Henry Cavill’s name isn’t looking too good right now. The 40-year-old just came out with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and the opening weekend for the film wasn’t particularly stacked. There was Radio Silence’s Abigail and Civil War only made $25 million the first weekend. It seemed like an easy No. 1 for the Guy Ritchie film, but sadly, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare didn’t even get the number two spot.
That isn’t the only flop that Cavill has had this year. Argylle was a huge one on the levels of John Carter. It’s reported production budget was $200 million, but it only made $96.2 million worldwide. It’s certainly eye brow raising that the Man of Steel star is coming out with flops left and right. Many thought that him finally exiting the world of superheroes was going to help showcase Cavill’s star power in the long. However, we now have to question whether the British actor was a star in the first place.
Henry Cavill’s Most Successful Films Didn’t Rely On His Name
I want to be very clear about Henry Cavill, this isn’t about his abilities as an actor or even a personal snipe at him. Cavill is a talented actor and I don’t know about him personally to even make a piece about his life outside of movies. Business is business, so it’s important to dissect why Cavill’s movie have been a flop recently.
This sounds crazy because when you think of Henry Cavill, you associate his name with Man of Steel ($667 million), Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($872 million), or Mission Impossible: Fallout ($786 million). Those films were highly successful and Cavill’s performances were especially well regarded by fans and critics. But Cavill isn’t the star of those franchises. The name is. Cavill was a relative unknown when he was cast as Superman; however, the name of Superman and Zack Snyder were the draws here.
Like I stated previously, audiences were impressed by his performance, but fans would’ve still seen the film regardless of the actor attached to it. Dawn of Justice had the appeal of Batman and Superman fighting in live-action for the first time. Plus, the introduction of Wonder Woman was a key factor. The Mission Impossible series is Tom Cruise’s brand. Cavill’s surely help put some eye balls onto Fallout, but Mission Impossible was a well established series before he jump onboard.
Henry Cavill Has Never Led A Successfully Original Blockbuster
When you look at Cavill’s name outside of established brands then you’ll realize that he’s not a star. A star is able to carry a film to box office success. Tom Cruise built his name on a films like Jerry McGuire or A Few Good Man and has led several successful franchise. Kevin Feige in some ways is a star. Sure, he adapted popular comic book names, but the whole universe thing didn’t exist until he came onboard.
He built trust and confidence through making great movies, and that led to creating a franchise that raked in over $20 billion worldwide. Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith (before the slap), Denzel Washington, Scarlett Johansson; these actors have success films original that bank off their names alone. Cavill hasn’t really built his name in that manner. He had a few supporting (and forgettable) roles before he got Superman. He surely has fans, but not at the level of the actors mentioned above. Most of those fans care about his superhero work, but outside of it, Cavill is still in the phase of proving his value beyond Superman.
His performance were highly touted again in Warfare and Argylle, but it never overshadow his role as Clark Kent. Cavill needs to take more role that highlight how much of a dynamic performed he is in order for fans to look past him as just Superman.
Has Henry Cavill’s Star Power Fallen?
Cavill’s star power has reached high levels yet. The problem is that the actor has only tapped into the mainstream/comic book market. All the names mentioned above are Oscar nominees and winners; there’s been a balance in their careers where they’ve done prestigious films and straight blockbusters. That’s what missing in Cavill’s filmography. He has a couple of indie films under his belt, but the main source of his roles is action.
It’s hard to step out of the shadow out of Superman when he’s mainly in the same genre as Man of Steel. This isn’t to stay that Cavill can’t turn into an action star as he certainly has the ability, but he has to gain the trust of more than the casual mainstream audience.
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