Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
March 27, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: Agree or disagree - Jennifer Lawrence will have a bigger career than Kristen Stewart. Which of the two actors (Josh Hutcherson or Liam Hemsworth) do you see getting a bigger boost from the film (or do you think that the rising tide of this box office triumph helps them both equally)?
Felix Quinonez: I think Jennifer Lawrence already has a bigger career than Kristen Stewart. I mean she already got an Oscar nomination and gave a great performance in X-Men: First Class before Hunger Games even came out. I know Hunger Games was going to be big regardless of who played Katniss but the fact that her performance is getting a lot of attention is definitely going to make her an even bigger star. In comparison, Stewart is pretty much just famous for being Twilight. No one really talks about her performance, so the fame she's gotten from Twilight hasn't translated into people going to see her in other roles. Outside of Twilight, Stewart hasn't had anything resembling a hit or given any memorable performance. I don't see Stewart having too much of a career outside of Twilight. I know she's got the Snow White movie coming out but unless she all of a sudden becomes a good actress it won't really help her career that much. As for the guys, I haven't seen the movie yet, but it seems like it's Jennifer Lawrence’s world and everybody else is just living in it. Because of that I'll say that they're both helped equally.
Edwin Davies: I think that Jennifer Lawrence will have a bigger career because she's already established herself as someone who can do great work out of the franchise that made her a superstar, which she undoubtedly is at this point. Kristen Stewart hadn't done much notable before Twilight, so she has become more identified with the role of Bella than I think Lawrence will be with Katniss. However, I'd disagree that Stewart hasn't done good work outside of Twilight; she was fantastic in Adventureland, The Runaways and Welcome To The Rileys, and she has the chance for awards recognition this year with On The Road. I don't think she will ever be in films that make the same amount of money as the Twilights have again, but I think that she has the potential for a decent career if she can build on the great work she has done in smaller films.
As for the men, I think that Josh Hutcherson gets a bigger boost because he's actually in a lot of The Hunger Games, whilst Liam Hemsworth is really just in the beginning. Since Peeta is a much more central figure in the first book/film, Hutcherson is on screen a lot more and has to anchor the film opposite Lawrence, so he has a greater chance of getting better roles in the future. However, since Gale has more to do in the subsequent films, I can see Hemsworth getting a significant boost further down the line.
Jim Van Nest - Jennifer Lawrence, if she hasn't already, will blow away Kristen Stewart. The main reason is that she's a good actress. Directors will want to work with her. Studios will want her in their productions because along with her newfound star power, she brings quality to her projects.
As for the guys, I don't think it's really fair to compare the two. Hutcherson's Peeta is one of two central characters in this trilogy and Hemsworth's Gale is not. So Hutcherson will easily get the bigger boost from Hunger Games. But I don't think Liam Hemsworth is going to have a hard time finding work either.
Bruce Hall: Felix could have just dropped the mic and walked off stage after that first sentence. That's all there is to it. Jennifer Lawrence already does have a bigger career, primarily by virtue of the fact that she can actually act. As far as Hemsworth/Hutcherson, if you're basing the analysis solely on this film I'd have to say that Hemsworth didn't have much to do other than brood and look pretty. Not his fault; anyone who's read the Hunger Games knows that certain major characters were necessarily short-changed in the first installment. Hemsworth will have plenty of fat to chew soon enough. Meanwhile, though Josh Hutcherson's career had already gotten off to a solid start, he didn't harm himself here in the least. He's no Daniel Day-Lewis but if he keeps this up, his career will undoubtedly benefit. I've mentioned before that the most engaging thing about the books to me was the raw prose. While not flashy or even particularly distinctive, Collins is crisp and efficient and most of all, draws her characters well. Peeta was a surprising combination of power and frailty, selflessness and self-pity. Not only did Collins pull it off in her book, but Hutcherson pulled it off on screen.
