The 2025 box office was a rollercoaster ride, with huge hits and major flops. In either case, studios attach talent to these projects with the hopes that their name appeal or physical recognizability will draw in enough viewers to help a movie turn a profit. Some major franchises rely more on the IP than stars to sell projects, but 2025 still proved the strength of old-school stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise.
And while they continued their winning ways at the box office, several newer stars broke out thanks to how well their representative films performed. This can be done whether a film makes hundreds of millions to less than $100 million, so long as the budgets were smartly done. Through a series of box office success stories in 2025, these five actors achieved newer levels of stardom.
5
Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer is a known performer at this point, and she’s been in big box office performers before, such as with her major role in Jordan Peele’s Nope, which made $171 million in 2022. She waited three years to make her big screen return with a lead live-action role, with the buddy comedy One of Them Days acting as a big win for her this year.
The Black female-led comedy was made for only $14 million, and the overwhelmingly favorable response (94% and 89% on Rotten Tomatoes) led to a strong $51 million haul at the box office. That might not sound like a ton, but it’s 3.6x the budget, giving Sony a solid return, enough to greenlight a sequel.
Keke Palmer and SZA’s chemistry is a big reason why One of Them Days found success, but Sony really leaned into Palmer in the marketing, and that move clearly paid off. It should help position the 32-year-old actress for more leading roles and potentially greater box office returns in the future, including on the now in-development One of Them Days sequel.
4
David Corenswet
Getting cast as Superman was a career-changing moment for David Corenswet, vaulting him to a new level of fame. That also made it incredibly likely that Superman would help launch him into a box office star. While the DC Studios production was sold on James Gunn’s name and the iconography of the Man of Steel, Corenswet still had to do his job and sell audiences on his version of Clark Kent / Kal-El.
Superman‘s performance gives Corenswet credibility as a franchise leading man after it made $616 million. It will be interesting to see how he navigates the post-Supes debut moment for his career. He’ll be back for Man of Tomorrow and a cameo in Supergirl, but just how much the movie did to convince audiences that Corenswet is an actor worth following beyond DC will not be known until much later. Either way, this is a strong showing for the 32-year-old star.
3
Julia Garner
Following her breakout role on Ozark, Julia Garner got some big breaks at the box office in 2025. As the central character in Weapons, she was at the heart of Zach Cregger’s original horror movie. At least a portion of the film’s $269 million financial haul comes thanks to her, even if many other actors also had prominent roles and the scary genre did a lot of heavy lifting to interest audiences.
Yet, Garner also played a pivotal part in Marvel’s biggest 2025 hit, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which made $521 million worldwide. Her role as Silver Surfer was a highlight and visually striking. With over $800 million earned at the box office this year (including Wolf Man‘s $34 million), Garner had one of the better years for any performer and could find more major movie roles soon.
2
Jonathan Bailey
Jonathan Bailey may arguably be a box office star already after a rather strong 2025. His return as Fiyero in Wicked: For Good brought him another $500 million (and counting), a year after the first film’s $758 million performance helped put him on the map as a potential movie star. But rather than only stay attached to the Wizard of Oz franchise, he also joined Jurassic to expand his horizons.
Acting as one of the three main cast members in Jurassic World Rebirth, Bailey’s presence alongside Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali certainly helped elevate its box office performance. The sequel/reboot earned $869 million worldwide, which is currently good enough for the fifth spot overall on the year. That gives Bailey lead roles in two of the top 15 films, something no one else can claim.
One could argue both Jurassic World Rebirth and Wicked: For Good were destined to succeed with or without Bailey. But, he used each to show a different side of himself and further position himself as a new leading man in Hollywood who can help ensure audiences have a good time with his latest offerings.
1
Mason Thames
Box office success isn’t a new experience for Mason Thames; he headlined Blumhouse’s $161 million The Black Phone a few years ago. But 2025 took him to new heights, as he starred in three very different films that all achieved a level of profitability, proving the 18-year-old is already adept at being part of successful projects and commonly helping his projects overperform.
Thames’ 2025 started off on a high note thanks to his leading role in Universal and DreamWorks’ live-action How To Train Your Dragon. It made a franchise record $636 million worldwide off a reported $150 million budget. While the characters, dragons, and IP did a lot of the heavy lifting here, Thames convinced a whole new generation that he is Hiccup and got their buy-in to turn this into a hit.
He followed up that success with Black Phone 2, which made $132 million, and the Colleen Hoover book adaptation Regretting You, which made $90 million. After already locking up a massive franchise, Thames showed how versatile a box office draw he is by connecting with R-rated horror and PG-13 romance audiences.
With How To Train Your Dragon 2 on the horizon for 2027, Mason Thames is poised to continue dominating the box office in the near future, and he’s sure to get a lot busier after these box office results.
