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Kim Hollis: I'd argue that he is the current biggest star. His ascension does feel reminiscent of Harrison Ford, but also reminds me of Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback a few years ago as well. They both played superheroes and got a tremendous bump in popularity for doing so. They both were in some sort of known commodity (Sherlock Holmes for Downey, Jurassic World for Pratt) and both films got plenty of media attention. Chris Pratt has now starred in two films that surprised everyone with the box office they were able to accumulate, and one of them is the biggest opener of all-time.

I think what this will come down to is Pratt’s career choices moving forward, although I expect there will be inevitable backlash against him, just as there has been with Johnny Depp and RDJ. With that said, his next couple of films seem to be smart selections. Magnificent Seven is an update of a classic and puts him onscreen with Denzel Washington (and in a film directed by Antoine Fuqua). The two of them together offer a potent multi-quadrant combination. And his sci-fi project with Jennifer Lawrence, Passengers, appears to be on the verge of being official. I think the key for Pratt is that he’s choosing projects that he thinks are fun (and that he’d enjoy seeing on the big screen), and he’s been very smart so far.

David Mumpower: I agree with Kim that he is probably the world's biggest star. I understand that everyone is reticent to hand him the title after so few films. My counter to this logic is that when films universally overachieve, we always give credit to the actors even when we are dubious about them. In hindsight, people talked up Orlando Bloom too quickly when he was in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. No one would argue he's an opener. So, that's the cautionary tale. I just don't think Pratt fits that narrative, though.

He has a celebrity wife (Anna Faris), which immediately adds to his Hollywood mystique. Pratt was the face of the biggest comic book film of 2014 against fairly significant competition, and now he's just somehow blended elements of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park into the same film. Maybe I'm looking for reasons because the tracking and estimates were so far off on Jurassic World, but since this has happened twice in a row with Pratt, I have to start thinking it's no longer a coincidence. To my mind, Chris Pratt is what Ryan Reynolds was supposed to be as a box office star. They both have the look and the charisma. The difference comes solely down to track record.

Despite being a virtual unknown at the time, Pratt is a key player in Zero Dark Thirty and Moneyball, and I would add that his scene in Moneyball was the one that sold people in the advertising. Now, what he's done with his last two action films is the stuff of myth and legend. So, when I look at the landscape and seeing Robert Downey Jr. failing to open The Judge, I find myself accepting that people have grown tired of him. Who's left and in the argument for biggest box office performer? To my mind, the other candidates are Jennifer Lawrence and The Rock. The Jennifer Lawrence one is trickier because it's difficult differentiating her from Katniss despite the fact that she's had other big prestige films as well. But if it's not Jennifer Lawrence, I find myself debating a simple question. If I needed a blockbuster hit tomorrow, and I could pick anyone in the world, would I take The Rock or Chris Pratt? Two to three years ago, I - and I alone - would have said The Rock. If I'm doing the casting tomorrow? My first phone call is unquestionably to Chris Pratt, and that's in spite of what The Rock did with Furious 7 and San Andreas, the latter of which was sold primarily on his presence.

Plus, and there's no way to quantify this, people seem to love Chris Pratt because of his humility and earnest nature, and this goes all the way back to his time on Everwood, where they gave his character more story simply because they seemed to like the actor. The reason why Sean Penn has never opened a movie in his life is because people don't want to put up with the aggravation. Pratt's just the opposite. As crazy as it may sound, Chris Pratt is now the biggest box office draw in the world.

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