Glen Powell’s fall… in more ways than one?
Graphic by Sienna Lewis, Staff Photographer
Glen Powell is a movie star — for now. He’s been practically christened as the second coming of Tom Cruise by the man himself. He's been shouted out by George Clooney. The older movie stars are actively passing the torch into Powell’s grasp — but whether he can hold onto it seems to be in question.
Where has the “Glenthusiasm” gone, America?
Those who know me know that I’m a big fan of Powell’s. More than anything, though, I’m enormously invested in his career. Specifically, what he chooses to do with the keys he’s been given by Hollywood, and whether or not he can fill the shoes of those he so clearly idolizes.
The one-two punch of “Hit Man” being a hit on streaming and “Twisters” being a proper summer blockbuster felt like it decisively cemented Powell’s star status, a kind of moment that seems harder and harder to achieve when the notion of a “movie star” seems distant.
As I write this, Powell’s latest film, “The Running Man,” couldn’t even top the box office in its opening weekend. Alas, it was no match for (checks notes) the third “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” movie which, for the uninformed, is about a band of rogue magician thieves. Powell’s other onscreen effort was Hulu’s “Chad Powers,” which had even less of an impact on audiences.
Glen, this is a moment where we have to look in the mirror.
So much about “Running Man” seemed like a surefire hit on the surface. Beyond Powell’s involvement, director Edgar Wright seemed like the right type of distinct filmmaker with commercial instincts to revive this familiar material. Additionally, Stephen King adaptations are dominating both the big and small screens right now, between “It: Welcome To Derry” and “The Long Walk.” Also, Glen stepping into the role Arnold Schwarzenegger once inhabited felt like a pretty savvy way to fully embrace action movie stardom. Then you add in names like Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin and Michael Cera, this thing felt primed to make an impact on the pre-Thanksgiving stretch of the fall box office.
An opening like this forces you to consider facets of a motion picture with renewed clarity. One could perhaps clock some cracks in its foundation. An R rating was always going to limit the audience and will likely curb its chances of standing out as a choice for families amidst two sequels to some of the highest-grossing movies ever made, “Wicked” and “Zootopia.” Add onto that, The Running Man is not considered one of Arnold’s finest films, nor is it anywhere near one of his most celebrated, and Wright’s rendition was met with a wave of middling reviews that didn’t help the film build further hype going into this weekend.
Just looking at the data we have before us, according to exit polling from “The Running Man”, Powell was the third reason people went to see the film, after it “looked fun and exciting” and the sci-fi genre. Compare this to “Twisters” exit polling, which saw 24% of audiences go see the film because of Powell. This is not an encouraging direction we’re going in.
To look at some further stats from this weekend’s box office, “Running Man” only drew a 36% female audience, which both paled in comparison with “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the number one film of the weekend, with 54%, but more crucially, “Twisters” opening, with 46%.
This number may perhaps at first seem arbitrary, but it helped that film stand out amongst a crowded summer and hold onto audiences even in the wake of a Marvel movie the following weekend. Glen, you can not be alienating this segment of your audience already.
To consider the bigger picture for a moment, I realized, looking back at last summer’s article, I compared Powell’s sudden ascendance to that of Channing Tatum or Jennifer Lawrence when they initially burst onto the scene. But truthfully, neither of those people can really open a movie now, either. I’ll give Lawrence a pass because, admittedly, “Die My Love” — a tense, psychological drama about post-partum depression — was always going to be a tough sell, but the true crime dramedy “Roofman” was sold almost entirely on Tatum’s name above the title.
And this hasn’t been a weak fall for just them. Julia Roberts, Dwayne Johnson, Margot Robbie, Keanu Reeves, they’ve all had major flops that barely made an impression in theaters this fall, so this isn’t an isolated phenomenon.
It feels as if audiences are reckoning with what gets them in a theater in this age, and dragging out Neo from “The Matrix” or Julia friggin’ Roberts isn’t going to cut it anymore. Even some of our younger, promising on-screen personalities are struggling to find their footing — just ask Austin Butler, who whiffed with this summer’s “Caught Stealing” or Powell’s “Anyone But You” co-star Sydney Sweeney, who had a truly abysmal opening weekend for her attempt at an Oscar-worthy biopic in “Christy.”
And that’s not to say that all this year’s hits haven’t been star vehicles or were even from blockbuster franchises for that matter. The success of “Sinners” was incredibly heartening. A real word-of-mouth hit with an exciting idea from a brilliant filmmaker like Ryan Coogler, reteaming with a star dependable both on screen and in getting butts in seats, Michael B. Jordan.
Beyond Coogler and Jordan, F1 is a global brand all its own, but you can’t tell me that having Brad Pitt at the wheel of that figurative and literal vehicle didn’t help it dominate the summer. Paul Thomas Anderson, the genius that he is, still needed a star like Leonardo DiCaprio to both get “One Battle After Another” made and also get him his highest-grossing film. This doesn’t change the fact that there’s a culling of stars once considered bankable that is happening in real time right now, and whether Powell is a part of that remains to be seen.
I’m not counting the guy out just yet. The same weekend that “The Running Man” floundered saw Glen Powell finally host “Saturday Night Live” and honestly crush it in what feels like another infinity stone in his movie star gauntlet. It’s worth considering that perhaps “The Running Man” is simply another arrow in Powell's quiver. Powell has chased love, chased tornadoes and now fled from waves of armed goons.
In my column last year, I noticed a narrative thread running through Powell’s projects. Whether it’s in an F-15 or winning over Sydney Sweeney on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, many of Powell’s characters are battling their first impressions and attempting to reinvent themselves and show that there’s more to them than previously thought.
It seems that with this one-two of doom on streaming and the big screen, he may be on the precipice of reinvention in what he chooses to do next — and with a slate of projects with filmmakers like J.J. Abrams, Barry Jenkins and Judd Apatow, he’s got plenty to choose from. Here’s hoping another Glen Powell Summer is in our future.
