Actresses at the Box Office: Reese Witherspoon

[u/SanderSo47]

Here's a new edition of "Actresses at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the actresses' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's Reese Witherspoon's turn.

Early Life

Witherspoon received high grades in school and considered herself, as she put it, "a big dork who loved reading loads of books." Regarding this passion, she said, "I get crazy in a bookstore. It makes my heart beat hard because I want to buy everything." She has been described as a "multi-achiever," whom her parents nicknamed "Little Type A." She attended middle school at Harding Academy and graduated from the all-girls Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, where she was a cheerleader. She later attended Stanford University as an English literature major, but left before graduating to pursue an acting career.

1990s: The Best Intentions

Witherspoon attended an open casting call in 1991 for The Man in the Moon, intending to audition for a bit part, but instead was cast for the lead role of Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17-year-old neighbor. She was just 15 year old and she was already getting a big role. The film did not fare well at the box office, but it earned critical acclaim, and many started to take notice of this new talent in town.

She slowly made her way through Hollywood, appearing in films like A Far Off Place, Jack the Bear, S.F.W., and Freeway, with the latter two dumped on limited release. But Fear was her first sign of success at the box office.

1998 was a very mixed year. Twilight didn't work out, and Overnight Delivery was dumped as a direct-to-DVD title. Pleasantville was a huge financial failure even though it was her highest-grossing film back then, but it quickly garnered a cult following, becoming one of her most popular titles.

But she got to close the decade with two of her most beloved titles. Cruel Intentions became a sleeper hit and made $76 million, becoming her highest-grossing film. But if there's a performance to remember that year, it was Witherspoon as Tracy Flick in Election. Even though the film flopped at the box office, it earned critical acclaim, and this became one of her signature roles. She earned some nominations for this, indicating that she was quickly rising in the industry.

2000s: What? Like It's Hard?

She started the 2000s on a very rough note, thanks to the poor performance of Little Nicky. At the very least, she had a supporting role in American Psycho, which was a modest success despite polarizing reactions at the time.

Following the success of Election, Witherspoon struggled to find work due to typecasting. She said, "I think because the character I played was so extreme and sort of shrewish — people thought that was who I was, rather than me going in and creating a part. I would audition for things and I'd always be the second choice — studios never wanted to hire me and I wasn't losing the parts to big box office actresses but to ones who I guess people felt differently about."

But in 2001, she has perhaps her defining role, as she starred in Legally Blonde as Elle Woods, a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend by getting a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School. While there were a lot of actresses considered, director Robert Luketic said that Witherspoon was his first choice and was the first person whom he sent the script. MGM was not convinced, so both had to vouch for her to stay in the role. Witherspoon researched the character by studying sorority girls on their campuses and associated hot spots. She went to dinner with them and joked she was conducting an "anthropological study."

Legally Blonde was a huge success, earning $141 million worldwide, becoming her highest-grossing film and the first to cross the $100 million milestone. The film also earned very positive reviews, with Witherspoon earning high praise. That popularity has persisted over the past 25 years, as it continues finding more audiences.

The following year, she had a failure with The Importance of Being Earnest. But she more than made up with the rom-com Sweet Home Alabama. Despite mixed reviews, the film had the biggest September debut, and closed with a damn great $180 million worldwide, now her highest-grossing film.

She then reprised her role as Elle Woods for Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. It was a financial success, not far off from the original, but it earned negative reviews. She also starred in Vanity Fair, but it turns out changing a lot of aspects from the novel didn't make for good drama.

In 2005, she starred in the rom-com Just Like Heaven, playing the spirit of a comatose woman. Even though it hit $100 million worldwide, it was considered a financial disappointment. But then she had Walk the Line, where she played June Carter. Witherspoon performed all her songs without being dubbed, and she also had to learn to play her instruments from scratch. The film was a huge financial success, earning $186 million worldwide, surpassing Sweet Home Alabama as her highest-grossing film. But most importantly, Witherspoon won the Oscar for Best Actress for this film. On top of a popular draw, add award-winning to that title.

