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Home , Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise

Magazine Tyler Perry Adam Sternbergh Mon, Nov 16 - Sun, Nov 22, 2015

T/11 CUl, T U RE PAG ES

Vulture's Most

Valuable 2 . Robert What Stars Downey Jr. (0) TO C REATE OUR list, we collected data on each of these stars-including their domestic and 12. Tom flanks 13. Makes a overseas box office for the (+.5) (-2) past five years, number of Oscar nominations and wins, scores, 1\vittcr mentions over the Star Valuable past year, rankings from major studio executives 21. Chnrli1.c 22. Denzel and gossip editors (who ·n,eron ( +29) (-17) were asked to rate eacl1 star's appeal on a scale in2015? ofone to ten), and Likabi Iity , for one thing, which is why likability data from E-Poll Market Research-and ro e so high on our list. ByAdamStembergh asked FiveThirtyEight 28. Christian 29.Mark statistician Harry Enten Bale (-10) Wahlberg (-6) NCE UPON A TIME, the Hollywood math was straight­ to plug the numbers into forward: The most valuable stars were the ones who his special formula to were (a) paid the most money because (b) they could determine their rank. For reliably "open" a movie. This gave rise to the so-called further explanation $20 Million Club: actors like Robert Downey Jr., Sandra of our methodology, 0Bullock, and (and before them, and visit vulture.com. ). In 2015, however, the calculus is different and a lot more complex. Stars don't open movies anymore-brands like and Transfonners do-and now studios are asking actors to accept some of their financial risk, eschewing huge up-front payments in favor ofback­ end bonuses if, and only if, their films are profitable. A star's value is no longer something we can measure just in salaries-which might help explain why the actress who tops Vulture's fourth annual ranking of Hollywood's "Most Valuable Stars" is someone who recently spoke very publicly about being underpaid. These days, a star's worth can be affected by many intangible factors. To determine our valuations, we combined simple metrics, such as domestic and international box office, with more ephemeral ones, such 59. Justin 60. Keira 61. Joseph Gordon- 62. Kristen as mentions, Oscar nominations and wins, Metaclitic scores, Timbcrlnke (+/7) KnighUey (+25) Lcvitt (+.5) Wiig(•) desirabilityto a panel ofano nymous studio executives and gossip editors (who told us whom they'd hire first and whose news attracts the greatest number ofeyeballs ), and, perhaps most crucially, a star's overall "likabil­ ity." Celebrity appeal can be both easy and obvious to detect- for example, that involuntary face you make when you find out so-and-so (Yay! Right 70. llcnry 71.Cameron 72. TinR Fey 73.Jason on!) or such-and-such (What! Why?) is starring in an upcoming film. But Cavill (+19) Diaz(-17) (+9) Stal.ham ( +7) likability is also notoriously trich.1' to quantify; thankfully, we're able to utilize data collected by E-Poll Market Research, a company that exists in part to measure precisely that elusive asset, askingthousands ofr egular The Studios' Favorites folks to rate the appeal of celebrities. Wilh all the information tallied, this z year's most valuable star may not surprise you. The case for Jennifer j 1. ::, Lawrence- Oscar winner, perennial award nominee, francl1ise anchor, ::r 2. u 81. "fyler J>erry 3. Leonardo DiCaprio 82. Mark ::r (+14) Ruffalo ( +8) and social-media darling- is fairly self-cvident 4. Chris Pratt u This year's most likable celebrity, though- well, that person might ";.: 5. Tom Cruise .. 6. ChanningThtum be a little more unexpected. Nol because Ch1is Pratt is unlikable- to ~ the contrary, it's actually incredibly likely that you like him, given Lhal ;:; 7. Scarlett Johansson 8.TomHanks he is, by our metric, the most likable actor in Hollywood. But ilseems "'il: 9. Kevin Hart < unlikely, or at least surprising, that Pralt-aguy who's recently starred a: 10. 90. Eddie 91. Anna in huge blockbuster movies such as Guardians ofthe Galaxy and "...0 Reclmayne (•) Kenclrick(+7) 0 , yet is still unfamous enough that Billy Eichner can :,: Q.

