Joesph Gordon Levitt has had an amazing run of movies.

[A Tasty Burgerr]

JGL's movies were almost always vehicles for bigger stars (or people who were bigger stars at the time):

Angels in the Outfield: Danny Glover
Halloween H20: Jamie Lee Curtis
10 Things I Hate About You: Julia Stiles/Heath Ledger

... ok, first ones were a joke, now onto his critically acclaimed shit (note: I'm skipping 500 because I hated that movie)...

Inception: Leonardo DiCaprio
50/50: Lets face it, a lot of people saw this movie because Seth Rogan was in the trailers
TDKR: Christian Bale
Looper: Bruce Willis
Lincoln: Daniel Day Lewis

Like I said, he is a very good actor and has a bright future, but I cannot give the guy too much props when he is considered the supporting actor in nearly every movie and isn't quite a "headliner" yet. I would say he has very little to no drawing power for the average movie goer, even if he does make a movie better (the exception being GI Joe, that movie sucked).



The Incredible Hulk had a $150,000,000 budget and grossed $130,000,000 in the US. That is awful and if you watch the movie, you'll know why it grossed so little. Red Dragon had a $78,000,000 budget and grossed $93,000,000 in US and Canada. Silence of the Lambs had a $13,000,000 budget and grossed $130,000,000. Hannibal had a $87,000,000 budget and grossed $165,000,000. In comparison to the other two movies of the trilogy, it was easily the worst in draw and in execution. I love Edward Norton, he is a tremendous actor, but he does have flops and doesn't have much drawing power, IMO.

It isn't really fair to ignore worldwide gross, I don't think the studio execs care where the money comes from. Hulk had a $110 mil. profit and was the #21 highest grossing movie of the year. Red Dragon made over $200 mil. on a $78 mil. budget and was #21 for the year as well, no one can complain about that.

And at this point calling Looper a Bruce Willis "vehicle" is ridiculous, people aren't seeing a movie for Bruce Willis over JGL any more unless its a Die Hard. I agree that uninformed people probably saw 50/50 more for Rogen than him, and obviously he isn't the main draw for TDKR, but he was without question the star of 50/50 and surprisingly had a ton of screen time in TDKR, almost as much as Bale or Hardy.

[EmpireWF]

If people didnt flock to Warrior, they certainly aren't going to flock to his future films.

A dissapointing performance, no doubt. The weekend it opened happened to be one of the worst attended weekends of the year and despite the cool trailer, neither Hardy or Edgerton were big stars. Looked it up and only 34% of its opening weekend ticket buyers were female. Just a storm of all bad caught up with it.

Still a great flick, though.

[Goober]

JGL was featured heavily in the marketing for TDKR.

As for Hardy, his next role after Mad Max he is signed on to star in a trilogy of films about Al Capone, playing the title role.

[Warner2BruceTD]

This is what every actor should strive to be. Fuck blockbusters, fuck making money at the box-office. Just make good movies.

I think most people who end up in Hollywood have very little interest in being actors, and just want to be stars. Acting is the vehicle.

Will Smith is not shy about saying that his career was very calculated. He sat down with his manager, and they studied what types of movies were most successful. At the time, something like 9 of the top 10 grossing films were either sci-fi or featured heavy special effects. So those were the roles they pursued. He figured the best path to superstardom was to be in the most popular movies. Look at his resume, particularly early on. Some were misses (Wild Wild West), but he clearly chased sci-fi/special effects at every turn. And it worked.

Then what happens, is these guys get tired of being questioned about their acting ability, so they leave their wheelhouse to 'prove something'. Even Sandler tried it.

It used to be, real actors acted, and niche guys stayed in the niche. Jerry Lewis was never going to make Punch Drunk Love. Vincent Price stuck to the formula.

There is no such thing as a movie star anymore. Nobody is an instant draw. You have actors who draw in the right movie, and you have niche guys who you cant seriously call classic movie stars.

[Maynard]

leave it to red to stir up some shit and then sit back with some popcorn

[DoubleDeuce]

Im calling Leaves of Grass, Pride and Glory, Down in the valley, stone, the Painted Veil. It might just be easier to say any movie hes made in the past 10 years.

The Bourne Legacy looks to be the most interesting roles hes done in the past decade aside from his great glorified cameo in Moonrise Kingdom.

Lol at it being a glorified cameo. And based upon the movies you listed, we have different opinions on the word "bust".

[Buzzman]

Are we talking money busts or movie bust? Very different things. I've enjoyed Ed Nortons movies, but by no means is he a movie star.

