Will Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie divorce affect their careers?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were Hollywood's power couple. Brangelina to millions of their fans, the couple is getting divorced and it seems like an ugly fight is in the offing. Will the film affect their star power as well as their box office prospects? Experts think their personal lives will have no effect on their careers. In fact, Brad and Angelina's film together, By The Sea, didn't just flop at the box office, it was a flat out rejection. The film made a mere $538,000 in the US. This was a shock for Hollywood as how could a movie starring the modern king and queen of Hollywood, Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt, make so less when they earned $14 million for selling baby photos.

That's the paradox of this movie star couple. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's star power has always been mightier than their box office power, whether together on screen or apart. And that's not likely to change, now that they're divorcing. "There really is no quantifiable effect that I can see that this would have on their careers or their star power,'' says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore told Reuters. "No matter what movies Brad and Angelina are in, they will always be movie stars. That's just who they are. That's their persona. But I don't think there is anyone who makes a determination whether or not to buy a movie ticket based on the personal life of a star.''

The promise of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was somewhat of a false indicator for Pitt and Jolie Pitt. Sure, it was the movie that ignited one of the most observed Hollywood relationships of all time, amassing a cool $186.3 million in the US in 2005, but it wasn't a sign of things to come.

Costing $10 million to make, By the Sea debuted in limited release in November of 2015, already hampered by negative reviews, and sank nearly immediately. It stayed in theaters for only a few weeks, never going over 200 screens. In its final day, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie film averaged $52 per screen.

For the moment, future projects are likely getting a boost in buzz because of the divorce. Paramount Pictures, the studio releasing Brad Pitt's upcoming WWII film Allied, pushed out a new trailer just a few hours after news broke on Tuesday of the divorce. Pitt stars with Marion Cotillard in the film. Speculation said Cotillard and Pitt's affair forced Jolie to call it quits. Cotillard has denied allegations.

"In the case of Allied, it actually enhances its box office potential because a lot of people who are hearing about the divorce in the mainstream press may never have heard about that movie before. Now it's on their radar,'' said Dergarabedian. But, he says, that might only be temporary too as the film doesn't bow until November when the divorce will be old news.

As with before their relationship, during, and after, it will come down to the quality of the movies they choose.