A ''BIG name'' or even an Oscar winner is no guarantee a film will make a lot of money, or even get a worldwide cinematic release.
Proof of this could be found in three recent releases by actors one would assume were included in Hollywood's A-list of top billing stars.
Tim Robbins is arguably the hottest young actor at the moment, given the heat generated by The Player 's recent Oscar nominations. That film had a brief run in Hongkong cinemas, but Robbins' latest, Bob Roberts (1992, Columbia Tristar, 100 minutes), is not going to get off the video shelves.
Robbins starred in, wrote and directed this satire on the US political system, which comes across as a cross between a circus and a quagmire of corruption. Robbins plays a scheming, ambitious senatorial candidate with his eyes fixed firmly on the White House, a man with a penchant for speeches about ''the man in the street'' and whipping out his guitar to play abominable country tunes.
Hollywood is simply too big and unwieldy to make this kind of ''art house'' film, and the production smacks of pretentiousness.
Robbins is little more than a clever and cleverly-managed average actor who does not have the charisma or the looks of a Tom Cruise to survive outside the realm of films like Bob Roberts.