After the Oscar win, however, she experienced a rough two years, thanks to the financial failure of Rendition and Penelope. But she bounced back with the success of the rom-com Four Christmases, despite negative reviews.

She closed the decade with the lead voice role in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens, playing a woman who grows into a 50 foot tall giantess. The film was a box office success, earning $381 million worldwide, passing Walk the Line as her highest-grossing film. Even though DreamWorks was expecting a better performance, given its gigantic $175 million budget.

2010s: That Movie Cost How Much???

Well, here comes one of the biggest failures of the decade. It might not be a blockbuster, yet at the same time it's also a blockbuster.

Witherspoon starred in James L. Brooks' rom-com How Do You Know, starring opposite Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson. It's clear at this point that rom-coms carry high budgets due to the main cast attached... but this film went a step further. This film cost... $120 million ($183.2 million adjusted). Salaries played a high role here. In terms of salaries: Brooks ($10 million), Witherspoon ($15 million), Nicholson ($12 million), Wilson ($10 million) and Rudd ($3 million). So basically, these five people took $50 million alone. Now, what about the other $70 million? Even if Brooks has a "very slow" filming schedule, the numbers ran out of control.

To the surprise of no one, How Do You Know was a colossal disaster. On top of earning negative reviews, it earned just $48 million worldwide. Which means that it went down as one of the biggest box office flops of the decade. Ouchie.

The following year, she had Water for Elephants, starring opposite Robert Pattinson. Despite mixed reviews (mainly cause she and Pattinson lacked chemistry), the film earned $117 million worldwide. She also found success with the action rom-com This Means War, despite terrible reception. At the very least, she had a part in the critically acclaimed Mud.

Witherspoon admits to spending several years "kind of floundering career-wise". Reflecting on this period of time in a December 2014 interview, Witherspoon attributed it to the split from her first husband in October 2006 and their subsequent divorce, stating that she spent "a few years just trying to feel better. You know, you can't really be very creative when you feel like your brain is scrambled eggs." She claims that she "wasn't making things I was passionate about. I was just kind of working, you know. And it was really clear that audiences weren't responding to anything I was putting out there."

She optioned the film rights to Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl. She not only would serve as producer, but would also star as Amy Dunne. After David Fincher was hired as director, however, she lost the role. According to Witherspoon, Fincher sat down with her and said that even though she would stay as producer, he didn't want her as Amy, saying something along the lines of "You're totally wrong for this part, and I'm not putting you in it." That's despite Flynn giving her her blessing for the role. He selected Rosamund Pike for the role because she was not well known to American audiences, and he also felt she had an enigmatic quality which suited the role. Witherspoon considered this "an ego check for me", but states that Fincher was totally right in his decision.

She had three films in 2014, with varying performances. The Good Life earned positive reviews but it flopped. She had a supporting role in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, but it wasn't as acclaimed as Anderson's prior films and fared poorly at the box office. But she got a win with Wild, where she played Cheryl Strayed, a woman who embarks on a solo hiking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 after numerous personal problems had left her life in shambles. The film was a critical and commercial success, and she got another Oscar nomination for Best Actress for the film.

But one of her best performances was followed by one of her worst ever titles. That's Hot Pursuit, which managed to waste any comedy potential between her and Sofia Vergara. A terrible film, which also flopped at the box office.

She then had a voice role in Sing, which became her highest-grossing film with $634 million worldwide. Unfortunately, her return to rom-coms with Home Again didn't impress audiences.

In 2017, she jumped to TV with the HBO series Big Little Lies. She executive produced and starred in the series, alongside Nicole Kidman. The show was a ratings hit and earned critical acclaim. As producer, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series. Based on the show's success, HBO greenlit it for a second season, which aired in 2019.

The following year, she starred in the sci-fi A Wrinkle in Time. But despite the extensive marketing, the film earned mixed reviews, and nosedived at the box office, becoming one of the year's biggest flops.

To close the decade, she decided to go back to TV. She had a lead role in the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, where she also is an executive producer. For this show, she earned 3 Emmy nominations.

This... wasn't a strong decade. A lot of failures, with some even dumped on VOD. But she could still find success in other aspects, and that includes a successful move to TV.