[DoubleDeuce]

Are we talking money busts or movie bust? Very different things. I've enjoyed Ed Nortons movies, but by no means is he a movie star.

He's my favorite actor so I wasn't actually serious when I took offense to him not being called a movie star. But I based my opinion off of both quality and performance at the box office.

I just don't consider a movie that opened as the #1 movie in America, beat expectations, received either mixed or positive reviews from most critics, and grossed $263,000,000 (even on that huge budget) a bomb. I know The Incredible Hulk was the worst of the Marvel movies, but I can't be the only one who enjoyed it.

[Buzzman]

I'm one of the few that loves Incredible Hulk. I thought the movie is #2 behind Thor in the Avenger solo films.

[Maynard]

Are we talking money busts or movie bust? Very different things. I've enjoyed Ed Nortons movies, but by no means is he a movie star.

he isnt a movie star? he has stared in some kick ass films and played some kick ass roles. not sure what you have been smoking but he is a movie star and an excellent actor

[Tailback U]

Ed Norton is a household name, therefore, he is a movie star.

People of all ages and genders know who he is and can name several movies he has starred. So quite frankly, buzz man, why don't you shut the fuck up and stop being so ignorant to talk about something you don't have a fucking clue about.

[NAHSTE]

Would you guys say thatTom Hardy has a serious leg up on JGL in terms of star power at this point?

Not at all, no. JGL has been in our collective consciousness since he was a little kid. He is far more recognizable. Hardy is still relatively unknown in terms of the genpop. He's got some nerdlove here and likely elsewhere on the internet, but uberfag fanboys like Buzzman are not representative of the entire movie-watching public.

[JeremyHight]

It isn't really fair to ignore worldwide gross, I don't think the studio execs care where the money comes from. Hulk had a $110 mil. profit and was the #21 highest grossing movie of the year. Red Dragon made over $200 mil. on a $78 mil. budget and was #21 for the year as well, no one can complain about that.

You look at the comparable movies to tell whether something is successful or not. In comparison to every other film that served as a lead-in to Avengers (Thor, Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America), the Incredible Hulk had the second highest budget and the lowest gross. In fact, it made only about 100 million world wide profit, while every other film made at least double that. When less famous characters with less famous leading actors draw significantly more money, you know the movie is a stinker. Anyone who has seen it knows how bad it was.

Same goes with the Silence of the Lambs trilogy. Red Dragon had a significantly higher budget, but made significantly less money than the two movies before it.

Again, I'm not saying he is a bad actor, I love his acting, but he isn't a draw and has starred in some bombs.

And at this point calling Looper a Bruce Willis "vehicle" is ridiculous, people aren't seeing a movie for Bruce Willis over JGL any more unless its a Die Hard. I agree that uninformed people probably saw 50/50 more for Rogen than him, and obviously he isn't the main draw for TDKR, but he was without question the star of 50/50 and surprisingly had a ton of screen time in TDKR, almost as much as Bale or Hardy.

I bet you a vast majority of people even have no clue who JGL is if you gave them his initials. If you showed them a picture, they might be able to name one of his movies or 3rd Rock from the Sun, but probably not his name. To say Looper isn't a movie where Willis is the main star is ridiculous. I like JGL, but in the grand scheme of things, he isn't a headline actor yet.

[Tailback U]

Not at all, no. JGL has been in our collective consciousness since he was a little kid. He is far more recognizable. Hardy is still relatively unknown in terms of the genpop. He's got some nerdlove here and likely elsewhere on the internet, but uberfag fanboys like Buzzman are not representative of the entire movie-watching public.

I'd say that Tom Hardy has much more potential, no doubt.

He is a much stronger and more intimidating actor. He's been in some very good movies and always puts in a strong performance and I think he is going to improve with bigger and better roles.

But at this point, no he is not, and not by a long shot. Not by name recognition. But I'd argue to say he is just as good of an actor, if not better, and has been in just as many good movies.

[red33]

I don't think anyone dislikes JGL, just taking issue with stuff like Inception and Dark Knight Rises being listed as part of his "run" of movies, as if he directly impacted the success of either film.

Recently, the movies in which he has had a secondary role have been well received and hugely popular and the ones in which he has had a primary role have been generally well received but only moderately popular.

That is an "amazing run"?

yea what does it matter how big his role was? i know he wasnt the lead but still every character i thought was great. its not like he was an extra or something.

im not saying hes the best or should be, i was just commenting how the past few years seems like every movie hes in is a great movie.