Movie Mike (3:05)
All right, we're coming off the Oscars, some big box office performances. I wanted to give you my top 10 actor power rankings right now. This was a really hard list for me to come up with because there are a lot of my favorite actors that I think deserve to be in the top 10. These are not of all time. This is right now. Who I think are the hottest, most in demand, best actors all around. How I came up with this top ten list? Hollywood impact. Had they led a movie in the last year, how well did that movie do that they led at the box office in the last year? What do they have Coming up next, cultural presence. How much are these people Googled their social media following? Just general interest in them as humans? Where does that rank, style, influence? I think that's a big part of it, at least for me. I think it is on the red carpet. Are people talking about their looks? Do they have deals with companies? Do they have campaigns where they're promoting some clothing or maybe some shoes? Overall, if they put something on, are people going to see that and think, I want to look like that person? I think about that stuff a lot. Maybe just me, but I had to include that in my power rankings list. Audience appeal. How do they do at the box office? Do their movies stream well? Do they not only appeal to me, the hyper movie nerd, but also gen pop? How much do they just appeal to the average person? If you said their name, would people walking down the street know who that is? Brand momentum was another big deal because it's not just about the greatest actors of all time. It is about who has that momentum right now. Are they coming off a big performance that made a lot of money at the box office where they just nominated or did they just win an Oscar? And what do they have coming up next that is going to charge them into the next phase of their career? Think of it as a roller coaster that momentum. And then the final thing I accounted for was just how good of an actor are they? I think that is important and that is to me, just raw and acting ability. How good are they at conveying emotion? But let's get into the list now. At number 10, I'm going with Timothee Chalamet. If I did this list last year, he probably would have ranked higher. His highest rated movie is Lady Bird. His lowest rated movie is A Rainy Day in New York. His last box office performance was about $180 million worldwide. With Marty supreme on deck, he has Dune 3 coming out later this year. He is what I still believe to be the face of young Hollywood. He has the indie cred, but also the blockbuster leads with Wonka and the Dune franchise. A couple of reasons why he has dipped in my list. It is just what he said recently that I think has changed the way that some people feel about him. Maybe it's his true self coming out a little bit. I'm not sure right now, but I really think that dinged his momentum. I think overall in maybe a month, maybe even a few or a couple of weeks at this point, people will forget about that and move on. Once the Dune trailer came out, I think a lot of people were like, well, who cares what he said? I want to see Dune. But to me it just left, at least right now, kind of a bad taste in my mouth. So that was a contributing factor of why he dipped in my ranking, but also because I don't think Marty supreme was as massive as he thought it was going to be. And he campaigned hard for that movie. He did not walk away with the Oscar win he thought he was going to get because of that, that even I thought he was the front runner going into that. And I think the movie did well with 180 million. But for somebody who I believe is in that top tier, the top 10 actors right now, I don't think that is enough to qualify him as somebody in the top five. While it did pretty well for an A24 movie, just his name alone, given the subject matter that I think some people had a hard time wanting to pay money to go see a movie about ping pong, even though I believe it is so much more than that, I think his name alone wasn't enough to bring in a mass audience to that movie. So for that reason he is just hanging in there at number 10. And there are some people right there on the bubble that I easily could have put over him. But I do think that Oscar nomination did Keep him in this top 10 and he'll probably move up. So at number 10, I have Timothy Chalamet. At number nine, Robert Downey Jr. At this point in his career, he's almost in this bubble of his own. But you forget how massively worldwide famous Robert Downey Jr. Is. His highest rated movie is Endgame. His lowest rated movie is Dolittle, which he did right after Endgame. Oh, that is hovering there in the teens. His latest box office performance with Oppenheimer making almost one big billion worldwide. And that wasn't all because of him, but I think because of that Oscar win from Oppenheimer, it really balanced him out where he's been around for so long now. And for the longest time in his comeback, we just saw him as Tony Stark and it was that role that kind of solidified him as no, I am also a really great actor on deck. He's going to be in Doomsday, which is having a massive amount of speculation and people continuously talk about that movie. He comes out at an award show and people want to see him talk about that movie. He is really leaning into the doctor Doom role, dressing in green and really teasing people on social media, creating that buzz, creating that excitement, creating what people hire Robert