Who are the biggest movie stars today?

[RecoveringJournalist]

I saw something that indicated they biggest movie stars (meaning ability to deliver at the box office) are Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy.

Tammy is projecting to make $30-$40 million over the July 4th weekend, which is pretty damn good for a comedy. If that gets to $100 million, it will be the third straight movie McCarthy has starred in to go over the $100 million mark. It would be fourth if you count Bridesmaids, but that was a supporting role, so it shouldn't count.

Hart seems on his way for his second $100 million movie of the year with Think Like a Man 2 and Ride Along.

It seems insane, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Respect to McCarthy for making money and doing it in Hollywood on her own terms.

 

[nmmetsfan]

She's the female Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Plays the same character over and over.

 

[BTExpress]

She's the female Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Plays the same character over and over.

I always considered Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston examples 1A and 1B of this, with Vaughn's 40-year-old going on 19 especially annoying.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

They say the sign of a true movie star is one who can make a lot money with a bad movie. Sandler would be the ultimate example of this, although not with his latest.

The Heat was pretty good. I have no idea how Tammy will be. Identity Thief was pretty bad and it made a ****load of money.

I like McCarthy a lot and hope she continues to do well.

Same thing with Kevin Hart. Ride Along was colossally mediocre and it made a ton of money. I'm sure being released in January helped, but it's really impressive when movies made as inexpensively as Ride Along and Think Like a man are pushing and exceeding $100 million.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

She's the female Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Plays the same character over and over.

I always considered Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston examples 1A and 1B of this, with Vaughn's 40-year-old going on 19 especially annoying.

Aniston is usually terrible. She's been in a few hits that had almost nothing to do with her being in it (Bruce Almighty, Marley and Me...) The Break-Up did well at the Box Office, but was pretty bad.

"We're the Millers" was freaking awesome though and she was great in it.

 

[heyabbott]

She's the female Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Plays the same character over and over.

big difference, Ferrell is funny

 

[PCLoadLetter]

They say the sign of a true movie star is one who can make a lot money with a bad movie. Sandler would be the ultimate example of this, although not with his latest.

The Heat was pretty good. I have no idea how Tammy will be. Identity Thief was pretty bad and it made a ****load of money.

I like McCarthy a lot and hope she continues to do well.

Same thing with Kevin Hart. Ride Along was colossally mediocre and it made a ton of money. I'm sure being released in January helped, but it's really impressive when movies made as inexpensively as Ride Along and Think Like a man are pushing and exceeding $100 million.

If the previews are any indication, "Tammy" is a giant, steaming pile of ****.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

They say the sign of a true movie star is one who can make a lot money with a bad movie. Sandler would be the ultimate example of this, although not with his latest.

The Heat was pretty good. I have no idea how Tammy will be. Identity Thief was pretty bad and it made a ****load of money.

I like McCarthy a lot and hope she continues to do well.

Same thing with Kevin Hart. Ride Along was colossally mediocre and it made a ton of money. I'm sure being released in January helped, but it's really impressive when movies made as inexpensively as Ride Along and Think Like a man are pushing and exceeding $100 million.

If the previews are any indication, "Tammy" is a giant, steaming pile of ****.

It's definitely not on my must-see list.

But it's doing pretty well at the box office, which tells you how much pull McCarthy has, especially in one of the most competitive movie weekends of the year.

 

[Spartan Squad]

Has to be Jennifer Lawrence right now. Her body of work includes some of the biggest blockbusters in the past 3-to-4 years (X-men First Class and the Hunger Games), has produced an Oscar (Silver Linings) and produced serious Oscar buzz (American Hustle). Is she in for the long haul? Doubt it. As she gets older, I bet Hollywood goes to the next young beauty, but for now, she's doing alright.

(Edit: I thought X-Men: First Class came out further back than it did).

 

[Pilot]

Has to be Jennifer Lawrence right now. Her body of work includes some of the biggest blockbusters in the past 5 years (X-men First Class and the Hunger Games), has produced an Oscar (Silver Linings) and produced serious Oscar buzz (American Hustle). Is she in for the long haul? Doubt it. As she gets older, I bet Hollywood goes to the next young beauty, but for now, she's doing alright.

Yeah, but I think there's a difference. Something like Hunger Games certainly wasn't designed for Lawrence. She shined in it, but others could have, as well, and few probably went to see it because of her. (She added credibility, which I'm sure helped, but again, theaters would have been packed for that movie no matter who was in it.)

McCarthy is taking some **** movies designed especially for her and making money, which says something, I think.

I like her, too. I hope she picks (or gets the chance to pick) better roles because the "fat, crude slob" role doesn't do much for me.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Jack Nicholson played himself for years and Morgan Freeman is now well into that territory.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Going by numbers, Christian Bale and Robert Downey Jr should be the biggest stars in Hollywood. Three Batman films with two making more than a billion. Four films with Iron man, two making more than a billion. But they're pre-established franchises. Would people have flocked to them with other actors in those roles? Probably.

Times are different, a far cry from when Schwarzenegger could play an original character and still make money. And how many non-movie buffs could name Schwarzengger films? They'll get Terminator, Conan, Predator, Total Recall. But aside from Terminator and Conan, can they recall the name of the characters he's played? John Matrix? Dutch? Quaid?

