The Most In-Demand Hollywood Actors and Their Upcoming Projects
Hollywood moviegoers are seeing the same familiar faces on screen more than usual, as a select group of actors dominates multiple major releases.
Anne Hathaway leads box office
Anne Hathaway flexed her muscle as one of the world’s most bankable stars in 2026, releasing five movies that grossed a whopping $2.8 billion combined globally, USA Today reported.
She delivers career-best work in “The Odyssey” and “Mother Mary.” She also tapped into the BookTok craze with Colleen Hoover’s “Verity,” waited 20 years to make “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” and took a swing with indie horror director David Robert Mitchell on the dino thriller “The End of Oak Street.”
Always willing to spend weeks advocating for every title, Hathaway handled this heavy schedule displaying endless charm while visibly expecting a child. She has already lined up “Days of Thunder 2” with Tom Cruise for 2028.
Zendaya makes interesting choices while Tom Holland struggles
Zendaya is consistently making some of the most interesting choices of anyone working today, from the erotic tennis drama “Challengers” to the provocative dark comedy “The Drama.” She also appeared in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and plays key roles in the “Spider-Man” and “Dune” franchises.
Outside of the Marvel cinematic universe, Tom Holland has found it difficult to establish himself as a primary leading man, having encountered a string of poorly received projects such as “Cherry,” “Chaos Walking” and Apple TV series “The Crowded Room.”
Along with his wife Zendaya, Holland has a fiercely devoted fan base, and it’s undeniable that he’s a draw after “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” shattered expectations with $2.5 billion at the global box office.
Holland’s supporting turn in “The Odyssey” showed that he is keen on making better choices going forward. His upcoming Fred Astaire biopic with Sabrina Carpenter and Margaret Qualley is tailor-made to his talents as a song-and-dance charmer, and he is also developing the new movie “Penthouse” with screenwriter Drew Pearce.
Olivia Colman and Pedro Pascal remain busy stars
Olivia Colman has sneakily become one of the most booked-and-busy stars in Hollywood, with Netflix series “Pride and Prejudice” and fantastical comedy “The Fox” both out early next month. The Oscar winner is likely to scoop up her fourth nomination for AIDS drama “Elsinore,” which arrives in theaters on Nov. 20 with Andrew Scott.
Pedro Pascal has recently been ubiquitous on the big and small screen, thanks to HBO’s “The Last of Us” and last year’s rom-com “Materialists.” He vaults into the Oscar race with Tony Gilroy’s orchestral drama “Behemoth!” in theaters on Dec. 4, before returning as Mister Fantastic in “Avengers: Doomsday” on Dec. 18.
Robert Pattinson remains a lucrative star among the younger generation, helping turn risky art films including “The Drama” and “Primetime” into genuine cash cows. The actor currently has “Dune: Part Three” and Denzel Washington heist thriller “The Take,” in theaters on Jan. 15, 2027, in the pipeline, before he masks up as the Caped Crusader once again in “The Batman: Part II.”
Wilde, Pugh, and Hüller projects
Olivia Wilde weathered a media firestorm around 2022’s “Don’t Worry Darling” and is the best part of dominatrix thriller “I Want Your Sex” and music drama “Behemoth!” She may also garner multiple Oscar nods as the director and star of marriage comedy “The Invite,” while prepping her fourth directorial outing “Naughty,” a 2027 comedy about a single mom asking Santa Claus to testify in her child custody case.
Florence Pugh gifted viewers a performance in Netflix miniseries “East of Eden” last month. On Dec. 18, she stars in two of the year’s most highly anticipated movies: “Avengers: Doomsday” as spy-turned-superhero Yelena Belova, and “Dune: Part Three” as Princess Irulan.
Sandra Hüller has been fiercely in demand since her Oscar breakthrough in 2023’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” stealing the show singing Harry Styles in Ryan Gosling’s space adventure “Project Hail Mary.” She went toe to toe with Tom Cruise in “Digger,” followed weeks later by the Cold War film “Fatherland,” and could earn a second Oscar nod with the gender-bent drama “Rose.”
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