Or okay, not the same, but with radically smaller differences, anyway, without much concern for either the true merit (to the extent this can ever be objectively measured, as Cannoli pointed out) or the 'box office draw' factor of the famous actors or directors involved.

It's not just producers and directors who live and die by how much money their movies make. Actors can maybe survive one or two flops if they're big enough, but it won't last long. I never denied that there's a large degree of arbitrariness and luck in who becomes a big star and who doesn't. But as I keep saying, Hollywood is very capitalist and, for a certain cynical interpretation of the word, 'meritocratic' in the way it lavishly rewards people who manage to bring in the big box office numbers, for whatever reason, and harshly punishes those who fail.