New hit kids in Hollywood

Last year’s financial dip may have left a bitter aftertaste for movie moguls in Hollywood, but 2009 also saw new talent like Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Vanessa Hudgens and Daniel Radcliffe emerge as the new superstars while the heavyweights made news mostly for their link-ups and heartbreaks.
Testing their mettle in the fickle waters of the box-office, these newcomers have given the biggies sleepless nights with smash hits worldwide.Take a look at last year’s highest grossers...
Of the top ten, three films had teen stars in the lead, two were animation, two starred relatively lesser-known young actors and only one film starred a Hollywood heavyweight — Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons, while another — Sherlock Holmes — boasted of stars Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law and 2012 that starred John Cusack. In fact, in 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, films starring new actors far outnumber the ones starring senior faces on the hit market. The highest grossing film of all time, Avatar, starred Sam Worthington in the lead. And though the actor doesn’t exactly fit the young bracket, he also made an impact with Terminator Salvation and Clash of the Titans.
Following close on Avatar’s smash status is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince starring Daniel Radcliffe. The actor and his on-screen best pal Emma Watson, too, are waiting in the wings to prove their stardom with and without the Harry Potter umbrella. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen starring yet another newbie Shia LaBeouf also turned out to be one of the highest grossers of last year. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart hit bullseye with The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as did Taylor Lautner, and are being flooded with offers galore.
Even the most surprising hit of 2009, Hangover, starred Bradley Cooper for whom this film proved to be the big ticket to stardom. Similarly Star Trek worked wonders for Chris Pine.
And they are not all. Even this year’s biggest hit so far, Alice in Wonderland, in spite of starring known faces like Johnny Depp had a lesser-known actress Mia Wasikowska playing the lead as Alice.
This year is gearing up for a whole lot new faces — some known, but in grown-up avtars, like child star Dakota Fanning, who’s ready to prove that she hasn’t lost her magic touch and is set for a full-fledged movie career as an adult. Then there’s Hannah Montana’s Miley Cyrus who’s already taken the plunge into filmdom ditching her pop career.
High School Musical stars are graduating to bigger projects too and trying to shed away their teeny-bopper images. Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron — the stars of the superhit franchisee are also ready to tackle their Hollywood careers. Logan Lerman, the teen star of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and his young co-star Alexandra Daddario have also proven their talent and are touted to be stars in the making. Not to be left behind is Nancy Drew star Emma Roberts, who’s is in the reckoning as the hot new star without much help from aunt and superstar Julia Roberts. Pop princess Taylor Swift too has been trying her hand at films and given the acclaim she’s got for her role in Valentine’s Day, she may soon be on her way to the top too. Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Emile Hirsch, Chace Crawford and Carey Mulligan are some of the other young stars in the reckoning.
Incidentally, most new actors started out young and from being teen heartthrobs are now readying to rule the marquee.
Clearly the older lot need to pull up their socks or get ready to get in their shoes on their way out!
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