Who is the LAST movie star of the pre-franchise/expanded universe era? I mean somebody who could get a movie green lid with a budget of maybe 40 or $50 million just because they agreed to participate? Not Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, etc. – they pre-date that era.

To clarify, I feel like things really started to shift circa 2005 to 2008, when the Nolan Batman movies were huge and marvel was starting to refine its marketplace approach

A lot of interesting answers in this thread, the trend that really jumps out is that a lot of the big stars of the last 15 years who aren’t superhero people are comic actors basically

I don& #39;t know what the RIGHT answer is here. I& #39;m just struggling to think of a movie star in the last 15 years who wasn& #39;t officially minted as a movie star by putting on some kind of franchise costume.

Like, who has come along recently who COULD do franchise work but doesn& #39;t NEED to do it in order to be considered a bankable name? Chris Pratt, to name one recent star, is somebody you plug into a franchise. He& #39;s not somebody franchises are created around.