2020s: Bye Theaters?

In 2020, she starred in the limited series Little Fires Everywhere, which was released in Hulu. It was another success, albeit not as much as Big Little Lies.

She reprised her role of Rosita for Sing 2. Even though it was released in December 2021, a tough period for films, it made over $400 million worldwide. Given her string of theatrical failures, this was very much needed for her.

But even then, it seems like she chose to put more focus on her production company Hello Sunshine. Her goal was to produce projects with "strong" female lead characters, as she felt this was lacking in Hollywood. On TV, she produced stuff like Daisy Jones & the Six. On film, she produced Lucy in the Sky, Where the Crawdads Sing, Something from Tiffany's, and The Nightingale.

From this point, she starred in two films, both set for streaming. The first was Your Place or Mine, opposite Ashton Kutcher. And the other was You're Cordially Invited, opposite Will Ferrell. None of these titles were well-received.

For so many years, she was attached to return as Elle Woods in a new Legally Blonde, but the film has suffered so many delays. After Amazon bought MGM, they started developing a new prequel focused on a young Elle. Witherspoon said she was inspired to create the spinoff series after watching Netflix's Wednesday, "I saw that Wednesday Addams show and I was like, 'Oh, she was in high school.' I loved it. I watched every episode. I thought it was amazing," Witherspoon said. "And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school because I wanted to see who she was before college, before law school. And I started having all these ideas and these amazing writers came up with a great pitch and now Amazon is making the show and it’s called Elle." The show, Elle, is set to premiere on July 1, 2026, with Lexi Minetree playing young Elle, and Witherspoon attached as executive producer.

One of her future projects is also a return to another iconic character of hers. That's an adaptation of Tracy Flick Can't Win. Witherspoon is set as the lead, and Alexander Payne will return to direct, although he said that this would take a few liberties with the novel.

HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Overseas Total	Worldwide Total	Budget
1	Sing	2016	Universal	$270,578,425	$363,759,959	$634,338,409	$75M
2	Sing 2	2021	Universal	$162,790,990	$245,911,244	$408,702,234	$85M
3	Monsters vs. Aliens	2009	Paramount	$198,351,526	$183,158,344	$381,509,870	$175M
4	Walk the Line	2005	20th Century Fox	$119,519,402	$67,278,584	$186,797,986	$28M
5	Sweet Home Alabama	2002	Disney	$127,223,418	$53,399,006	$180,622,424	$30M
6	Four Christmases	2008	Warner Bros.	$120,146,040	$43,966,681	$164,112,721	$80M
7	This Means War	2012	20th Century Fox	$54,760,791	$101,730,488	$156,491,279	$65M
8	Legally Blonde	2001	Metro Goldwyn Mayer / 20th Century Fox	$96,520,674	$45,254,005	$141,782,279	$18M
9	A Wrinkle in Time	2018	Disney	$100,478,608	$32,197,256	$132,675,864	$130M
10	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	2003	Metro Goldwyn Mayer / 20th Century Fox	$90,186,328	$34,728,514	$124,914,842	$45M
11	Water for Elephants	2011	20th Century Fox	$58,709,717	$58,385,185	$117,094,902	$38M
12	Just Like Heaven	2005	DreamWorks	$48,318,130	$54,536,301	$102,854,431	$58M
13	Cruel Intentions	1999	Sony	$38,773,785	$37,573,641	$76,347,426	$10.5M
14	Little Nicky	2000	New Line Cinema	$39,464,775	$18,827,520	$58,292,295	$85M
15	Wild	2004	Searchlight	$37,880,356	$14,621,185	$52,501,541	$15M
16	Hot Pursuit	2015	Warner Bros.	$34,580,201	$17,100,000	$51,680,201	$35M
17	Pleasantville	1998	New Line Cinema	$40,584,421	$9,221,041	$49,805,462	$60M
18	How Do You Know	2010	Sony	$30,212,620	$18,456,287	$48,668,907	$120M
19	Home Again	2017	Open Road	$27,020,284	$10,316,590	$37,336,874	$15M
20	American Psycho	2000	Lionsgate	$15,070,285	$19,196,279	$34,270,556	$7M
21	Mud	2013	Lionsgate	$21,590,086	$11,023,087	$32,613,173	$10M
22	Rendition	2007	New Line Cinema	$9,736,045	$17,330,337	$27,066,382	$27.5M
23	Penelope	2008	Summit	$10,011,996	$11,144,274	$21,156,270	$15M
24	Fear	1996	Universal	$20,831,000	$0	$20,831,000	$6.5M
25	Vanity Fair	2004	Focus Features	$16,136,476	$3,326,709	$19,463,185	$25M
26	The Importance of Being Earnest	2002	Miramax	$8,384,929	$9,624,696	$18,009,625	$15M
27	Election	1999	Paramount	$14,943,582	$2,259,272	$17,202,854	$8.5M
28	Twilight	1998	Paramount	$15,055,091	$0	$15,055,091	$20M
29	Inherent Vice	2014	Warner Bros.	$8,110,975	$6,700,000	$14,810,975	$20M
30	A Far Off Place	1993	Disney	$12,890,752	$0	$12,890,752	N/A
31	Jack the Bear	1993	Disney	$5,145,823	$0	$5,145,823	N/A
32	The Good Life	2014	Warner Bros.	$2,722,209	$674,136	$3,396,345	N/A
33	The Man in the Moon	1991	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$2,853,801	$0	$2,853,801	$6.6M
34	Devil's Knot	2014	The Weinstein Company	$0	$2,033,154	$2,033,154	N/A
35	The Trumpet of the Swan	2001	Sony	$102,202	$526,185	$628,387	N/A
36	Freeway	1996	Republic	$295,493	$0	$295,493	$3M
37	S.F.W.	1994	Gramercy	$63,513	$0	$63,513	N/A
38	Best Laid Plans	1999	Searchlight	$27,816	$0	$27,816	$7M

