Who is today's Biggest Male Star?

[Khadaji]

I was at a Dr. office and was browsing the magazines. Entertainment Weekly (I think) said that Tom Cruise is today's "Biggest Male Star." I'm not sure that he is, but I can't think of anyone else. Who would you say is?

[BabaBooey]

Probaby Jerod Mixon (http://www.forat.com/pictures/mpc/1%20Forat%20Clients%20folder/Jerod%20Mixon.jpg)

I can't imagine it being Tom Cruise, the guy's only like 5'6 160.

[middleman]

Tom Hanks?

[astorian]

Well, Tom Cruise has certainly starred in as many box office hits as anyone, over the past 20 years.

I suppose one could make a case for Tom Hanks. But most of the men who would have been considered contenders a decade ago (Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger) have faded, and haven't made a smash hit movie in quite some time.

Once you get beyond Cruise and Hanks, I don't see many contenders. You could certainly argue that there are numerous better actors! But bigger stars, in terms of box office drawing power? Nope.

Strangely enough, Adam Sandler may be #3! Like him or not (and I know many people abhor him), he's made a half dozen comedies that have broken the $100 million mark, over the past ten years. How many other actors can match that?

[jayjay]

I thought it was Kevin Dean?

Note: I can't link to a photo or bio without violating board rules, so you're gonna have to google him yourself.

[Cisco]

Johnny Depp seems to be the most popular with the ladies. Even moreso than Brad Pitt in my experience.

[Khadaji]

Tom Hanks. Good one. Yes, I agree, definitely a contender.

[MC Master of Ceremonies]

'Tis me

[Delly]

Todays Biggest Male Star?

When I read this topic, I thought you meant a fairly new actor whos making quiet a big name for himself, I immediatly thought of Orlando Bloom. Purely because he seems to be in a lot of big movies of late.

But to stick with actors were more familiar with, what about Brad Pitt? Whenever I think of Tom Cruise, I always think of him, not sure why, maybe its because of Interview with the Vampire. I thought of BP when the OP mentioned him... just to clarify.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Well, to start, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com Adam Sandler has only had five $100 million dollar comedies: 50 First Dates; Anger Management; Mr. Deeds; Big Daddy, and The Waterboy.

Jim Carrey can top that: six in the past ten years - eight if you include the two from 1994 that technically sneak in under the deadline.

Tom Hanks has seven since 1995, plus two voice only plus that 1994 technicality called Forrest Gump.

Tom Cruise - six plus Interview with the Vampire from late 1994.

Ben Afflect - six.

Mel Gibson - five plus voice in Chicken Run plus that directorial thingy.

Eddie Murphy - five plus voice in Shrek and Mulan.

Will Smith - five

So Sandler is in the top ten, but I wouldn't put him at #3.

And Tom Hanks looks like the winner.

[tracer]

RON JEREMY.

The biggest star that we're sure is male.

[jayjay]

RON JEREMY.

The biggest star that we're sure is male.

No, no, no, no...the Hedgehog only has 9-3/4. Kevin Dean has 12.

[Chronos]

I would have guessed Will Smith, but it seems from Exapno's post that he's a bit down the list. Still, "most over 100 million" seems a bit arbitrary... What if we just count total grosses from the movies?

Along those lines, though, we'd also have to divide the grosses, for multi-star movies. Otherwise, does Pirates of the Carribean, for instance, count for Bloom or Depp? And Lord of the Rings had a good half-dozen or dozen major male characters (depending on how you define "major").

[Silver Fire]

Johnny Depp seems to be the most popular with the ladies. Even moreso than Brad Pitt in my experience.
Mmm... Johnny Depp...

[Tanaqui]

I would have to go with Tom Cruise. If we're just talking about money, sure, there are probably people who have made more. But Cruise has been in the public eye, steadily churning out memorable (if not excellent) movies that have done at least OK at the box office. Look at his IMDB record.

Last Samurai, The (2003) .... Nathan Algren
Minority Report (2002) .... Detective John Anderton
Vanilla Sky (2001) .... David Aames
Mission: Impossible II (2000) .... Ethan Hunt
Magnolia (1999) .... Frank T.J. Mackey

Compare Will Smith's 5 year record:

Bad Boys II (2003) .... Detective Mike Lowrey
Men in Black II (2002) .... Agent Jay
Ali (2001) .... Cassius Clay/Cassius X/Muhammad Ali
Legend of Bagger Vance, The (2000) .... Bagger Vance
Men in Black Alien Attack (2000) .... Agent J
Wild Wild West (1999) .... Capt. James 'Jim' West

Not exactly a greatest hits list. Other actors that are generally more "comic" (Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey) are also doing pretty badly in the critical arena, which does have an effect on "Biggest Male Star," I think.

