Henry Cavill, Ryan Gosling Failed With Expensive Movies While 3 Stars Made Millions With Low Budget Original Movies in 2024

Big-budgeted films with a stellar cast are normally expected to perform better at the box office than low-budgeted films. However, the 2024 box office so far has seen more major flops, big-budget films failing to make it to the breakeven point, and low-budgeted movies garnering millions across the world. And so it was for actors like Henry Cavill and Ryan Gosling, who despite their fanfare and talent, failed to woo the audiences with their feats.

While Henry Cavill so far has recorded two flops this year (Argylle & The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) despite some pretty astounding collaborations, last year’s box-office dominating stars Gosling and Emily Blunt failed to live up to expectations with their action-packed romantic comedy, The Fall Guy.

So while Henry Cavill and Ryan Gosling try to figure out what made their movies perform way below expectations, here are three stars who made millions with their low-budgeted original movies at the box office in 2024, so far!

1. Jason Statham with The Beekeeper

Jason Statham is one of the best action stars of all time, yet he remains grossly underrated and unappreciated at times. While he has been in several impeccable films, his career is majorly dominated by two franchises, Fast & Furious and Expendables. Fortunately for him, the actor’s 2024 flick, The Beekeeper proved his worth as a leading man and might be his highest-grossing film as the sole lead.

The David Ayer-directed film features Statham as an elite covert agent who has now retired as a beekeeper. However, he has to step up again when Josh Hutcherson’s villain shows up. Packed with exciting action sequences and an entertaining story, the movie made against a budget of $40 million went on to gross $152 million worldwide (via IMDb).

The Beekeeper can be streamed on Fandango.

2. Kristen Dunst with Civil War

A24 is known for picking up ambitious flicks and is fast coming up as a major rival studio. Although it has seen its fair share of flops, the studios’ 2024 epic Civil War is an audacious venture and turned out to be a major success. Starring the likes of Kristen Dunst, the movie stars several talented yet lesser-known actors, making its success an even more surprising event.

Based in a dystopian world, the movie features a team of journalists caught amid a civil war being fought between an authoritarian federal government and several states. The most expensive film by A24 at $50 million (via IndieWire) and the biggest opening for the studio at $25.7 million (via Deadline), it is also the studio’s one of the highest grossing films at $113 million (via Box Office Mojo).

Civil War can be rented on Amazon Prime.

3. Harriet Slater with Tarot

This supernatural film might be a shocking entry on this list, but the Harriet Slater-starrer film has performed exceptionally well at the box office. Written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, it is based on the 1992 novel, Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams. Starring actions like Slater, Adain Bradley, and Mean Girls famed Avantika Vandanapu and others, the movie is a gruesome horror tale.

The movie features a group of college students who mess up the Tarot reading and unknowingly unleash an evil trapped within their cursed cards. Things start getting frightening when one by one they end up meeting a gruesome death. Made against a budget of $8 million by Sony and Screen Gems (via Variety), Tarot has grossed over $37 million worldwide so far (via Box Office Mojo).

Tarot is still in theatres now, and so is Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy.

While Henry Cavill’s Argylle can be streamed on Apple TV+ and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare can be rented on Amazon Prime.