Research mapping out the most bankable movie stars

Following the release of UNIC’s brand-new annual data report showing that box office growth across Europe has officially surged past pre-pandemic levels, the question of what drives theatrical profitability across the region has never been more interesting. To shed more light on this topic, I am sharing our new report revealing the most bankable movie stars of 2026.

To map out the most bankable movie stars, the team at PlayersTime combined the box office earnings across each actor’s and actress’ major 2025-2026 theatrical releases. Recognising that modern stardom extends beyond the movie theatre, we also integrated active Instagram follower counts to measure digital reach alongside monthly Google search volumes to capture real-time public interest. Finally, we categorised all 200 names by age and country of origin, creating a definitive snapshot of global movie star power, with the full dataset used available on Google Drive via this link.

Data reveals that the United Kingdom’s Tom Holland is the most bankable actor in Europe with a commanding $3.13 billion box office haul, driven mostly by his most notable role of 2026 as Spider-Man in the record-shattering Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He is followed closely by French icon Jean Reno who has brought in an impressive $1.93 billion in combined box office revenue, and Spain’s Oona Chaplin at a heavy-hitting $1.49 billion across their roles in theatrical releases between 2025 and 2026 so far.

Other key takeaways from the report:

• Tom Holland is officially ruling box office rankings in Europe, with a massive $3.13 billion box office haul. The main catalyst here is his return as everyone's favourite web-slinger in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), which literally just shattered records by crossing the $2 billion mark in global box office revenues this weekend. When you pair that historic run with his other major project, Christopher Nolan's epic The Odyssey (2026), it's clear Holland has evolved into the ultimate global box office juggernaut.
• Mainland Europe’s movie bankability is represented by French movie icon Jean Reno, who is tracking at a massive $1.93 billion box office, a number heavily powered by his voice work in Zootopia 2 alongside key roles in 2025’s theatrical releases, Marsupilami and Tuner. Meanwhile, Spain's Oona Chaplin commands a heavy-hitting $1.49 billion due to her central role in the unstoppable Avatar universe, turning her historic family legacy into modern box office dominance.
• Across the rest of Europe, we can see high-performing stars like Germany's Sandra Hüller, who brought in $684.8 million at the box office by starring alongside Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary and opposite Tom Cruise in Digger. Right behind her, Norway’s Renate Reinsve hits $413.6 million following a major year with Sentimental Value and Fjord, while Italy’s Michele Morrone secures $400.8 million by leveraging his massive global appeal into 2026 theatrical projects like Another Simple Favor and The Housemaid.
• While blockbuster markets clear the billion-dollar mark, some of Europe’s most respected icons show much lower box office tallies simply by prioritising prestige indie cinema over massive global studio franchises. For instance, Sweden’s Rebecca Ferguson brings in a modest $87 million, while Scotland’s Peter Mullan sits at $16.1 million. This trend is even more obvious with Denmark's universally acclaimed Mads Mikkelsen, who stands at just $6.4 million.

‘The ranking highlights an interesting paradox in European cinema: Europe continues to produce some of the world’s most recognisable actors, but many of its biggest stars generate their largest box-office returns through Hollywood-led productions. Tom Holland is the extreme example, while actors including Jean Reno, Oona Chaplin, and Sandra Hüller show how European talent can become embedded in global franchises. In that sense, the data is less a measure of which country makes the biggest movies and more a snapshot of which European-born stars have successfully crossed into the global blockbuster economy.’

- comments Stanislava Savisheva, data analyst at PlayersTime.

More detailed findings, including full movie star rankings, social media breakdowns, and the complete dataset, are available in the full report. The raw data can also be accessed via the Google Drive link.