Tom Hanks is definitely a contender... I won't bother to list his filmography. But I'd say that in the end Cruise edges him out simply because Cruise is pretty and Hanks... well, he ain't. It's not fair, but that's the way life works.

Brad Pitt hasn't really made anything of note since Ocean's 11 in 2001. Troy might be a comeback for him, of course.

Johnny Depp is another serious possibility nowadays. Not only is he pretty, he's alsocritically acclaimed. However, while his record is impressive, it's not as full of blockbusters as Mr. Cruise's. At least, not until recently. And I think that to be the "biggest male star" in America, you need to demonstrate some staying power.

But of course, that's just based on my opinion of what "Biggest Male Star" means. Obviously, other folks have different ideas...

[Waenara]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Russell Crowe. I'm not sure how he's doing for box office gross or how much he's paid, but he's been in lots of popular and/or critically acclaimed movies over the last ten years or so. (L.A. Confidential, The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master & Commander).

[Headcoat]

Why are these all actors? Arent there megastars in other fields as well?

[MoodIndigo1]

Another "Mmmm... Johnny Depp"

I take it that you don't mean Kevin Dean, the jazz trumpet player?

[jayjay]

Another "Mmmm... Johnny Depp"

I take it that you don't mean Kevin Dean, the jazz trumpet player?

Not unless he has other talents as well...

[Waenara]

I googled a little and found this:

Assuming we mean top male actors, this website (http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/actors.mv?actors+ByAG) has a list of Top Actors. (or actresses)

You can sort the list by Number of films, Avg box office gross, Avg gross of movies in the 90s, since 2000, or over their last ten movies, Gross of all movies, and Number of films grossing over $100 million.

Top Ten are:
1. Orlando Bloom
2. Mark Hamill
3. Will Smith
4. Harrison Ford
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Tom Hanks
7. Mike Myers
8. Billy Dee Williams
9. Tom Cruise
10. Tim Allen

Top Ten (since 2000) are:
1. Orlando Bloom
2. Ian McKellen
3. Alan Rickman
4. Elijah Wood
5. Tom Hanks
6. Mike Myers
7. Jim Carrey
8. Tom Cruise
9. Judge Reinhold
10. Russell Crowe

Top Ten (for their last 10 movies) are:
1. Orlando Bloom
2. Tom Hanks
3. Elijah Wood
4. Will Smith
5. Bill Paxton
6. Tom Cruise
7. Jim Carrey
8. Mel Gibson
9. Tommy Lee Jones
10. Ian McKellan[/code]

[gum]

At least around here, Robert deNiro is considered the 'star'. Second place, Al Pacino. [I'm talking acting capabilities] My choice would be John Cusack and even - yes, wait for it.........- Kevin Bacon [the last one being ridiculed over the game with the same name, but a good actor nonetheless, imo]

[Charlie Tan]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Russell Crowe. I'm not sure how he's doing for box office gross or how much he's paid, but he's been in lots of popular and/or critically acclaimed movies over the last ten years or so. (L.A. Confidential, The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master & Commander).
Let's not forget that little arthouse movie Gladiator.
Also, Sam Jackson has been in a sursprisingly large number of blockbusters. Boxofficemojo.com, mentioned above has inflation adjusted gross figures listed by actors. It's interesting to note that while T Cruise is big, Harrison Ford still beats him, appearing in movies grossing over $3 bill, by that beating Cruise with about $800 million. Lest anyone think this is all Indy Jones and Han Solo, let me remind you that three of his movies in the past ten years, 'What Lies beneat, Air Force One', and in 1994, 'Clear and present danger', earned the producers around $450 mill.
Mel Gibson is up there, around the $2 bill mark and Tom hanks comes in second, squeezing by Cruise and reaching $2.7. Even Eddie Murphy passes Cruise, but his hits are mostly in the past, though he still had 6 movies grossing more than $100 mill in the last ten years, the highest grossing being Shrek. As far as I can tell, the top five are:

Harrison Ford
Tom Hanks
Eddie Murphy
Tom Cruise
Jim Carrey

Hanks has had 9 movies passing the 100 million mark in the past ten years, in fact, the only one under that mark is his own 'That thing you do' which makes him the most consistent box office draw of the lot.

[astro]

No, no, no, no...the Hedgehog only has 9-3/4. Kevin Dean has 12.


I don't think you're giving Kevin Dean enough credit. That's got to be at least a 14 incher he's got dangling here - Kevin Dean (http://www.matty-j.com/images/Kevin_Dean_and_Dan_Floundering.jpg)

[Krokodil]

Jack Nicholson should be on some of these lists.

[Estilicon]

Somewhere I read that because Jackie Chan is the biggest star in Asia, he is the biggest star in the world. If that is true, close the thread because the Estilicon has, once again, provided the answer :)

[xvxdarkknightxvx]

George Clooney is a pretty big name around Hollywood.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Just a reminder: the OP talked about Tom Cruise being today's biggest male star.

Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson and the like may have been contenders once, but for today's box office they're old news.

And Orlando Bloom will only become a star when he headlines a movie that makes over $100 million. Right now he's Tony Randall. :)

[Charlie Tan]

Just a reminder: the OP talked about Tom Cruise being today's biggest male star.

Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson and the like may have been contenders once, but for today's box office they're old news.


I agree about Bloom, but not Ford, and especially not Tom Hanks. While Ford's biggest grossing hits belong in the 80's, he's still pulled in about as much as Georgy Clooney has during the past ten years. His days as a megastar might be gone, but he's still a solid box office draw.

Orlando Bloom's only there because he's been in four of the biggest hit movies of the past five years. They were not Bloom vehicles though.

[Kaotic Newtral]

If you sort the list that Waenara provided by # of $100,000,000+ movies it comes out like this.

1 Tom Hanks 13
2 Harrison Ford 11
3 Tom Cruise 10
4 Mel Gibson 10
5 Eddie Murphy 10
6 Samuel L. Jackson 9
7 Robin Williams 8
8 Jim Carrey 8
9 Steve Buscemi 7
10 Morgan Freeman 7
11 John Travolta 7
12 Arnold Schwarzenegger 7
13 Will Smith 6
14 Tommy Lee Jones 6
15 Jack Nicholson 6

That seems like a pretty good list although Buscemi hasn't really been the Star of any movies that I can think of.

[astorian]

I wasn't ENTIRELY serious about Adam Sandler being one of the 3 biggest stars in Hollywood. I mentioned him in part to be a wiseacre and provacateur (his name seems to provoke outrage in some quarters!).

Still, it's worth noting that, like him or not, people who buy a ticket to an Adam Sandler movie are DEFINITELY paying to see Adam Sandler do his schtick. Adam Sandler is the only reason people paid to see "Big Daddy," "The Wedding Singer" and "Mr. Deeds."

Now, Will Smith has been in several very successful movies, and is an appealing actor. But is he the main reason people went to see "Independence Day"? Is Ben Affleck the primary reason people went to see "Armageddon"? Is Orlando Bloom (good-looking and talented though I agree he is) the primary reason people went to "Pirates of the Caribbean" or any of the LOTR trilogy?

No, to all those questions. Many actors who are, on the surface. more popular than Adam Sandler, have been successful only/primarily in ensemble movies or special effects-driven films, and had little or nothing to do with their films' success (Jeff Goldblum starred in two "Jurassic Park" movies and in "Independence Day"- blockbusters all, but does anyone think he's a huge star?).

For that matter, we can pose the chicken-and-egg question for most big stars. Was "Saving Private Ryan" a smash because Tom Hanks was in it? Or did Steven Spielberg simply give Hanks the lead role in a film that was sure to be a smash, with or without him? Are Tom Cruise's movies hits because people love him, or does he get a disproportionate number of good scripts in the mail because studios perceive that people love him?

Only a few actors draw big crowds on their own. Adam Sandler is one of them. Of course, MOST of those actors only draw big crowds in a particular type of film. Sandler and Jim Carrey draw huge crowds to their lowbrow comedies, but who went to see "Punch Drunk Love" or "The Majestic"? Tom Hanks is irresistibly popular in romantic comedies and quite popular in conventional action or dramatic films... but very few people want to see him as a hit man ("Road to Perdition") or a thief ("The Ladykillers"). And while people generally like Tom Cruise, they don't usually want to see him deviate from his standard persona ("Vanilla Sky" and "Eyes Wide Shut" weren't bombs, but they weren't hits, either).

Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks are pretty much the biggest male stars, in my view, because they're the actors best able to draw big crowds on their own. People will crowd theaters on the opening weekend just to see one of the Toms, even if they know little or nothing about the movie they're in. But once people catch on that Cruise or Hanks is doing something out of the ordinary, the crowds tail off quickly.

[Chronos]

Top Ten are:
1. Orlando Bloom
2. Mark Hamill
3. Will Smith
4. Harrison Ford
...OK, I can see that Mark Hamill would be up pretty high, thanks to Star Wars. But how is he two slots ahead of Harrison Ford? The original Star Wars trilogy had Han as well as Luke, and Ford went on to do a lot more afterwards. I know that Hamill is still making a respectable living doing voice work and such, but that's gotta be less than Indiana Jones and the rest.

Orlando Bloom topping the lists also illustrates what I was saying about sharing credit. He was the fourth- or fifth-biggest male character, at best, in Lord of the Rings, and the second-biggest in Pirates of the Carribean, but he hasn't been the number 1 man in anything yet (at least, not anything big).