2022 is shaping up to be the best one yet for Keke Palmer's career, with a prominent vocal part in Pixar's Lightyear and an upcoming co-lead role in Jordan Peele's Nope, opening July 22nd.
But this won't be Palmer's first fantastic year, as the likable performer has been working hard since her early days as a child actor, even going so far as to lead two films by the age of 18. While not all were hits, they are indicative of variety in Palmer's filmography, which looks to be diversified even further with Peele's upcoming genre-bending film.
Alice (2022) — $373,000
In Alice, Palmer portrays a Georgian slave who escapes only to learn that it's not the 19th century as she'd been told, but rather 1973. With the help of truck driver Frank (Common), the unnamed young woman hopes to exact bloody revenge on her captor, Paul Bennet (Jonny Lee Miller). It's a meaty role for Palmer, and she throws herself into it entirely, doing justice for the real-life victims who inspired her character.
Palmer's crime thriller vehicle didn't make jaw-dropping amounts of money in U.S. theaters, but it also played in at most 169 of them, per the film's Box Office Mojo page. Alice's Palmer, Common, and Lee Miller are talented, likable performers, but they were marquee names on a relatively small film. Furthermore, the film's violence and antebellum setting were also sure to turn off a few potential ticket-buyers.
The Longshots (2008) — $11.5 Million
The Longshots stars Palmer and Ice Cube as Jasmine and her former football player uncle, Curtis. When Curtis gets the chance to lead his niece's school football team, he makes the unconventional decision to enlist her as the quarterback. The film, directed by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, is actually a biopic of real-life quarterback Jasmine Plummer, and Palmer displays an incredible amount of maturity in showing respect to the individual she's portraying.
The Durst-directed biopic may have had family-friendly appeal and the inclusion of both Palmer and Ice Cube, but it barely made a dent at the domestic box office, opening to a slim $4 million on its way to a final stateside gross of $11.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Akeelah And The Bee (2006) — $19 Million
One of Keke Palmer's best films just as it's one of her best performances, Akeelah and the Bee follows the titular character as she seeks to rise to the top at the National Spelling Bee. The film received a fair bit of critical acclaim, and even those detractors who found it to be akin to a TV movie found a lot to praise in Palmer's work.
Regardless of whether or not Akeelah and the Bee was a blockbuster is irrelevant compared to the impressive fact that Palmer not only leads the film at 11 but holds her own against a great performer such as Fishburne. But it was also a movie to generate a decent amount of interest, earning back 75 percent of its $8 million budget over the course of its opening weekend alone, per Box Office Mojo.
Joyful Noise (2012) — $31 Million
Joyful Noise follows the congregation of a small church in Georgia. Once a well-known source of gorgeous choir music, the church is now the site of a battle between strong-willed and very different singers Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) and G. G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton). Palmer portrays Olivia, Vi's daughter and a source of wisdom in her mother's saddest moments. The most impressive aspect of the film as a whole is how well Palmer holds her own against the even more experienced Latifah, though neither of their performances was enough to save the movie from poor critical reception.
Unlike similar high-profile, well-cast musicals, Joyful Noise was not a success at the box office. With a $25 million budget and a worldwide total of just over $31 million (per Box Office Mojo) it seems the combined star power of Parton, Palmer, and Latifah wasn't enough for profitability.
Madea's Family Reunion (2006) — $63 Million
In Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, the title character is forced to take in an ill-tempered foster child (Palmer's Nikki) due to her actions in Perry's first film: Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Family Reunion wasn't the first time Perry's Madea movies tackled deep issues, and it was far from the last, but an attitude-prone child learning to reform from an attitude-prone adult is an interesting spin on a well-worn concept.
Like the majority of Perry's other films, the international gross for Madea's Family Reunion is negligible. However, considering it made over $63 million (according to Box Office Mojo) on a budget of just $6 million, there was little doubt the director would be able to continue making as many movies as he saw fit. Unfortunately, however, the 2006 Reunion film is to date the only time Perry and Palmer have collaborated.
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) — $64 Million
Palmer reprised her role as Peaches the mammoth from Ice Age: Continental Drift for what is to date the final installment of the franchise: Ice Age: Collision Course. As the daughter of Ray Romano's Manny and Queen Latifah's Ellie, Peaches allowed Palmer plenty of time in the voice acting spotlight before her role in Lightyear.
By the time the Ice Age series' fifth installment hit theaters, domestic interest had dwindled to a severe extent (a mere $64 million, per Box Office Mojo). The same could be said to a lesser degree for its international pull, but it still scored over three times its $105 million budget from international territories alone.
Barbershop 2: Back In Business (2004) — $65 Million
In Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Palmer's role is fairly blink-and-you'll-miss-it, starring as the niece of Queen Latifah's Gina, who would go on to get her own spinoff: Beauty Shop.
2002's Barbershop was a surprise smash hit in the United States, scoring a final U.S. gross of nearly $76 million on a $12 million budget, per Box Office Mojo. The Palmer-starring sequel didn't do quite as well, making $65 million on a vastly increased budget of $30 million (also according to Box Office Mojo), but it was still profitable enough to eventually result in Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016).
Lightyear (2022) — $112.5 Million (As Of 7/10)
In Pixar's Lightyear, Palmer voices ambitious Space Ranger Izzy Hawthorne, the now-grown granddaughter of Alisha, Buzz's old pal before he got trapped in hyperspace for a few years. Not only is Pixar's film the highest-budgeted entry in Palmer's filmography, but it also gives her a role nearly as chewy as that of the title character. Hawthorne is extremely driven, yet can show her fun side, though she will never sacrifice the importance of the mission at hand.
Lightyear may be Palmer's most high-profile film, just as it's one of her highest-grossing, but it still hasn't proven to be a financial success. The film didn't impress pundits over its opening weekend, scoring a lackluster $50 million stateside (per Box Office Mojo) on a $200 million budget. More troubling is the fact that it hasn't held on well week after week, which is unusual for an animated film, particularly one of the Toy Story franchise.
Hustlers (2019) — $105 Million
Hustlers follows a group of exotic dancers who begin drugging and robbing their high-rolling, big banker clients. Led by Constance Wu's new-to-the-game Destiny and Jennifer Lopez's seasoned pro, Ramona, Palmer's Mercedes and her peers go for an illegal, extravagant ride that ultimately ends in jail time and suffering for all involved.
Hustlers was a major hit for STX Entertainment, their biggest outside of perhaps Bad Moms. The film went into production with a budget of $20.7 million, shockingly small considering the involvement of Lopez (who also served as producer alongside Will Ferrell and Adam McKay), Cardi B, Lizzo, Palmer, and Riverdale's Lili Reinhart. It earned nearly eight times that worldwide, including just about $105 million from the United States alone, per Box Office Mojo.
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) — $161 Million
After the second film of the Ice Age saga, The Meltdown, outgrossed the first film in both the domestic and international markets, the third installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), stayed about even in the domestic market. But it jumped by another extremely impressive $220 in international territories, guaranteeing the existence of Palmer's first installment as the rambunctious and fun-loving Peaches: Ice Age: Continental Drift.
Like the long-running Fast & Furious franchise, Ice Age continued to excel overseas (per the film's Box Office Mojo page), with the fourth installment's international tally of $715 million making the film's still-impressive $161 million domestic gross seem small.