Max Braden: "Bigger" of course in how you see it. I think they'll both be big but in different ways because they're different kinds of actors. Stewart is the Ben Affleck and Lawrence is the Matt Damon. Stewart might have more MTV Movie Awards appeal while Lawrence will continue to have more Oscar appeal. The comparison I see for Lawrence is with Kate Winslet. Do many people remember Winslet's first Oscar nomination? It was for Sense and Sensibility, two years before Titanic. But I think it was Titanic that cemented her name in everyone's mind, and despite the huge box office notoriety associated with the movie, she wasn't defined as a popcorn actor who could only succeed as one character. Winslet is someone who brings heft to a blockbuster project, or an independent project. I think Jennifer Lawrence comes out of Hunger Games the same way. For now, Stewart in my mind will be Bella in other movies. Lawrence will be the actress who starred in Winter's Bone and Hunger Games. I think that difference will lead their career paths in the future.
Of the guys, Hutcherson easily gets the bigger name recognition, because I still had to double-check which part Hemsworth played. I assume Hemsworth will benefit from the sequels. But Hutcherson was perfectly cast as Peeta and he didn't disappoint. I expect every agent in town is throwing scripts at him by now.
Brett Beach: I will be curious to see how the next project of each one fares. Stewart is entering another extended commitment with Snow White and the Huntsman, which has a built-in brand name, but where she is also being played up as the star (even if it looks like Charlize Theron gets to have all the fun). Meanwhile Lawrence has the more modest thriller The House at the End of the Street this fall, which maybe has the chance for surprise Distburbia type success. Still, as Max says, it is all in how you measure success. Lawrence is now part of two different franchises and already had an Oscar nomination. That's pretty heady.
David Mumpower: The other aspect of her presence in X-Men: First Class is that what Lawrence has accomplished at the age of 21 is participation in two tentpole franchises. Not many people in this industry star in multiple $55+ million openers, much less done so by the time they can legally order a potent potable. Ignoring all of the (well deserved) critical praise she received for Winter's Bone, she would already be world renowned simply for her most recent two projects. And while we are still describing superlatives for The Hunger Games' opening weekend, here is a good one. It earned $6 million more on opening weekend than the exceptional X-Men: First Class managed during its entire domestic run.
As Lawrence moves forward, what is seminal to her career trajectory is that she act as if she enjoys all of the attention. Out of the three people who star in the Twilight franchise, only Taylor Lautner exudes happiness about the state of his career. Stewart comes across as stifled and claustrophobic about her unexpected celebrity. Robert Pattinson seems to hate everyone breathing the same air, including even himself. Lawrence scored a lot of points with the manner she carried herself during Oscars season last year. And she can now stake a claim as the star of the next franchise that replaces Harry Potter and Twilight. As long as she avoids doing the Full Lohan, this battle is hers.
As for the men, I agree that Hutcherson was already more established. At the time, he seemed like he missed out when he failed to secure the lead in The Amazing Spider-Man. With the benefit of hindsight, this may have been the best thing that ever happened to him as an actor. The pressure is on Sony now to prove that Andrew Garfield is a better choice since those were the finalists and they picked the one without The Hunger Games on his resume. As for Liam Hemsworth, people know who he is now. Combining that with his bloodlines, his career is made whether this proves to be the best thing he ever does or the start of something special. Either way, Baby Thor will always find work as long as he comports himself as well as big brother has thus far.
Reagen Sulewski: It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Snow White and the Huntsman, which will tell a lot about whether Stewart is going to have a significant post-Twilight career. While I agree that she's pretty uninterested in her performance in those movies, she's not actually without talent, if you're one of the 12 people who saw The Runaways. The crushing expectations of massive fame are going to task even the best of us and it shows a big difference between her and Lawrence that both have faced it and Lawrence managed it without seeming like she'd like to cut the next person who asked her about the filming process. It probably helps that Lawrence had a level of fame and success before Hunger Games, whereas Stewart came from more or less nowhere.
On the Hutcherson/Hemsworth debate, I think it's going to be a fairly long time before people can actually tell the two Hemsworth brothers apart, and that's going to be a difficult hurdle to jump (Ben and Casey are never mistaken for each other, to give one not so random example).