Walken is great, but I'd never see a movie just because of him. C'mon, he was in Gigli and Kangaroo Jack!

After that music video with him dancing, he's an acting god to me.

Hahaha, yeah, that was classic. =D>

Hmm, well one thing that is quite clear to me, in all this arguing over particular draws, is that there aren't as many bankable people as there used to be, especially females.

Times change. Back in the 80s, stars like Arnie and Sly would be the surest box-office bets around, while Julia Roberts could turn pretty much every single movie into a big hit in the mid/late-90s.

The only females I consider draws as of now are Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman. Maybe Jodie Foster as well, I'll reserve my judgement till Flight Plan.

I think that does two might be dieing somewhat.

Well, I need another movie headlined by Roberts to tell again, but her major past two ones, Mona Lisa Smile and American Sweethearts at least made over $60 million. As a matter of fact, however, she is definitely not as big as she used to be once.

I don't think Kidman's drawing power is dying. I mean, Birth aside, she has had three $20+ million openings in a row: The Stepford Wives, Bewitched and The Interpreter. These three made around $60 million or more. She's consistent when she doesn't go for risky projects (The Human Stain, Birth). Cold Mountain and The Others were quite solid hits as well.

True, but they aren't as big as they use to be esp Julia.

Biggest Draws (90% of the time they will take a movie past 100 million):

Tom Cruise - Biggest draw in Hollywood. I still don't think him going crazy has affected his draw at all.
Will Smith - Can open anything (action, drama, comedy), and one of his only flops (Ali) got him an oscar nomination so it doesn't count.
Tom Hanks - Two years ago would have easily been number 1 on the list, but The Terminal and Ladykillers really took him down a notch. Da Vinci Code next year will bring him back.
Jim Carrey (comedy only) - When he does a pure comedy these days it is guaranteed to make 100 million. If it is slapstick comedy like Liar Liar or Bruce Almighty, then it is all but guaranteed 150 million.
Adam Sandler (comedy only)- Little Nicky hurt him a little, but outside of that bomb, he is the biggest comedy draw there is this side of Jim Carrey. When you can get crappy movies 50 First Dates and Mr. Deeds past 100 million you know you are a draw.

Draws (Will always make a profit in their movies, but not guaranteed 100 million):

Ben Stiller - Has had his mega hits with Something about Mary and Meet the Parents, but he is mostly a 80 million gross for a 20 million movie type of guy. But he does it better than anyone.
Will Ferrel - Outside of Elf has never broken 100 million. But when he makes a 20 million comedy he makes a great profit just about every time.

Becoming Draws (Are on an upswing and could one day get to the higher tiers):

Vince Vaughn - Already made a thread about it, so you can check it there.
Orlando Bloom - Not sure if he is a draw or not, but has had very good early success, time will tell.

That is all I have right now off the top of my head, but I will add people as I remember them.

I think if you have Ferrell up there, you should at least have Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez up there as well.

Also, I believe that with KOH, his first stand-alone role, Orlando Bloom has proven that he is not a draw.

As I said I was only doing it off of the top of my head.

He very well may not be a draw, but he has been in way too many successful movies for me to not put him on the not sure of list.

WILL SMITH IS NOT A DRAW. PERIOD. Yes, Hitch was a hit. But then so was My Big Fat Greek Wedding and What Women Want. So why isn't Mel Gibson and Nia Vardalos on your list? If Will Smith was such a draw, then his good acting (which got him nominated) in Ali would have at least got it to $80 million but it stopped at a whopping $58 million. Tom Cruise however can make almost any movie hit $100 million. For example: Cameron Crowe never has a $100 million film unless Cruise stars in it. Singles and Say Anything were in enough theaters to hit at least $60 million and Almost Famous was almost in as many theaters as Jerry Maguire, yet only Vanilla Sky and Jerry Maguire of his has hit $100 million. Could Will Smith do that? No. He failed with Ali and Bagger Vance, thus proving he can only real big is if he is in a big action movie which will OBVIOUSLY open big! Do you think ID4 opened big because of Smith or Pullman or the action? Exactly. Another example of Tom's box office draw is Collateral. No other Michael Mann movie has hit $100 million, yet when Tom Cruise stars in Collateral he gets a $100 million movie. I could say the same for Edward Zick as well because his last 3 movies before The Last Samurai were in enough theaters to hit AT LEAST $80 million. But yet here comes a Tom Cruise movie he directed and BAM passes $100 million, and doing $450 million worldwide! Can Will Smith do that? No. He can only open big action movies (which aren't because of him!). So Tom Cruise is the top box office draw next to Tom Hanks PERIOD. And Will Smith isn't one... yet. Wild Wild West FLOPPED even after 4 straight action hits from Smith before it! So can anyone explain why it flopped? Is it because Smith isn't true drawing power? Some people will say because it sucked well people say MIB2, Bad Boys 2 and I, Robot sucked yet they all did better. Fact of the matter is Smith can't open a movie unless it has good marketing, release date and action!

