Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya Among Stars Named to Exclusive Hollywood List

What makes a movie star?

Yes, if you appear in a movie, even for a few seconds, you can say you’re a movie star to some extent.

Then there are the actors and actresses who headline movies, where they are the main character of the story they’re telling. Then, above those, are the stars who can demand that their names be as big or bigger than the actual movie title on the promotional poster.

Then there are the movie stars. The ones that can bring a flock of fans to a movie theater at midnight to watch them perform, regardless of what the plot is about.

These are the true heavyhitters of Hollywood, the ones that movie theater owners across the globe fill their screens with whenever they come out with a new flick.

More news: Timothée Chalamet Makes Crucial Career Decision After Oscars Loss

More news: 2027 Oscars: 5 Films Already Poised to Win Best Picture

In a new feature from Variety, which interviewed a series of the most well-known executives and presidents in the movie theater business, they put together a list of true box-office draws who shape the business for some of the most powerful people in film.

At the top of the list, along with other titans, is 30-year-old Timothée Chalamet, who might not have won an Oscar, but delivered a smash hit with the ping pong biopic “Marty Supreme” at the end of 2025.

Another young name on the list, shaking up the industry, is Zendaya, the 29-year-old slated to star in arguably the two biggest films of 2026, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” alongside Chalamet.

Here’s the full list of true box office draws from Variety’s research.

• Zendaya
• Margot Robbie
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Ryan Gosling
• Austin Butler
• Timothée Chalamet
• Tom Holland
• Brad Pitt

Of those names, Gosling is currently the one leading the global box office, with his sci-fi epic novel adaptation “Project Hail Mary” already grossing $433 million after only a few weeks.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 4:17 PM.