How Glen Powell’s bid to be ‘the next Tom Cruise’ has suffered major blow with Running Man flop

Glen Powell was being hailed as Hollywood’s next Tom Cruise – but his latest action thriller Running Man has hit a brutal box office snag.  

Fresh off the blockbuster streak of Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49 billion globally), Anyone But You ($220M), and Twisters ($372M), the 37-year-old heartthrob looked unstoppable. 

Hollywood had even pinned high hopes on his new take of the 1987 Stephen King classic – originally starring Arnold Schwarzenegger – with Baby Driver director Edgar Wright attached.

But the gamble didn’t pay off. Running Man stumbled out of the gate with just $17 million domestically, getting blindsided by Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which pulled in a surprising $21.3 million. 

Overseas audiences offered little rescue, adding only $11.1 million for a global total of $28.1 million – a disastrous start for a movie with a $110 million production budget. 

Now, an insider tells Daily Mail that the flop could derail Powell’s rise to action stardom, just as Cruise, 63, steps back from the Mission Impossible franchise.

Running Man stumbled out of the gate with just $17 million domestically, getting blindsided by Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which pulled in a surprising $21.3 million

‘This movie was a major test. His first huge mega-budget film where he’s the marquee name,’ the source said. 

‘Hollywood is trying to position him as the next Tom Cruise, but this is a major global fail.’ 

Another insider told Daily Mail that Powell is already looking ahead. 

‘Glen has been working for a long time and his star rising is a long time coming, and to be the next big star, or the next Tom Cruise doesn’t happen overnight, or at all,”‘ the insider said. 

‘With Running Man flopping, it really sucks, because Glen thought it was going to be an enormous hit, now that it wasn’t, he is looking to dust himself off and get to people and in their good graces next time. 

‘He has a lot of work upcoming and many still want to work with him. This is looking to be more of a bump in the road than a full derailment.’

The source also reminded fans that Schwarzenegger’s original Running Man was only a moderate box office success with mixed reviews but later gained cult status.

‘What people forget is that the original Running Man wasn’t a hit and then became a classic after a few years, and this one just came out at the wrong time,’ the insider said. 

‘It is more of a summer movie and should have been brought out around Comic-Con.  The box office wasn’t ideal, but the studio is looking for it to be a hit when it gets to streaming.’

Fresh off the blockbuster streak of Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49 billion globally) and Twisters ($372M), the 37-year-old heartthrob looked unstoppable

Powell also scored big with Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You ($220M)

Powell has also been highly visible recently, hosting SNL and starring in his streaming series Chad Powers, something the insider said could have impacted ticket sales. 

‘Audiences still like Glen, but some of the blame should be put on people watching him from home with him being on SNL this past weekend and also having his show Chad Powers out that you can watch on your couch,’ the insider said.  

There were even whispers that Powell’s stint as Jimmy Kimmel’s first guest after his Charlie Kirk suspension may have caused minor fallout.

‘It was brought up in some conversations but quickly wasn’t substantiated as truthful, but some brought up that audiences that would go see the movie were turned off by Glen being the first guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s return show… maybe a little collateral damage happened, but that hasn’t been fully proven,’ the source said.

Even critics were split on whether Powell could inherit Cruise’s action throne. 

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Powell for comment and has yet to hear back. 

The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin praised Powell, writing: ‘Look, I’m not saying that ever since Glen Powell caught the world’s eye in Top Gun: Maverick, the puppyish Texan has been deliberately and strategically positioned by Hollywood as a successor to Tom Cruise.

‘But if someone had been – well, it’s hard to think of a more effective means of doing so than by having him star in The Running Man, a kinetic, stylish, obviously physically and technically demanding new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel about a reality TV show with life or death stakes. 

‘It feels like a vintage Cruise project from his Minority Report and Collateral era – an action film with a timeliness that underscores, though never overwhelms, its go-for-broke showmanship.’

‘This movie was a major test. His first huge mega-budget film where he’s the marquee name,’ the source said of Running Man, adding ‘Hollywood is trying to position him as the next Tom Cruise, but this is a major global fail.’

‘With Running Man flopping, it really sucks, because Glen thought it was going to be an enormous hit, now that it wasn’t, he is looking to dust himself off and get to people and in their good graces next time,’ a second source said; (with Daisy Edgar-Jones in Twisters)

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney was less impressed.

‘Edgar Wright’s update of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle of the same name, while it has no shortage of action and adrenaline, ends up feeling hollow. 

‘It also fails to erase lingering doubts about Glen Powell’s viability as a leading man,’ he wrote.

Insiders say Powell is pressing on – but the Running Man flop raises questions about whether his Hollywood action star dreams are slipping away.