84 NE w Yo R K I Nov EM BER 16-22, 201 5

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3. Leonardo 4. Bradley 5. Dwnvne 6. Tom Cruise 7. Hugh 8. Sandra 9. Channing 10. Scarlett 11. Chris Pratt DiCaprio(O) Cooper(+6 1 Johnson ( +24) (+13) Jackman ( +7) Bullock(-1) Tatum (+2J Johansson ( +21) (+57)

Stars Who Rose the Most 1. Chris Pratt (57 plac.es) 2. (45) 3. (39) 4. (32) 5. (31) 6. (29) Most Discussed on 7. (26) Social Media 8. Keira Knightley(25) 9. (24) 1. 10. (24) 2 . 3. 4. Jennifer Lawrence 5. 6. Jolumy Depp 7. Kevin Harl 8. Leonardo DiCaprio 9. 10.

39. Amy 40. Ryan 41. Zach 42. 43.Anne 44. Michael 45. 46. Catc 4 7. Schumer(•) Gosling ( +31) Galifiannkis ( +24) ( •; Hathaway (-15) Fassbender ( +15) (-7) Blnnehcll ( +IO) (-2)

• MostCritically Respected 1. Ben Afileek 52. 2. 53. Jeremy 54. James 55. 56. 57. llclcn 58. (-18) 3. An1y Schumer Rcnner (·6) Franco (+6) (-13) (·7) Mirren ( •) (+3) 4. 5. 6 . Leonardo DiCaprio * 7. Tom Hardy 8. Jake Gyllenhaal 9. Jennifer Lawrence 63. Daniel 10. Daniel Day-Le,vis 64. Emma 65. 66. Mila Kunis 67. Daniel Day­ 68.Andrcw 69. Charlie Radcliffe (-31) Watson (-/) (-45) (-29) Lewis (-9) Garfield (-28) Hunnam (•)

t Most Likable 1. Chris Prutt 2. 74. 80. Zru: Efron (+5) 3. (+4) 4. Denzel Washington 5. 6. Will Smith 7. AmyAdams • 8. Llam Neeson 9. 10. 83. 89. Kate (+14) \Vinslet (-36) •

92. Steve Carel! 93. Miles Teller 94. Naomi 97. Jdris Elba (-37) (•) WatLs (+5) ( •)

* Blue stars indicate new to thi.8 year~ list.

