Glen Powell Will Either Be the Next A-List Star or the Next Taylor Kitsch

By Dustin Rowles | Film | May 9, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | May 9, 2024 |

Former Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch was famously attached to three high-profile films in 2012: John Carter in March, Battleship in May, and Oliver Stone’s Savages in July. All three bombed. In the span of five months, Kitsch went from being the next big star to box-office poison. The fault was not so much in his acting as it was in his choice of projects.

Glen Powell could be the next Kitsch, although I’m betting it’s more likely that the Top Gun: Maverick star will ascend to the A-list. He’s coming off a thoroughly mediocre rom-com, Anyone But You, which he and Sydney Sweeney somehow managed to push over $200 million globally, despite the fact that romcoms have been on life support for years.

Next up, Powell will appear in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man on May 24th. It’s on Netflix, so he won’t have to answer to the box-office gods, but he will need to please the algorithm. Two months later, Powell will face his first huge test: Can he open a blockbuster summer film? Twisters, the sequel to Twister, arrives on July 19th. Here’s the newest trailer.

Beyond that, Powell already has four big projects lined up, beginning with Monsanto, a legal drama from John Lee Hancock. It’s the true story of a young, untried attorney, Brent Wisner (Powell), going up against Monsanto for their Roundup product, a weed and grass pesticide that harmed a high-school groundskeeper. That’s Oscar material right there (and casting Laura Dern doesn’t hurt).

Powell is also set to star in Edgar Wright’s remake of Stephen King’s The Running Man, and he’s about to shoot Huntington in South Africa with Margaret Qualley.

Today, it was also announced that Powell has come on board J.J. Abrams’ next project. Abrams hasn’t directed a film since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, so this is a big deal. No details have been disclosed, and I suspect it’s a few years out, so Abrams is trusting that Powell will be the next big A-list star and not 2024’s Taylor Kitsch. It seems like a safe bet, and maybe Abrams can spare a supporting role for Kitsch.