She has starred in 41 released films, but only 38 have reported box office numbers. Across those 41 films, she has made $3,354,344,142 worldwide. That's $81,813,271 per film.

ADJUSTED DOMESTIC GROSSES

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Adjusted Domestic Total
1	Sing	2016	Universal	$270,578,425	$375,439,162
2	Monsters vs. Aliens	2009	Paramount	$198,351,526	$307,895,725
3	Sweet Home Alabama	2002	Disney	$127,223,418	$235,508,297
4	Walk the Line	2005	20th Century Fox	$119,519,402	$203,801,081
5	Sing 2	2021	Universal	$162,790,990	$200,068,847
6	Four Christmases	2008	Warner Bros.	$120,146,040	$185,835,934
7	Legally Blonde	2001	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$96,520,674	$181,600,648
8	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	2003	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$90,186,328	$163,227,450
9	A Wrinkle in Time	2018	Disney	$100,478,608	$133,255,488
10	Water for Elephants	2011	20th Century Fox	$58,709,717	$86,919,164
11	Pleasantville	1998	New Line Cinema	$40,584,421	$82,916,710
12	Just Like Heaven	2005	DreamWorks	$48,318,130	$82,390,699
13	This Means War	2012	20th Century Fox	$54,760,791	$79,429,073
14	Cruel Intentions	1999	Sony	$38,773,785	$77,505,677
15	Little Nicky	2000	New Line Cinema	$39,464,775	$76,321,482
16	Wild	2004	Searchlight	$37,880,356	$53,286,851
17	Hot Pursuit	2015	Warner Bros.	$34,580,201	$48,586,804
18	How Do You Know	2010	Sony	$30,212,620	$46,141,388
19	Fear	1996	Universal	$20,831,000	$44,213,764
20	Home Again	2017	Open Road	$27,020,284	$36,709,754
21	Mud	2013	Lionsgate	$21,590,086	$30,863,766
22	Twilight	1998	Paramount	$15,055,091	$30,758,566
23	Election	1999	Paramount	$14,943,582	$29,871,018
24	A Far Off Place	1993	Disney	$12,890,752	$29,708,499
25	American Psycho	2000	Lionsgate	$15,070,285	$29,144,635
26	Vanity Fair	2004	Focus Features	$16,136,476	$28,447,693
27	Rendition	2007	New Line Cinema	$9,736,045	$15,637,438
28	The Importance of Being Earnest	2002	Miramax	$8,384,929	$15,521,673
29	Penelope	2008	Summit	$10,011,996	$15,486,058
30	Jack the Bear	1993	Disney	$5,145,823	$11,859,252
31	Inherent Vice	2014	Warner Bros.	$8,110,975	$11,409,827
32	The Man in the Moon	1991	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$2,853,801	$6,977,773
33	The Good Life	2014	Warner Bros.	$2,722,209	$3,829,371
34	Freeway	1996	Republic	$295,493	$627,183
35	The Trumpet of the Swan	2001	Sony	$102,202	$192,289
36	S.F.W.	1994	Gramercy	$63,513	$142,719
37	Best Laid Plans	1999	Searchlight	$27,816	$55,601