Downey Jr. For at this point to bring in the eyeballs. And I think it's his presence in that movie's promotion and him starring in that movie is what's going to make it a success. At the end of the day, Marvel knows they need to go back to their OG box office candy in Robert Downey Jr. So you think about his comeback in 2008. At the time he was seen as a risk to be cast as Iron Man. And then since then he has reinvented himself with that Oscar winning performance in Oppenheimer. And now I think he's only going to boost his career. And now I believe has all this momentum in 2026 leading us to Doomsday and it's going to feed directly into 2027 with Secret War. So at number nine, he's also just a really great actor. At number nine, I have Robert Downey Jr. At number eight, I have Brad Pitt. He is an OG but prove to us in F1 that he still has it in a lot of ways and being a leading man and still having that charming Brad Pitt sex appeal and also still getting the critical acclaim with F1 being nominated for best Picture. I highly believe the reason that movie was nominated was because Brad Pitt starred in this movie and his highest rated movie is Moneyball. Which is fantastic. Probably a top three baseball movie for me because I don't think anything is ever going to be Angels in the outfield. His lowest rated movie is Cool World, which I'm not sure I've even seen that movie. And in speaking about F1, that movie made $633 million worldwide at the box office. On Deck, he has the Adventures of Cliff Booth, which if you saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood back in 2019, that movie was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. This movie serves as a sequel to that movie. Quentin Tarantino is not directing it, but he did write it. And David Fincher, who did Fight Club, is the one directing this movie. It is going to be about Brad Pitt's character, Cliff Booth. I know they did kind of a teaser trailer at the super bowl and didn't really give us a whole lot. So whenever that full trailer comes out, I will throw it into the trailer park because I do think it is interesting for a Quentin Tarantino movie, even though he isn't directing it, to get a sequel because he doesn't really do too many sequels to his movies, aside from the Kill Bill franchise. So Brad Pitt has proven he is still a bankable veteran. He's also done a lot of producing now later in his career, I think even more so than Moneyball is the movie he was a producer on. 12 Years a Slave. I think that has the highest rating out of any Brad Pitt project. So at number eight, I have Brad Pitt. At number seven, I have Emma Stone, who kind of is the best of both worlds. The best of both worlds, where she can do a movie that brings in a lot of money, which she did probably more early on in her career where she was more in the romantic comedy space. And she can also do a really good art house movie where she can be really vulnerable with her characters, where she really bears it all. And what does that do? It gets her Oscar nomination after Oscar nomination. She also just seems like a genuinely nice person who cares about the craft. Somebody who to me, I feel is the hardest person to hate in Hollywood. Her highest rated movie is La La Land. Her lowest rated movie, which I will defend, by the way. Movie 43, which is a movie that came out and it features a crazy amount of actors. It doesn't have one plot, is just a bunch of random sketches that they mesh together to create a movie. It is probably my biggest guilty pleasure comedy. I don't recommend it whatsoever, but when I watched that movie, I thought it was hilarious. I don't even think it's one of those turn your brain off and just enjoy movies. It is one you really have to focus in on and know how ridiculous it is going to be but find something that you enjoy. But I don't even think it's really hard to enjoy that movie so it's a really hard sell. But it is my guilty pleasure comedy and it features Emma Stone. Her latest box office performance was a little Mid Begonia, which I loved, but it's such a hard sell and she has been working with director Yorgos Landimos for a while now with kinds of kindness and poor things. I think she is about to move on from that. Currently she is in talks to star in a romantic comedy directed by her husband called the Catch. Chris Pine is also reportedly in talks to co star in this movie and that is expected to be her next movie, but currently doesn't have anything set for release right now. But she is fresh off another Oscar nomination. Even though I thought her performance was really strong in Begonia wasn't as good as Jesse Buckley or maybe a lot of the other people in that category this year, but I still think her star is really bright right now. So at number seven I have Emma Stone. At number six, Pedro Pascal. He continues to be dominant at the box office and even though he is around in everything, I am still not sick of him. His highest rated movie is the Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which he starred in with Nicolas Cage, which I really enjoyed that movie and it kind of came out before his star really rose. So I think maybe if that movie came out now it would have a little bit more of an impact. But Nicolas Cage plays himself. There are a lot of fun references to Nicolas Cage movies and you see props that he has inside of his house but a really over the top fun time. I really enjoy the Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. If