hit wonders
**	indicates data based on two pictures
*******	indicates data based on three pictures; the most reliable ranking
(A)	indicates Academy Award win within the 3-picture span
(An)	indicates Academy Award nomination within the 3-picture span
(G)	indicates Golden Globe nomination or win within the 3-picture span
(Gn)	indicates Golden Globe nomination or win within the 3-picture span
(R)	includes data from a film still in substantial theatrical release
- Can/US	indicates actor’s home base or work visa residence

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