Thanks to starring in multiple highly-anticipated movies, there are several actors who can dominate the box office and be 2023's highest grossing movie stars. The delays brought to the film industry by COVID-19 helped contribute to 2023's slate of movies becoming crowded with major blockbusters. However, there have still been a few notable box office stars who made the most of the marketplace. Tom Cruise propelled Top Gun: Maverick to financial heights that were not expected, while Tom Holland delivered back-to-back hits for Sony with Spider-Man: No Way Home and Uncharted. Robert Pattinson even had two good performers with Tenet and The Batman.
Looking at the incredible slate that makes up the most anticipated 2023 movies, a few actors pop up repeatedly. Someone like Jonathan Majors is poised for a big year between Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III releasing a few weeks apart. However, he still might not be among 2023's highest grossing actors. Several stars have superhero movies and another franchise sequel lined up, while Cruise's box office dominance is also expected to continue. It sets up a stacked battle that will end with one actor's movies earning more than the rest, and here are the contenders.
Tom Cruise - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Tom Cruise is the outlier from everyone else who will be mentioned as someone who will dominate the 2023 box office. He only has one movie slated to release, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. While cast members from other movies to be mentioned later might wind up earning more than him in the year, like his co-star Pom Klementieff (who also appears in Guardians of the Galaxy 3), Cruise is positioned to be the lead of one of 2023's highest grossing movies. His starring role coming after Top Gun: Maverick's record-breaking box office run will further solidify his place as one of the last true box office stars.
Rachel Zegler - Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes
Rachel Zegler's rise through Hollywood will continue in 2023 and potentially make her a big box office star. After her breakout role in West Side Story, this is the year that the actress takes on significant roles in existing franchises. She will first appear in Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which should be a modest box office success for DC. Rachel Zegler's bigger role that could help make her one of 2023's highest grossing actors is as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The Hunger Games prequel movie features her as the co-lead in a franchise that previously vaulted Jennifer Lawrence to stardom.
Timothée Chalamet - Dune: Part Two, Wonka
Timothée Chalamet has two promising projects that could make lots of money at the 2023 box office. This year marks his return as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two. The first movie by director Denis Villeneuve was a surprise financial hit in the midst of the pandemic as it made over $400 million. Thanks to a more action-oriented storyline, an even bigger cast, and audiences returning to move theaters more regularly, Dune 2 could be a much bigger box office success. The talented star is also headlining Wonka, a musical movie about Willy Wonka's origin. These two movies combined could help make Timothée Chalamet one of 2023's highest grossing actors.
Florence Pugh - Dune: Part Two, Oppenheimer
Florence Pugh has had an excellent run in recent years that included an Oscar-nominated performance in Little Women and joining the MCU with Black Widow. 2023 is likely to be her biggest year at the box office, though. Pugh is attached to play important roles in two of the biggest movies releasing this year. This includes playing Jean Tatlock in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Princess Irulan in Dune 2. Nolan's atomic bomb thriller could repeat Dunkirk's box office success and make over $500 million, especially with its loaded cast. This supporting role will lead into Pugh's pivotal spot as Paul's new love interest in Dune 2.
Halle Bailey - The Little Mermaid, The Color Purple
One surprise candidate to be among 2023's highest grossing actors at the box office is Halle Bailey. She is slated to have her first leading role in a movie with Disney's live-action remake The Little Mermaid. Her new take on Ariel and the love that many have for the original animated movie could help propel the remake to be a massive box office hit. Halle Bailey also stars in a musical version of The Color Purple, a fresh adaptation of Alice Walker's novel that Steven Spielberg previously made as a movie in 1985. With the source material already inspiring a hit Broadway show, a successful theatrical film could come now.
Brie Larson - Fast X, The Marvels
Brie Larson could further entrench herself as a major box office star in 2023 too. The Oscar-winning actress has a history of appearing in multiple billion-dollar movies in a single year, thanks to 2019's Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. Larson will now attempt to repeat this feat with the combination of Fast X and The Marvels releasing this year. She's expected to play a major supporting role in Fast & Furious 10. Meanwhile, her return as Captain Marvel will keep Larson at the forefront of a major MCU release with huge box office potential. If everything goes right, multiple billion-dollar films could come.
Rebecca Ferguson - Dune: Part Two, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Rebecca Ferguson could go down as the highest grossing actress of 2023 at the box office. She's returning to two of her biggest roles this year thanks to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One and Dune: Part Two. Ferguson returns as Ilsa Faust in the former five years after the last sequel, while she also plays Lady Jessica again in the latter just two years after the original. Both movies will prominently feature the actress, even if she is not the lead of either. The end result should be another boost to Rebecca Ferguson's popularity.
Jason Momoa - Fast X, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Jason Momoa could be another huge winner from the 2023 box office. He will play central roles in the latest installments of the Fast & Furious franchise and DC Universe. Audiences will first see Jason Momoa play the villain in Fast X, a film with the potential to make $1 billion. He is also returning as Aquaman in the DCU to be the lead of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Considering the first movie made over $1 billion for Warner Bros., a similar performance is in the cards for the sequel. As a result, Jason Momoa could be featured prominently in one of the biggest summer and December movies.
Vin Diesel - Fast X, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Vin Diesel seems destined for box office dominance once again in 2023. The actor returns as his beloved character Dominic Toretto in Fast X this summer. The action franchise has become a consistent box office performer for Universal and Diesel. While F9's box office was lower than more recent installments, that can be attributed to the pandemic. Fast X could return the franchise to its billion-dollar grossing days. Furthermore, Diesel returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2023 to voice Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The highly-anticipated MCU film has all the makings of a box office hit and could be Marvel's highest grossing movie of the year.
Chris Pratt - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The front-runner to be 2023's highest grossing actor at the box office should be Chris Pratt. His potentially lucrative year begins with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 in May as he returns as Star-Lord. The highly anticipated MCU 2023 movie could be his final appearance as Star-Lord, and it has a good shot at making over $1 billion worldwide. This might not even be Chris Pratt's biggest movie at the box office this year. Illumination and Nintendo's animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie very well could be the highest grossing movie of 2023. Thanks to these two potentially dominant summer releases, Chris Pratt's reign atop the box office could happen.