you haven't seen that one or maybe you missed it. However, his lowest rated movie is Wonder Woman 1984, which when that first came out I defended it, but looking back on it I think it was because it came out in the year in 2020 where we had no movies and I was so excited just to have anything new and that was one that I remember. We watched it at home. I was so thirsty for a new movie that I printed out a couple of tickets for Kelsey and I just to get that feeling like we were going to the theater again. So we did that. We had our snacks, we tried to make it feel like the movies as much as possible. So I think that experience was memorable about That I would even say the first 30, 40 minutes of that movie are decent. And then later it kind of falls apart. Villains, not that great. Kristen, we in that movie, not so great. And it was just such a harsh drop off from the first Wonder Woman movie, which I think really wowed a lot of people. So still not as if that's your worst movie. I don't think that is terrible. His most recent box office outing was the Fantastic Four first steps, which made about $500 million. And on deck, he has the Mandalorian and Grogu, which I really hope is good. And I know that falls into the Disney model, which I won't get into right now because I will talk about more when I break down the Moana trailer. But I just hope that it's not just the next season of the Mandalorian in movie form because I think Disney would do that. They would say, why put it out on Disney plus when we could put it out in theaters? I hope that is not the case because I really want that movie to be good. Even though the last season of the Mandalorian was pretty mid. But not only is he dominant on the big screen, the Last of Us was also really great. I still enjoyed that last season. So at number six, I have Pedro Pascal. At number five, fresh off of his Oscar win, I have Michael B. Jordan. After he won, which I was still rooting for Timothy Chalamet, but seeing him go to In n Out, take pictures with his Oscar, with his burger, all the things he said post win, I thought, man, we really picked the right person to win. The right actor won. His highest rated movie is Black Panther. His lowest rated movie is Fantastic Four. His last box office outing was sinners, making $370 million worldwide. On deck, he is going to star and direct a remake of the Thomas Crown Affair that's coming out on March 5, 2027. He is also in talks to star in a Miami Vice movie which after his Oscar win, the story came out that he was renegotiating for more money. I think he wanted like $18 million and some people were saying, you're not worth that. I think winning best actor is time to renegotiate for a movie because I think actors need to make their money, especially while they're hot. And I would probably do the same thing if I just won an Oscar and I was in talks. I don't hate him for that. Secure the bag because you don't get any money for winning an Oscar. It's nice. It's. It's Prestigious. You can brag about it to all your actor friends, but you don't win a monetary amount for that award. What you win is that credibility and that ability to raise your rate. Because if you want an Oscar winning actor in your movie, you're gonna have to pay more money because forever, you can put that on any role that you do. Oscar winning actor, best actor, Michael B. Jordan. And that goes a long way in the marketing. So I don't hate on him for that. I think he also has a lot of cultural relevance. He is a really fashionable dude. He is now in that director, movie star hybrid where he can get behind the camera, he can get in front of the camera, he can do it all. He is also so insanely talented that I realize why he won. I saw him talk about in an interview how much prep he does. He writes journals from the perspective of his characters leading all the way up to when the movie starts. So he takes the script and then he develops the backstory for his characters. Why are they the way they are? Keeps these journals and these logs about their life lives basically as them and has all these details of kind of like a roadmap that he can refer to. Of like, okay, if they did this, they probably had this going on in their life. And he knows where to pull from, why they are motivated by certain things. That is just next level, that is doing the homework. And you think about some actors who are like, man, why have I never won it? Maybe you're not trying hard enough. Maybe you need to spend some time in the prep department. For some people, it is more than just learning their lines. It is learning their character and living inside that character. Maybe not going as far as like a Daniel Day Lewis and making everybody on set call you Abraham Lincoln, but it is knowing your character, knowing the inner workings of their mind, why they are the way they are. And number five, I have Michael B. Jordan. At number four, I have Margot Robbie who has one of the highest grossing movies of the year with Wuthering Heights. And I think it is because her star power that that movie was so successful. She is a great actor and also somebody that people just can't take their eyes off of. She is so incredibly beautiful that you see her on screen and think, man, she was supposed to be a movie star. But she's also an incredibly smart businesswoman, has a amazing production company. I can't wait to see more of her work behind the camera. I know she's produced a lot of things and a lot of things coming up