You know, there is no need to read the rest of the paragraph since that sentence is already laughable enough

Star Wars, lay off the crack. It's not good for you.



There's a difference between a star in one hit movie versus 11.



Yeah, because an oscar nomination guarantees $80+ million in the box-office. Not even a win; all you need is a nomination...

CRACK.



Seriously, what the hell are you smokin'? That same logic can apply to Will Smith, or almost any actor for that matter. Alex Proyas only had one movie to gross over $50 million in the box office; I, Robot, which made $144 million. Barry Sonnenfeld has only had three movies to make over $100 million; two of which were Will Smith movies (MIB and MIB2), while the third is Addam's Family Values. Roland Emmerich has had many hits, but only one movie of his made over $200 million; Indepedence Day, which made over $300 million.

So, don't use that bullshit reasoning because it can apply to just about everyone. You have no proof that Cruise is responsible for those movies making $100 million.



Yeah, obviously. The Island, Stealth, XXX2. Don't even talk about quality here. Action movies don't obviously open big. There's certain things required, and one would be a bankable star in most occasions, being Will Smith.



Who says that Bad Boys 2 and I, Robot sucked? You? You really have no idea, do you...



Hitch? Hello?

What you've basically proven is that you have no idea. None of your reasons are good, as they can basically apply to any actor who has starred in a film directed by someone with little to no hits. If Tom Cruise is so big, than how come his sci/fi movie, Minority Report, didn't beat I, Robot? Minority Report even had the Spielberg name attached to it, which is quite bankable, yet it fell short by a good $12 million. If Tom Cruise is so much bigger than Smith, how come his alien movie, War of the Worlds, didn't beat Smith's alien movie, Independence Day? Once again, the Spielberg name attached, yet it can't even pass Roland Emmerich's bad name.

Why do I even bother? You'll just respond with stupid reasoning, and this will go back and forth until morning.

Zing...just don't bother.


Also, Mel Gibson would probably be on many lists if he actually starred in a single movie in the past three years. He used to be a huge pull, though.

Imagine how big of a bomb a Spielberg/Will Smith movie would be. It's a well known fact that they both are box office poison.

Star Wars, seriously, whether you like him or not, there is no denying that Will Smith is arguably the biggest BO draw right now. If Cruise was the lead in Hitch, I really don't think it would have grossed as much. Wild Wild West flopped? Do you know how much it made? Hardly a "flop".

Ignorance makes me annoyed, especially at 4:30AM.

I honestly don't see how anyone could think that Will Smith isn't the biggest box office draw around right now. Honestly, is there any other actor or actress alive that could open nearly every single movie they're in to over 40 million? The last five movies the guy has done, be it a romantic comedy, a hard R action movie, or a CGI kids movie, have all consistently opened between 43-52 million. The guy has a huge amount of appeal to audiences of all ages, genders, and races. He's genuinely charming and has proven himself as a damn good actor to boot. I don't think that there's anyone that compares, but Adam Sandler would probably come in at second as long as he's in one of his usual comedies and not a small quirky movie or a dramedy that looked excessively bland. He's also had a huge amount of openings at 38 million or higher. Of the ten movies he's released in the past eight years, six have opened between 37 and 47 million. Of the four that didn't, one was animated, one was a small independent film, and one was a very against type dramedy. The only bomb he's had with the same formula was Little Nicky. That's a damn strong track record, and if he could successfully branch out I think he could be close to Smith's starpower.