• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

The Glen Powell Paradox

Leading men, take heed: “The Running Man” remake’s soft opening is a lesson about the difference between bankable I.P. and fare maybe best left to history. Meanwhile, movies made by, for, and/or starring women continue to power the box office, with “Wicked” on deck.

Glen Powell
Luckily for Powell, he’s smartly spent the past few years cashing studio paychecks on perceived, theoretical star power. Photo: Sergio Flores/AFP/Getty Images
Scott Mendelson
November 18, 2025

Join Puck to listen to this article

Plenty of people would love for Glen Powell to become a movie star—most of all, I’m sure, Glen Powell. But this weekend’s $16.5 million North American box office cume for The Running Man isn’t going to get him there. One star vehicle whiff doesn’t kill a career, of course, but studios should know by now that casting a handsome, charming actor as an action figure in a big-budget, recycled I.P.-for-I.P.’s sake fantasy or action spectacle doesn’t get you to Tom Cruise. Luckily for Powell, he’s smartly spent the past few years cashing studio paychecks on perceived, theoretical star power.