as a Big champion of female directors. So I can't wait for her to make her directorial debut because I feel like that is imminent. Her highest rated movie is I, Tonya and her lowest rated movie is Terminal. Her last box office performance with Withering heights made over $234 million globally. On deck, she is going to star in an Ocean's prequel, which there aren't a whole lot of details out about that right now. But I love the Ocean's franchise. Ocean's eleven. Great movie. So curious to see how they set up the beginning of that. Can't really go further into it. I think they kind of found a good stopping point. And what do you do once you reach a stopping point? You start doing prequels. And I think she is still riding off of that success of Barbie, which I credit to not only Margot Robbie, but also director Greta Gerwig for bringing back female led blockbusters. That is what a production company lucky Chap is all about. And I am all here for the rise of that. So at number four I have Margot Robbie. At number three, I have Leonardo DiCaprio. Fresh off of his nomination even though he didn't win for best Actor for One Battle After Another. That is also currently his highest rated movie ever. His lowest rated movie is critters three. I know I saw critters one, maybe saw critters two. I don't think I saw critters three with Leonardo DiCaprio in that. One Battle After Another, by the way, made $210 million at the box office. What he has coming out next is a movie called what Happens at Night, which also stars Jennifer Lawrence and is directed by Martin Scorsese. And I think that is why he is consistently in my top three at times my number one. Because he constantly puts out culturally relevant movies. And he has been a noteworthy celebrity now since the 90s. But now every single movie he does is important. And it's always with a really prestigious director like Scorsese, like Paul Thomas Anderson, like Quentin Tarantino, that it becomes even more of an event. Because those directors names alone are enough to make people want to go to the theater. But then you throw Leonardo DiCaprio with that and it becomes one of the biggest movies of the year in any given year that one of them come out oftentimes going to warrant an Oscar nomination. Because I don't think he is in the business of just making normal movies anymore where if it's not going to get him a nomination for best Actor, I don't think he's gonna do it. Maybe the last one that was kind of on the fence but still had some critical acclaim was Don't Look Up. But now I think he is just pounding away and trying to get more than one Best Actor award, which he should have. More than one. So coming off of a big movie, going into a big movie, he continues to be a name that is just right there at the top, brings in the money at the box office, brings in movies that stream really well, works with the creme de la creme when it comes to directors, and gives us great movies that are not only great in the sense like, oh, yeah, that was a really good movie that came out. They become cinematic. Not always masterpieces, but pillars of modern filmmaking that even in 20 years down the line when maybe he decides to retire, these are still going to be the building blocks of American film. And anytime he goes to an award show, you know it's going to be centered on him. You know, they're going to talk about his dating history. He continues to be a person that people are just infatuated with. Has been famous his entire Life. At number three, I have Leonardo DiCaprio. At number two, I have Zendaya, who has really risen into this top five in the last year. And I think it's because she has such a massive 2026 on deck. Her highest rated movie is Spider man, no Way Home, which I think is wild. Her lowest rated movie is Space Jam, A New Legacy. Yeah, yeah. I don't really think that was her fault. Her last box office performance was challengers, which made $96.1 million. And what really led me to put her high up in this list is I think she is about to have a banner year coming up this weekend she's going to be in a movie with Robert Pattinson, the drama, which is already creating a lot of drama. People spoiling that movie for me, I did not want to know. I didn't want to know. I tried not to click it, but it was just everywhere. And she's going to be in Spider Man, Brand New Day, which is going to be massive. Going to be in Dune 3, which is going to be massive. And then she is also going to be in the next season of Euphoria this year. I still think the only reason she's not number one is because I still think to maybe the older generation, you may still have to explain who she is, even though I think at this point should be undeniable. She is one of those celebrities that any day I go online, there's a Zendaya story. People still speculating whether her and Tom Holland are married or not. People are talking about her red carpet looks. She is constantly being spoken about and she also has this elusive movie star quality to her still where not really on social media aside from doing interviews and not even like long form podcast interviews, just red carpet interviews. But that is really the only time I see her out is when she has a movie coming out that she's promoting, which she has a lot of them coming out at any given time. But she is not somebody who puts her personal life out there and why she keeps things so secret. And I kind of like that. I don't want to know every single detail about all my movie