Even in The Departed, he was clearly behind Dicaprio, Whalberg, and Nicholson. He played the rat & yet he was the most forgettable character in the film. Hell even Martin Sheen was better than him.

At the time, I was PISSED they went with Aaron Eckhart over Matt Damon (who later said he wasn't opted over rather he turned down the role) for Harvey Dent, but looking back...Damon would have sucked. Aside from the fact that AE killed it.

Only in Bourne...

Well that's your opinion, but he was #2 for me behind DiCaprio. Nicholson was third and Wahlberg was pretty much a guest star.

misspelling

Excel do you think Mark Wahlberg is a draw?

Clooney's films have done worse than Damon. He has never had a 200 million hit and has only had 4 100 million dollar films. In the case of both, they take a lot of risks. Movies like the Informant or the Green Zone wouldn't be hits even if Johnny Depp or Will Smith were in them.

I'm not sure I'd call Damon a draw per-se. I don't feel like people are interested in him as they are in Depp for instance, but somehow he picks right projects and ends up having a lot of successful movies. It's actually a great question, but I wouldn't know where to start answering it. I just know my answer would be - no.

It should be noted that it's silly to ask whether any actor is "a draw". There's always going to be at least a few people who will see a film because a given actor is in it and would not see the film otherwise.

Thus, all actors are draws. The only question is how big a draw are they.

Rule of thumb: they don't pay actors 7 and 8 digits sums for a film for not being draws.

Another movie that I remember was The Adjustment Bureau which was completely sold on Damon's name. I actually went to see that movie because of Damon but also because overall the movie looked good. If it was the same movie and some other actor maybe even Will Smith then it would have been 50/50 for me.

Wahlberg has more personality than Damon for sure. He is a bigger draw, though I wouldn't call him a "draw" really. He picks great projects.

Contraband with Jason Statham opens under $12M. That should be the constant for action movie stars.

The B.O difference between Bourne 3 and Bourne 4 says a lot about this. Even if Ranner would have played the exact same character of Jason Bourne in the sequel, there would have still been a 100 million drop domestically.

So yes, Damon is a draw.

Next year he will probably have a 150+ million hit with Elysium. Judging by the plot and the photos, the film is playing up heavily on Damon's ability to play a tormented, conflicted, everyman badass. Which is what he did in Bourne. A lot of the other stars mentioned in this thread wouldn't fit that kind of a role even nearly as well.

Yes, the context of the role and the movie matters. Not every star can play every role, with equal appeal to audiences.

Matt might not have obvious, larger than life movie star charisma. But that's the point - Audiences like him because of his everyman quality. That's why Bourne movies worked. There are always everyman movie stars, a lot of the biggest stars of all time have been like that.

One could argue draw has a lot to do with reliability. People can say they don't see the Ocean's Films, Bourne Films, Saving Private Ryan, ect because of him. But he is a reliable name that usually surrounds himself with a great deal of talent, and the movies he appears in are usually crowd pleasing.

His reliability is what makes him a draw. He's not a huge "draw" by any means, but he is very well respected in hollywood and by moviegoers. So people tend to see and like the films he is in.

Update
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=mattdamon.htm

No, not exactly

Ahead of my time as always, no doubt

Damon is one of the many A list actors who aren't draws because they don't have a brand built around them. It's not just that people like The Rock but that there's such thing as a The Rock style of movie and genre that's his wheelhouse in action comedy. Same goes for Sandler and Ferrell in their best days. Everyone knows what an "Adam Sandler movie" feels like. There isn't really a Damon style of movie. I guess it's difficult with actors who are interested in artistic credibility and don't want to be typecast. Clooney's career could've been full of mainstream roles as this slicked back big shot, heist movies, Bond-esque roles, etc. and built a style of movie that's unique to him, but instead he tried to convince people he's a better actor or director than he is. Same reason they can't find the next Meg Ryan to be a romantic comedy superstar anymore since Emma Stone is too busy getting Oscar nominations to make a bunch of middle tier romcoms, and her and Ryan Gosling despite having chemistry in 2 films so far probably aren't going to go make a mainstream Runaway Bride type of movie to cash in on it

If you're going to say his last 3 films prove he's not a draw, ignoring The Martian and 20 previous years of diverse success, that's obvious cherry picking.

You have to be willing to say that a no name actor in those roles, all else being equal, would have produced the same amount of box office.

Suburbicon was an obvious flop. Downsizing should have been a big hit though. It’s flown so far under the radar that nobody has even asked what went wrong?

Downsizing would have been a box office smash ten years ago when high concept fantasy comedies were doing well regularly (Bruce Almighty, Click, Night at the Museum, etc) but I think it missed the zeitgeist now. The movie was marketed about people coming to terms with having less in life...that's the exact opposite of what's going on in our society now. People are angry at how their country is changing and feel they are being forced to be happy with less (opportunities, money relative to costs, stability, historical and cultural continuity, etc). If it had been called 'Upsizing' about people becoming giants it would have done better.

It's similar to when Collateral Beauty with Will Smith got drowned out by Star Wars. Big Star, check. Depressing title, check. Star Wars competition, check. During the holidays people usually crave more fun, fantastical stuff.

That's particularly true.

It's been all downhill since they angered the pun gods by not calling it Bourne Again

I quite like Damon, but he's been saying a lot of daft things these days.

Anyway, Collateral Beauty, isn't that fantastical as well? Or at least the trailer was.

Downsizing is also in the vein of Bruce Almighty/Night at the Museum fantastical.

There's big/funny/epic/simple fantastical that's easier to gather the in-laws for and then there's quirky/dramatic/symbolic fantastical where those fall more and people can view them more in their usual circles or on their own.