We're in an age where the characters are the star. Look how the human chacters could be swapped out of Transformers and the franchise still rakes in more than $100 million in its opening. Anyone can be in these movies.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Has to be Jennifer Lawrence right now. Her body of work includes some of the biggest blockbusters in the past 5 years (X-men First Class and the Hunger Games), has produced an Oscar (Silver Linings) and produced serious Oscar buzz (American Hustle). Is she in for the long haul? Doubt it. As she gets older, I bet Hollywood goes to the next young beauty, but for now, she's doing alright.

Yeah, but I think there's a difference. Something like Hunger Games certainly wasn't designed for Lawrence. She shined in it, but others could have, as well, and few probably went to see it because of her. (She added credibility, which I'm sure helped, but again, theaters would have been packed for that movie no matter who was in it.)

McCarthy is taking some **** movies designed especially for her and making money, which says something, I think.

I like her, too. I hope she picks (or gets the chance to pick) better roles because the "fat, crude slob" role doesn't do much for me.

Yeah, I like Lawrence a lot and think she's amazingly talented, but you could swap her and Shailene Woodley in most of those (X-Men, Hunger games) parts and there wouldn't be much difference. I'm not sure the same could be said about Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.

McCarthy wrote Tammy. Considering the reviews, I'm not sure that's a good thing, but it shows that she's at the level where she can go to a studio and say, "I wrote this, I want my husband to direct." and get it greenlit and have it make money.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I think Downey and Lawrence is probably the closest to the correct answer, if there is such a thing.

I think Downey deserves more credit for the financial success of the Iron Man series than Bale does for Batman. Bale was great in those movies, but Batman was a much easier sell than Iron Man, which was not nearly as mainstream as Batman.

I think people can imagine someone else being Batman. I don't think people can imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark.

 

[BDC99]

They say the sign of a true movie star is one who can make a lot money with a bad movie. Sandler would be the ultimate example of this, although not with his latest.

The Heat was pretty good. I have no idea how Tammy will be. Identity Thief was pretty bad and it made a ****load of money.

I like McCarthy a lot and hope she continues to do well.

Same thing with Kevin Hart. Ride Along was colossally mediocre and it made a ton of money. I'm sure being released in January helped, but it's really impressive when movies made as inexpensively as Ride Along and Think Like a man are pushing and exceeding $100 million.

If the previews are any indication, "Tammy" is a giant, steaming pile of ****.

Will have to see, but the reviews are tearing it apart. I have no desire whatsoever to see Tammy or Think Like a Man Too. I like Kevin Hart, but not in the movies for some reason.

 

[Pilot]

I think Downey and Lawrence is probably the closest to the correct answer, if there is such a thing.

I think Downey deserves more credit for the financial success of the Iron Man series than Bale does for Batman. Bale was great in those movies, but Batman was a much easier sell than Iron Man, which was not nearly as mainstream as Batman.

I think people can imagine someone else being Batman. I don't think people can imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark.

Great point. I don't think Lawrence is as important to Hunger Games as Downey is to Iron Man, though, so that's why I discount her "star appeal" a little bit. She's obviously really, really big, but I'm not sure she's huge. I'd be surprised to see her star in a money-making movie that was significant only because she was the lead, as is the case with McCarthy.

 

[BDC99]

I think Downey and Lawrence is probably the closest to the correct answer, if there is such a thing.

I think Downey deserves more credit for the financial success of the Iron Man series than Bale does for Batman. Bale was great in those movies, but Batman was a much easier sell than Iron Man, which was not nearly as mainstream as Batman.

I think people can imagine someone else being Batman. I don't think people can imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark.

Nah. Someone else likely WILL play Tony Stark, and then we will just argue about who did it better. Was a time when nobody could see anyone playing James Bond other than Roger Moore ... or Sean Connery ... or George Lazenby ... But I would probably go with Lawrence and I guess Downey. How amazing is that? And now his son is dealing with the same demons. Sure hope Downey can keep it straight.

 

[Buck]

Lawrence had two Oscar nominations (lead and supporting) and an Oscar win (lead).
Plus she's been in some blockbusters. I'd say it's her.

 

[outofplace]

Going by numbers, Christian Bale and Robert Downey Jr should be the biggest stars in Hollywood. Three Batman films with two making more than a billion. Four films with Iron man, two making more than a billion. But they're pre-established franchises. Would people have flocked to them with other actors in those roles? Probably.

Times are different, a far cry from when Schwarzenegger could play an original character and still make money. And how many non-movie buffs could name Schwarzengger films? They'll get Terminator, Conan, Predator, Total Recall. But aside from Terminator and Conan, can they recall the name of the characters he's played? John Matrix? Dutch? Quaid?

We're in an age where the characters are the star. Look how the human chacters could be swapped out of Transformers and the franchise still rakes in more than $100 million in its opening. Anyone can be in these movies.

Iron Man was not a pre-established franchise. It was a second-tier comic book character and far from a sure thing. Downey was a perfect bit of casting and he made that movie work, helping pave the way for Marvel Studios.