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Harrison Ford? Tom Cruise? Tom Hanks? I can't seem to think of another legitimate contender at the moment? Perhaps I have somehow left out an obvious candidate. My own choice among these three? I do not know.
Harrison Ford has unfortunately probably seen the best of his glory days. Enjoyed a very serious reboot with the last Star Wars rendition however. Likely appearing in a few more in the foreseeable future. With the Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise under his belt, I suspect his box office numbers may still prove unbeatable.
Tom Cruise is still cruising along in magnificent style. The Mission Impossible series is doing almost impossibly well. Tom has a proven knack for starring in major box office success stories. There is currently a City-Data thread regarding his various successes.
Tom Hanks, while seemingly unassuming, has assembled quite the filmography including: Splash, Big, Turner & Hooch, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, The Green Mile, Cast Away, The Da Vinci Code, Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Bank among others.
Up and comers is a different story of course. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr, and "The Rock" Johnson come to mind. This thread is regarding the time period from 1980 to 2016.
It's very hard to compete with Tom Cruise in terms of star power and longevity, spanning 4 consecutive decades. Denzel Washington might be a close second.
RDJ is part of the 1980s "Brat Pack," and only partially left the limelight because of his substance abuse problems. If you include Tom Hanks before he became a respected actor in 1992's Philadelphia, RDJ should be included as well, along with Morgan Freeman and Jeff Bridges. Lawrence Fishburne has been in movies since he was a boy.
The problem with Tom Cruise is that he's pretty polarizing. Most people either love him or hate him (maybe hate is a strong word. They really really don't care for him). If he didn't have the Mission Impossible franchise, I think he probably would have fizzled out.
I think Tom Hanks has the broadest appeal and the most variety.
Directors draw me to the theater. Kelly Reichardt, Jeff Nichols, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, David Michod, Paul Thomas Anderson, Whit Stillman, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Roy Andersson, Charlie Kaufman - to name a few.
Michael Shannon did draw me to see Elvis & Nixon (2016) though. And after seeing him in The Voices (2014), Smokin' Aces (2006), and Dick (1999), Ryan Renolds drew me to see Deadpool (2016).
Streep has a lot of draw. Julia Roberts did for a while. Bullock holds her own.
I think the whole idea of star power draw is actually a mix of eye candy, acting skill, agent ability, social connections within the system, and the ability to discern the difference between good scripts and drek.
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