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Is Leo DiCaprio Still Hollywood’s Unicorn?

For years, DiCaprio has been the pinnacle of Hollywood: a prestige movie star who can actually open movies, with grosses of more than $7 billion. But as Leo hits 50 and starts promoting One Battle After Another, does he still have the same power? A new study runs the numbers.

Leonardo DiCaprio
Starting with Titanic in 1997, Leo has made 20 movies for theaters and grossed more than $7 billion. His worldwide haul—not including Don’t Look Up, for which Netflix paid him about $35 million to forgo a big theatrical release—has averaged about $350 million per movie. Averaged. Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
September 12, 2025

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Summer’s over, it’s getting dark earlier, and the pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio sunning his belly on yachts have been replaced in our feeds by videos of Leo dutifully fulfilling his publicity obligations for his latest expensive drama from an auteur filmmaker. One Battle After Another is yet another prestige project for which DiCaprio was paid more than $25 million and will be the primary reason regular people pay to see it in theaters.