stars. It gives them some aura, it gives them some mystery, it gives me a reason to go see them in theaters because I can't really see them anywhere else. When somebody is all over Instagram and all over TikTok, you kind of feel like you see them all the time. And I think that could be a contributing factor to why some people say why am I going to go pay to see them in theaters when I could just see them online? And even though they're promoting their things to their millions and millions of followers, does it really transfer into ticket sales? We've seen it fail with even the biggest of celebrities, but she is one of the biggest Gen Z stars. Oh man, I totally forgot the Odyssey. She's going to be in four movies this year. The drama Dune Part 3, Spider Man, Brand New Day and the Odyssey Wild. So at number two I have Zendaya. But at number one in my power rankings of actors right now, I have Ryan Gosling coming off of his highest rated movie of all time, Project Hail Mary. His lowest rated movie is a movie called Stay. Before Project Hail Mary, his last full box office run was the Fall Guy, which made about $181 million worldwide. And even when he puts out movies that don't perform well at the box office right now, I still believe that they are good movies. So I still stand by the fact that I really enjoy the Fall Guy and think it's still a great Ryan Gosling movie. On deck. He is going to be in a movie called Star Wars Starfighter where he plays a pilot who becomes entangled in a crucial mission as a new threat emerges and they find out their journey may alter the future of the Force itself as they rebuild the galaxy. So that sounds good if you're a Star wars fan. He's also going to be in a new movie directed by the Daniels, who is the directing duo behind everything, everywhere, all at once. This just came out. Everything's still under wraps, but it is expected to start filming this summer. All we know about it, it's going to be a fun sci fi action comedy with a big heart. And it should come out in theaters on November 19, 2027. Ryan Gosling, I believe, has the most momentum right now coming off of Project Hail Mary, still coming off the fall guy, coming off of Barbie. And I think he is the most prime example of balancing prestige and blockbuster era, which I think it is something we need right now. He is not only somebody who is just a really great actor pound for pound who can have chemistry with anybody, whether it's a person, whether it's a puppet, whether it's a piece of paper, whether it's a CGI character. He can have chemistry with anybody. He is so charming, so endearing. And I really love what he said recently. He said, it's not on the moviegoers to save the movie theaters. That responsibility falls on the Hollywood studios. Say louder, Ryan Gosling. Quote, six years ago, I got the manuscript for Project Hail Mary, the most ambitious thing I'll ever make. It seemed impossible, it was too good not to give it a shot. Six years later, we did it, Here we are, we're all back in theaters. It is not your job to keep them open. It is our job to make things that are worth you coming out for. That is what I'm talking about. Because I think sometimes some people, whenever they have a project fail, they blame the audience, which is the thing you can't do. And if you look at some of the most prime examples of box office hits, you talk about weapons, you talk about sinners, you talk about Project Hail Mary, you talk about Superman, things that have given people a reason to go to a theater. We have done it. You can't keep us away from a really great movie when it generates a buzz, when it generates people wanting to go experience it in theaters with the crowd. And then you try to push out something and say, you got to come watch it, you got to come support it, you got to support original movies. I do think it does fall on the filmmakers. It falls on the studios to create those moments, find those movies, find those stories, not give us the same crap anymore and think, why isn't this working? Why is nobody wanting to go to the movies? It is your job to make those things that are a spectacle because there are directors out there and studios out there that are going to do it. Christopher Nolan is going to do it. Orion Gosling is going to find a project that is going to do it. So I think he has it all. He has the qualities I want in a movie star. Seems like a great dad. Him and Eva Mendes seem like fantastic parents. I love how they found a way to make their kids a part of Project Hail Mary. He has, I believe, the best filmography. If I could only take one actor's filmography with me to a desert island, I would take Ryan Gosling and I put him at number one. Because I wanted to declare now that Ryan Gosling is my favorite actor. Because that is a question I get a lot. What's your favorite movie? What's your favorite actor? And it's always been really hard for me to have a favorite actor. But when I look back on all his movies, the Place beyond the Pines, going back to the notebook, Blade Runner, 2049, the Big Short, First man, all these movies that have been a part of my life for so long now. Drive. I didn't mention my favorite Ryan Gosling movie. He is my favorite actor and I believe the number one actor in the power rankings right now. That is my top 10 in the power rankings. Who would you put in yours? Let me know. Moviemikedmail.com or Ike Dstro on all socials. I'll come back and give my spoiler free movie review of they Will Kill youl.