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The CU LTURE PACES drag him around on between us and the stars of our favorite biggest things for him," says E-Poll CEO asking New Yorkers lo identify him and at movies is as thin as an iPhone screen, "lik­ Gerry Philpott, "are that guys see him as least some of lhem will say he's that guy ability" is a more valuable commodity than someone they'd like to have a beer with, "from VH1 ; "Chris Evanst or "Liamr­ ever. In E-Score pol.ls, the two phrases most and women see him as that guy who's should suddenly be more likable lhan associated with Pratt are "approachable" attractive and a little bit dangerous but still Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, or Meryl and "down to earth." Itseems safe to say that a good catcl,. lt's really rare to have people Streep. And yet, according to our data, Pratt no one would have described, say, Hum­ whose appeal crosses over like.that." has the highest "appeal" rating ofanyone on phrey Bogart ,-vith either of those tenns 75 the list, with 86 percent of respondents years ago. Back then, movie stars depended BUT WHY DO \VE CARE so much if a star expressing a favorable view of him. on the illusion of mystique: the impression seems like someone we'd want to hang out We can likely lay prutofthecreditfor his that they occupied a slightly more rarefied with? It's likely owed, in part, tothefactthat outsize likability al the webbed feet ofEagl e realm than our own. It's hard to imagine we spend so much more time with them the penguin. Because of all the awesome, even Jimmy Stewart ever being described now. No longer is it enough to simply hold adorable, and/or hilarious things you can primarily as "approachable."Then again, he our gaze for the two-hour duration of a see Chris Pratt doing on the internet- GQ never had an account. movie. There are endless trailers, and leaked ran an article listing 41 separate reasons Pratt has one, of course, @pratlpratl­ footage, and Comic Con panels, and talk­ that"Eve1ything (Chds Pratt Does) lsAwe­ pratt, where he posts things like his school show appearances, in the months running some"-perhaps the most likable thing is a up to a film's release. All ofwhicl, amounts video of Pratt, along with his famous and Lo dozens of hours' w01th of free advertis­ well-liked wife, , and their by all CHRIS PRATT ing- so you better have a likable pitch­ evidence extremely adorable 3-year-old ON INSTAGRAM person Lo front your campaign. son, Jack, announcing, in a video posted to Another oil-remarked aspect of the dse YouTube, that they'd been asked to name a of the franchise blockbusters is that they new baby penguin born at the Seattle zoo seem to be actorproof: No longer is the for­ and decided on "Eagle." mula "Get me Tom Cruise as a bartender"; Think about that: What in the world now it's "Get me whoever can plausibly and could possibly be more likable Lhan a video pleasingly fill out Thor's costume." Yet the in which an adorable 3-year-old child dghLactor- likable, relatable-is more cru­ announces lhe name ofa baby penguin? I'll cial than ever, as our tour guide/surrogate/ tell you what: a video in which an adorable stand-in llu-ough a three-hour onslaught of 3-year-old child announces the name of a $300 million CGI explosions. Guardians ef baby penguin while seated next to Chris the Gala.-r:y may be the most potent recent Pratt. You're probably jan1 ming your thumb argument for lhis: A tentpole movie built against the page on which you're reading around an unfamiliar comic property, it this dght now, in a manic, refle.xive effort to 0 pran:pranp,an benefited mightily from Pratt's cockeyed "like" it Which, ifyo u're Pratt, is a ve1y valu­ smile, beckoning us inside the tent. able reaction indeed. S76kllkes w "Younger stars tend to have lower awareness scores," says Philpott. "But peo­ prattp(lttpran SbC months no beer AN ASTUTE COLLEAGUE of mine, when 1GOTG Kinda douchey to post this but ple who know who Chris Pratt is tend to considering Prall, describes him as a my Orothe< made me like him a lot:' So a newly minted star like "value-added star." Which is to say: Yes, Pratt offors better value in many ways than he's coming off a remarkable run ofsuper­ a marquee name. The longer you've been successful movies, yet it's hard to argue in the public eye, the more time you've had that any of these films were huge hits photo from when he was 13 years old. lo compromise, or complicate, our adora­ solely, or even mostly, because of Pratt. (Adorable!) He also has a 1\vitter account tion. Tom Cruise's awareness score is 79 We're talking about a totally different kind with a bio that reads, "Laughing with you, percent, but his current appeal rating is of star power- or "value"- lhan what Tom not at you." (Likable!) And unlike olher only 41 percent. One of the two words Cruise evinced in Lhe , when entire celebrities, he does not use 1\vitter to rail most commonly associated with him is films were basically ma rketed as "Tom against NSA overreacl, or endorse lrump "creepy:' (The other is "handsome.") Cruise as a bartender" (Cocktail) and "Tom for president. Instead, he retweets photos It's true that movie stars are no longer Cruise in a race car" (). oflittle kidsdressed up like him inJurG,Ssic franchises, not in the way they once were; While Pratt certainly did a bang-up job in World for Halloween. (Down to earth!) franchises are the new stars. But these TheLego Movi.e, that film would likely have Recently, he hung out with real-life BFFs franchises still need stars in the way that been a big hit even ifSelh Rogen (appeal: Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence, and battleships still need captains. And if that 59 percent) had lent his voice lo the lead - basically, a Mount Rushmore captain is someone just likable enough, character. Jurassi.c World was huge, but it of internet likability- then posted all just accessible enough, just relatable arrived in theaters like a rampaging about it online. This is the key to Pratt's enough that we can almost imagine our­ francl,ise-o-saurus, ,vith Chris Pratt riding likability, which is, in turn, the key to his selves in his or her place, all the better. on a tiny saddle on its back. appeal: He'd be your coolest friend if you (After all, who among us isn't just a few None ofwhich is to diminish Pratt or the actually knew him, which you almost feel sil-ups away from becoming Chris Pratt? remarkable position to whicl, he's ascended. like you do. His storied transformation Well, all of us, actually.) To be valuable in You could make the argument that, in an from doughy Everyman to sculpted super­ 2015, keep that Instagram account age of social media and carpet-bomb-style hero is relatable, or at least aspirational, to updated and that 1\vitter timeline upbeat. media campaigns, when the membrane doughy Eve1ypeople eve1ywhere. "T11e two And name a baby penguin ifyo u can. •

86 NEW YOI\K I NOVll MllEII 16- 22, 2015

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