As Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, and Denzel Washington can tell you, life in Hollywood doesn’t have to end when you reach middle age.
Alice Mongkongllite for BuzzFeed
It's an adage as old as Hollywood (which is, mind you, really, really old) that the older a movie star gets, the less of a draw that star is at the box office. Younger people supposedly go to the movies more often than older people, and young people don't like to be reminded that they will, in fact, get old. Only wrinkle-free skin and coming-of-age stories matter.
Yet, a small handful of stars have enjoyed the best opening weekends of their careers after they turned 50 — especially (though not exclusively) over the last decade or so. And they've done so not in wizened supporting roles, or even in major starring roles in massive brand-name franchises. These are movies in which one of the central selling points is that this particular actor over 50 is starring in this particular lead role.
The most recent member to join the elite club of Success Stories Post-50 is Liam Neeson, whose 2009 megahit Taken pioneered a new career path for Baby Boomer male actors: kick-ass action star. For the last six years, Neeson has headlined a series of old-school action films, peaking — so far — with 2012's Taken 2, which opened with $49.7 million when he was 60.
With the third (and final?) film in that series, Taken 3, opening this weekend, it seemed fitting to celebrate the actors like Neeson who have proven life in Hollywood can get even sweeter after turning 50.
(A note on criteria: I drew from the 150 top-grossing stars according to Box Office Mojo, and focused on opening weekend grosses, the best — but still flawed — barometer for a star's drawing power. I also adjusted for ticket price inflation. I concentrated only on live-action films in which the actor in question had a lead, above-the-title role, and did not include films for which the franchise itself was the main draw — like Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings. This meant some over-50 actors who are popular, like Samuel L. Jackson and Ian McKellan, didn't make this particular list.)
Dustin Hoffman
Movie: Meet the Fockers (2004)
Age at release: 67
Opening weekend (adjusted): $60,009,300
Current age: 77
Hoffman was past standard retirement age when he co-starred in the enormously lucrative sequel to 2000's Meet the Parents, performing alongside Barbra Streisand as Ben Stiller's titular parents. This movie was such a gargantuan hit ($516.6 million worldwide! And it's a comedy!) that it also served as the box office high watermark for someone else on this list. (See No. 6.)
Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection
Sean Connery
Movie: The Rock (1996)
Age at release: 66
Opening weekend (adjusted): $45,828,500
Current age: 84
Connery's early career was haunted by the ghost of James Bond, but by the 1980s, he had become a full-fledged star outside of 007's tuxedo, with hits including The Untouchables, The Hunt for Red October, and Rising Sun. But he reached his box office peak with one of director Michael Bay's earliest films, as the only Alcatraz inmate to ever escape from the prison. Fun fact: This is also co-star Nicolas Cage's best opening weekend ever. He was 32.
Buena Vista / Courtesy Everett Collection
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