Brie Larson, Ezra Miller and More, 5 Hollywood Stars Whose Acting Career Took a Major Hit After Box Office Bombs in 2023
2023 saw the release of some of the best Hollywood movies to date. From Barbie which accompanied the iconic Barbie and Ken on their self-discovery journey to Oppenheimer, which gave the audience an insight into the development of the atomic bomb, 2023 saw a range of superhits being released. In addition to them, however, a range of flops also came out in the past year.
Superhero movies are a common staple in Hollywood, and this year was no exception. The year started with the highly anticipated Ant-Man sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and so far, The Marvels is the last movie that was released. Regardless, 2023 has especially turned out to be disappointing when it came to the superhero genre.
Here is a list of 5 Hollywood celebrities whose stardom could not save their respective superhero movies.
Brie Larson
Brie Larson started her career in Hollywood with her portrayal of Bob Saget’s younger daughter in the WB sitcom Raising Dad. She went on in many other movies over the years and gained international recognition with her portrayal of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
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The Marvels, a sequel to the 2019 movie Captain Marvel, was released in early November. Despite the initial enthusiasm surrounding it, the movie gave a lackluster performance at the box office with a worldwide gross of $202 million against a production budget of $274.8 million.
Paul Rudd
Known for his portrayal of Phoebe Buffay’s love interest Mike Hannigan in the popular NBC sitcom Friends, Paul Rudd has successfully established himself as an accomplished Hollywood actor. He was catapulted to global fame as he played the role of the MCU superhero Ant-Man, who has made several appearances in the franchise.
While Ant-Man movies have never given an exceptional performance, the third installment Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was even more disappointing. Although it had a good start with a global collection of $104 million in its opening weekend, its theatrical run wrapped up with a worldwide gross of just $476 million, which is lower than the other two Ant-Man movies.
Zachary Levi
Zachary Levi has voiced some of the most beloved Hollywood animated characters such as Flynn Rider in Tangled and Toby Seville in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. He had his career breakthrough when he starred as the DC superhero Shazam in the eponymous movie, released in 2019.
However, things took a turn for the worse in the very next installment of the movie Shazam! Fury of the Gods as it faced the fury of the box office gods. The movie merely earned $130 million against a production budget of $110 million, not to mention the $100 million that it spent on marketing.
Xolo Mariduena
Xolo Mariduena plays the role of Miguel Diaz in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. While he is not exactly a Hollywood star, he was well on his way to becoming one. Mariduena’s DCEU debut as the superhero Jaimes Reyes aka Blue Beetle, in the movie Blue Beetle was expected to do well.
Despite Blue Beetle‘s poor performance with a worldwide gross of $129 million, Mariduena is proud of being the first Latino superhero. Hopefully, a sequel will do better as the movie has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Warner Bros. marketing is held responsible for the movie’s failure at the box office.
Ezra Miller
Ezra Miller stepped into Hollywood as a teenager in 2008 with the movie Afterschool. They have worked on some rather good projects such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the Fantastic Beasts franchise. They made his DCEU debut with his cameo as the Flash in the 2016 movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Miller’s solo superhero movie The Flash was released earlier this year and it would be an understatement to say that it bombed at the box office considering it is one of the biggest flops of 2023. There were several reasons for its failure such as numerous delays in its release date and the actor’s involvement in many controversies.
