Poker Movies

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It seems the harder I look the more I realize that poker movies of young and old have somewhat been a failure in the filming industry, being less then popular. The industry seems to have made very little money over recent movies Deal (2008) and also Lucky You (2007). Most full time poker  players know of these movies but for someone who is not in the poker industry remembering these as poker movies is a very daunting task. One of my dear friends is a real movie buff and even he doesn't know of them or has them in his more then massive sized collection. Can one assume that it is because the movies are about poker which has a limited audience that's interested?

After reading a lot of articles on poker movie reviews and the filming industry I ended up with the conclusion that not all poker movies to date have been complete failures. Maverick (1994), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Casino Royal (1967) were fairly big hits in the filming industry. The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and also Vegas Vacation (1997) prove that there are some known poker based movies out there. These poker based or related films had a fair amount of popularity amongst people who do not play poker. Even though these movies are not as commonly talked about in the poker industry they were more well known then the others outside of it. The reason for this I analyzed were the actors and actresses in the movies. Let's face it, everyone knows who Nicole Kidman is right? They also know the name James Bond! The more well known the actors and actresses, the more it seems the movies popularity increases and the more money it makes. This means that the poker content has absolutely nothing to do with a poker movies popularity.
There have been some real poker movie flop's. There have been some movies that slipped my mind. Could it be the case that poker movies such as Run (1991), Five Car Stud (1968) and High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003) could be box office hit's (or could have been) if only the producers had placed different actors and actresses in them? Surely even the poker movie The Gambler (1974) would rock this world if it is reproduced but with the more famous actors of our time.
Nicole Gordon states in an article she wrote in October of 2008 titled Why Poker Movies Have Failed... Thus Far states “If a movie is good, people more often than not tend to see it. It doesn’t matter if it’s about poker, the apocalypse, or hot-air ballooning. If Lucky You was good, even a little bit good, I truly believe it could have found some sort of audience”.
Do you think Men in Black as an example of a box office hit movie would have been just that (a box office hit) without Will Smith in it? To look at another point that makes her statement and article impartial is to look at a poker movie failure and change the actors and actresses. If Lucky You had actors more famous then Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore acting in it – do you not think it would have been more of a success. Let's say we replaced Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore with Will Smith and Angeline Jolie – fanatics would flock to see it! Suddenly lucky you wouldn't be so bad after all!
I will leave it up to you to make your final decision on whether I am right or wrong . Maybe Jolie and Smith wouldn't be the perfect choice as actress and actor couple in lucky you. They sure would make a difference in my opinion and make it a great poker movie to watch.