
He even leveraged that stardom, alongside the entire cast of the Guardians films, into pressuring Disney into rehiring James Gunn as director of the forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. And he’s pretty much kept that perch despite misfires like 2016’s ill-conceived sci-fi romance, Passengers, and the ire of social media.
#Uncharted movie cast movie#
Pratt instantaneously cemented himself as an A-list movie star with the one-two punch (or three if you’re also keen to include his vocal work in The Lego Movie). And perhaps tellingly, as with Downey’s first success in Sherlock Holmes it came back-to-back with his Marvel stardom. Probably the most successful attempt to launch a second leading man franchise outside the auspices of the MCU has been Chris Pratt’s success with the Jurassic World movies. However, Downey is doing just fine as he partners with an old rival of the Marvel method for his next movie: Christopher Nolan. The infamous box office bomb and critical disaster worked even less well. The following year he attempted a second franchise that was again away from Marvel via Dolittle.

In fact, after Downey’s attempt at doing an old fashioned middle-budget drama likewise failed to bring in an old school large audience via The Judge in 2014, Downey pivoted to doing exclusively Marvel movies for the rest of the decade, finally retiring from the Iron Man role in 2019. and Downey (although a threequel is still allegedly in development). Yet when the immediately fast-tracked Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) failed to substantially grow the audience-it grossed only $19 million more despite costing an estimated extra $35 million-the franchise fell by the wayside for Warner Bros. It also was a respectable hit for the late 2000s, earning $500 million at the global box office in spite of mixed-to-positive reviews. With as much in common with James Bond movies as 19th century detective novellas, 2009’s Sherlock Holmes is an exercise in all steampunk style over substance with Downey’s Sherlock being aggressively fisticuff-focused and committed to the art of the one-liner. Indeed, Tony was the centerpiece of the first Avengers movie in 2012, which was also the first Marvel movie to cross $1 billion and afterward his appearances in not only Iron Man 3 (2013) but also Captain America: Civil War (2016) made those the first “solo” Marvel movies to also cross $1 billion each.īefore any of those latter efforts though, Downey cashed in on his newfound movie stardom immediately after the first Iron Man by leading Guy Ritchie’s revisionist and Hollywoodized take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Downey’s interpretation of Tony Stark was so winning that it even became the first character to demonstrably prove a rising tide lifts all boats. As the brilliant talent who imbued life into the whole Marvel project with an improvisational injection of humor and wit in Iron Man, it can be argued Downey gave voice and shape to the whole Marvel Studios formula that followed. Perhaps one of the simultaneously both successful and more muted attempts to escape Marvel’s snug box office armor is from the biggest star the MCU ever minted: Robert Downey Jr. We’re here to look at both the most and least successful attempts to step outside of Marvel’s shadow.

And this weekend’s Uncharted is nothing if not a chance for Holland to prove audiences love to see him in more than just a red and blue onesie.Īt various times most Marvel actors have tried to launch a second franchise, some to success and others to painful derision. It is, after all, good business to diversify your image, particularly if one is in need of proving their movie star bonafides. Nevertheless, it’s worth considering that many Marvel Studios leading men and women have attempted to step away from the secure, yet also form-fittingly tight image of the Marvel logo. “Maybe what’s best for Spider-Man is that they do a Miles Morales film… if I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.” Holland turns 26 in June.Īdmittedly, these public comments could be perceived as strong-arm tactics intended to persuade Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios into a significant pay rise going forward. “Maybe it is time to move on,” Holland told GQ in November, ahead of the release of No Way Home and this month’s Uncharted. He said as much while promoting the biggest Spider-Man movie of all-time, last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. To put a finer point on it, Holland doesn’t want to be playing Spider-Man in as few as five years.

Tom Holland doesn’t want to play Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man forever.
