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Who loves Nic Cage? We're not sure.

Kim Hollis: We seem to have this discussion on a biannual basis, but why is Nic Cage so inconsistent at being a box office draw?

Reagen Sulewski: He's clearly picking projects that he thinks are the most fun for him personally. Which, hey, I'd probably do as well if I was making the kind of scratch he is. They just don't match up at all with what people want to see, or are sorely lacking in the quality department. "Gritty" and "Arty" Nic Cage are just not things people care about. Broadly comic or adventuring Nic Cage... well, sign people up for that, apparently.

Max Braden: I have trouble seeing him having fun in stuff other than National Treasure, though he seems to do more of the dark action like 8MM, Ghost Rider, and Bangkok Dangerous. Keanu Reeves is kind of the same way. Maybe they should team up for a buddy comedy.

Jamie Ruccio: I'd love to know how his project-picking sessions go with his agency. Is he being pushed in a direction or is he picking these films on his own? If he is, what is his thought process? Is it a desire to do films with a particular feel that appeals to him or is a strictly practical decision to do work that he thinks may have a chance to be successful? As Max mentions, he seems to pick material that's darker in tone. Sometimes I think actors believe that darker films offer them more opportunity to delve into their craft.

Pete Kilmer: As I said in earlier, I really think Nic Cage is following the Gene Hackman model for his career. Gene at one point in the late 1980s was in EVERYTHING. Nic's doing that while he has box office clout. We also have to remember the international market for some of these guys. Movies that bomb here wind up doing really well overseas so that when it hits DVD/on demand...they're making big money at that point.

Jason Lee: I think there's an obvious answer here: we are seeing Charlie and Donald Kaufman at work here (Cage's characters from Adaptation). Charlie likes the risky, artsy, somewhat out-there films while Donald likes the commercially-viable, cookie-cutter films. I bet you guys didn't know that Adaptation was really a documentary.





Sean Collier: There are plenty of stars who can't seem to consistently pick the right project, but Cage ticks back and forth like clockwork. Perhaps his personal tastes just tend towards B-films, or perhaps he doesn't know that you're allowed to fire your agent, but this trend doesn't show signs of breaking. I'd blame the films, not the performer; Cage has never been an automatic draw, and isn't really seen as a true action star, so his films have to sink or swim on their own. Plus, his track record is starting to catch up with him; the vast majority of the coverage of Bangkok Dangerous I've seen has basically been "Hehehehehe Wicker Man." That's not going to bog down National Treasure 2, but it'll hurt a film with a title as stupid as this one.

Daron Aldridge: There is the obvious Bruckheimer excuse that people like to see him in really stylistically shot action/adventure movies but this one and Next work hard to disprove that theory. The strange thing for me is that even when actually acting with notable and acclaimed directors, like Martin Scorsese in Bringing Out the Dead, Ridley Scott in Matchstick Men or Spike Jonze in Adaptation, the films underperform at the box office. He might be crossing into the Harrison Ford territory of audiences liking him just playing a variation of himself and not stretching.

Brandon Scott: Too many movies is the easiest answer, and the correct one at that. Overexposure is the curse of the myopian. His formula should be no more than one "big" pic per 12-18 months or so and one smaller pic peppered in between. Even with that he is probably overexposed to some extent, but he is a proven capable actor and proven box office draw, so please Nicky, limit the number of pics you make, choose quality over quantity and its a win-win for everyone.

Scott Lumley: Nic subscribes to the quantity over quality theory of moviemaking. To put it more succinctly, if they offer him the part, he takes it and gets paid. If it's a hit, that's great, so long as the check clears. I find it fairly hard to slag a guy for doing what he wants to do and getting paid for it. Wouldn't a better question be "How does Nic Cage keep getting work?"

David Mumpower: The only logical inference here is that Cage's scriptwriter doesn't speak English. They pick whichever script has the best font and highest quality paper.

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