Are Timothée Chalamet, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell the new Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise? Studio executives are certainly hoping they are, with Hollywood betting on them and stars like Zendaya and Paul Mescal to carry slates and save the box office. The Hollywood Reporter compiled a list of the 10 young movie stars that are taking the industry by storm and are at the top of studios' most-wanted lists - A.K.A. the new A-list.
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00:00Are Timothee Chalamet, Sidney Sweeney, and Glenn Powell the new Leonardo DiCaprio,
00:04Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Cruise? Studio executives are certainly hoping they are,
00:08with Hollywood betting on them and stars like Zendaya and Paul Meskel to carry slates and
00:13save the box office. The Hollywood Reporter compiled a list of the 10 young movie stars
00:18that are taking the industry by storm and are at the top of the studio's most-wanted list,
00:22aka the New A-List.
00:30Up first, Austin Butler. Despite memeable moments about his Elvis accent and his
00:37hairless look in Dune Part II, he's managed to cultivate an all-too-rare movie star mystique.
00:42Since his Oscar nomination for Elvis, Jeff Nichols tapped him for The Bike Riders out June 24,
00:48and Darren Aronofsky chose him to lead his next film, Caught Stealing.
00:52One agency partner told THR, everybody wants him to be the lead of everything.
01:00Next is Timothee Chalamet. No other actor can boast leading two live-action films that were
01:06box office successes in the past year. December's Wonka brought in $632.3 million, and March's
01:13Dune Part II crossed $700 million. Currently, he's filming a Bob Dylan biopic. One producer
01:19told THR, Timothee is the most proven of the New A-List. Saltburn solidified Jacob El-Lourdes'
01:29movie star potential after his breakout role in Netflix's The Kissing Booth film franchise
01:34and his portrayal of Nate Jacobs in HBO's Euphoria. He's currently filming Guillermo
01:38del Toro's Frankenstein and made his Cannes competition debut in Paul Schrader's O Canada.
01:47Next on the list is Paul Meskel, whose star power will be tested with the November release
01:52of Gladiator 2. One executive told THR, every filmmaker loves Paul Meskel, but audiences don't
01:57yet know who he is. Following his debut in Hulu's Normal People in 2020, the actor shied away from
02:03traditional Hollywood ventures and opted instead for festival fodder, which led him to an Oscar
02:08nomination for After Sun. Jenna Ortega parlayed her success in the Netflix series Wednesday into
02:17a lead role in the forthcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which sees her team back up with
02:21Wednesday director and executive producer Tim Burton. The actress' upcoming slate includes
02:26a film with Taika Waititi as well as the A24 dark comedy Death of a Unicorn, with Wednesday's
02:31season two also on the horizon. Glenn Powell put in his time slowly climbing Hollywood's ladder
02:41as an actor, producer, and writer. After years of smaller parts and projects like Hidden Figures
02:46and Expendables 3, the charismatic star won over audiences in the 2018 rom-com Set It Up. Then
02:52came Top Gun Maverick and Devotion. Still, it was the one-two punch of his festival darling Hitman,
02:58which he co-wrote, and the rom-com Anyone But You that thrust him onto the A-list.
03:08Speaking of Anyone But You, 26-year-old Sydney Sweeney has over 50 professional credits,
03:13more than nearly everyone else on this list. After garnering buzz and Emmy noms for both Euphoria and
03:18The White Lotus, she quickly catapulted to star status and launched her own production banner,
03:2350-50, in 2020. And while not every recent move that she's made has panned out, they are all
03:28calculated. She signed on to the ill-fated Madam Web in order to get in good with Sony, which made
03:33Anyone But You, and is handling her upcoming Barbarella remake. Florence Pugh's breakout role
03:43came in the indie Lady Macbeth in 2016, which she followed with an Oscar nomination for Greta
03:48Gerwig's Little Women and the A24 horror hit Midsommar, proving both her critical and commercial
03:54appeal. She went on to hold her own in ensembles like Oppenheimer and Dune Part II. Plus, she's one
03:59of the few new A-listers making a full-court press with Marvel, appearing in Black Widow
04:04and the forthcoming Thunderbolts, where she will be at the top of the call sheet.
04:14Furiosa star Anya Taylor-Joy has established herself as a sharp actress since breaking out
04:18in the horror film The Witch. General audiences most likely know her from the popular Netflix
04:23series The Queen's Gambit, but she has since turned down big TV projects in favor of a
04:28theatrical career. Her work in Furiosa shows she can do action, and she'll stay on that path with
04:33the upcoming feature The Gorge and the genre thriller Sacrifice, in which she'll share the
04:38screen with Chris Evans. And last, but certainly not least, is Zendaya. Executives note that the
04:50closest comparison for her current status is 90s-era Julia Roberts. After starring in two
04:55Disney Channel television shows, Spider-Man Homecoming launched Zendaya at the box office,
05:00followed by the musical hit The Greatest Showman. Then, HBO's Euphoria set her up for her current
05:05rise. While three Spider-Man films kept her in theaters in regular intervals, Zendaya landed
05:10Dune and Dune Part 2, further cementing her star status. Most recently, she starred in and produced
05:16Challengers. For much more on this story, head to THR.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.