Hollywood's most bankable star has no solo hit, yet films worth $2.3B; beat Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr, Dwayne Johnson

Hindustan Times

a day ago

The summer of 2025 is the summer of superheroes and blockbusters in Hollywood. A number of mega-budget films are releasing in theatres this year between May and August, raising hopes of a revival of theatrical cinema at the box office. And even as Marvel leads the charge, one man has been at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist over the last couple of years. And now, having become Hollywood's most bankable star, he has mega projects lined up over the next two years, too. (Also read: Made for $65M, earned $120K, Hollywood's biggest box office bomb ended careers, was called 'worst movie of 21st century')
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal is currently at the peak of his career. Having been around for three decades, the 50-year-old truly broke through only in the last decade, and is now in the busiest phase of his life. In 2025, he has already starred in the second season of HBO's successful video game adaptation, The Last of Us. But it is how the rest of the year pans out for him that makes him Hollywood's most bankable star. Pedro has three films lined up for release this year, and he is filming three more. The combined production budget of these films is over $2.3 billion, a staggering sum.
Pedro will be first seen in Celine Song's romantic drama, Materialists. Also starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning, the film is said to be among the most anticipated rom-coms of the summer. Apart from this, he is also in Ari Aster's Western, Eddington. Then comes his biggest role on the big screen yet. Pedro will portray Reed Richards, aka Mr Fantastic, in Marvel Cinematic Universe's reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. Titled Fantastic Four: The First Steps, the film has been mounted on a $120 million budget, with millions more being spent on marketing. The film marks Pedro's MCU debut.
But it is the movies Pedro is filming in 2025 that make him the top draw in Hollywood right now. First up is the film spinoff from the Star Wars universe - The Mandalorian and Grogu. Made on a budget of $167 million, the film takes forward Pedro's character from The Mandalorian series and is set to be the finale to the show. Then, Pedro will bring his Mr Fantastic to the Avengers-verse. He is part of the back-to-back productions - Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. According to ScreenRant, the two films are costing Marvel and Disney a staggering $2 billion in production and marketing.
Funnily enough, Pedro's success comes on the back of his performances on television. He broke through with the guest appearance on Game of Thrones season 4 (2015), before getting his own series in The Mandalorian. The success of the latter, followed by The Last of Us, made him a global star. Yet, in cinema, Pedro has never been a top box office draw, with almost all his hits coming where he was a supporting character. Yet, he has films worth $2.3 billion lined up now.
Even top Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Reynolds, and Dwayne Johnson don't have $2.3 billion riding on them like Pedro Pascal. Some MCU regulars like Robert Downey Jr and Anthony Mackie, who are likely to be in both Avengers films, come close, but none of them have other big-budget films like Pedro has in other franchises. Pedro will likely sign more films before the release of Secret Wars in late 2027, which means the 'summer of Pedro Pascal' is likely to continue for two more years.