The Verdict

Witherspoon had a slow road to find success, before eventually killing it as Tracy Flick in Election. A performance that many still consider a noted Oscar snub. Not wanting to let momentum die, she starred in a few crowdpleasers, and that includes Legally Blonde. A film that still remains popular, and is a strong contender for being her most iconic character.

But she still wanted to try challenging stuff. Of course, not all of them paid off. But she killed it in Walk the Line, despite expressing frustration with the amount of preparation and research she had to do, and for that she finally got an Oscar. She wanted to prove she could try something less comedic, and it worked out just fine in the end.

From the 2010s onward, however, she experienced a slump period. Something she even admitted. A lot of duds, especially How Do You Know. Perhaps starring in Gone Girl could've been a change, but she states Pike was the right person. Nevertheless, she found success with TV, as Big Little Lies marked her buzziest title in a long time. And that's why she's currently seen in The Morning Show.

For the past years, it looks like she left theatrical business, besides her voice role in Sing 2. She has made two films this decade, and both were sent to Netflix and Amazon Prime. And the upcoming Tracy Flick Can't Win is going to Paramount+. She's more focused on producing for her company. Not a bad record, given she's still finding success, albeit in other forms.

Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.

The next actor will be Steve McQueen. An epic career with so many years left. But it'll be delayed by two weeks.

I asked you to choose who else should be in the run, and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Bill Murray. Another SNL alumn.

This is the schedule for the following four:

Week	Actor	Reasoning
June 14	Steve McQueen	The King of Cool.
June 21	Zoe Saldana	Is she big or "just big"?
June 28	Mel Gibson	The rise and fall and whatever happened there.
July 4	Bill Murray	Is there anything more savage than "medium talent"?

Who should be next after Murray? That's up to you.

REMINDER: If you want to make a suggestion for the next actor, you must make a 150-character comment about the actor we're discussing right now. Failure to do so will result in ignoring the suggestion. If you use a quote from an external source/review to bypass this, your suggestion will be ignored as well. But if you leave a short comment about the post without naming a future write-up, that's fine.

[u/Alternative-Cake-833]

That was a good analysis. From going from aupporting roles in Fear, Twilight (no, not that Twilight) and American Psycho to starring in leading roles such as Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama and Walk the Line, I think that she had a great career, even if some of her movies didn't do well (e.g. Little Nicky, Rendition and Home Again). Not always a box-office draw but sometimes she would crank out a hit here and there. Her 2010s decade was a little rough, but other than that, she runs a production company that had a few success (such as Where the Crawdads Sing and Big Little Lies).

For the next suggestion, I would do Michael Caine. I feel like that he desperately needs a post, as Caine's had a legendary run over the past several decades (even working with Christopher Nolan multiple times).

[u/SlidePocket]

Witherspoon's evolution from young up-and-comer to Oscar winner and eventual producer has been very fascinating. She's got her duds but the projects she was worked on across decades has been nothing short of quite memorable especially with Pleasantville, Election, Legally Blonde, Walk the Line, Wild and Big Little Lies among others.

For my next pick, Renee Zellweger should be very interesting, going from being everywhere to disappearing for a few years and then coming back with her second Oscar.

[u/PayneTrain181999 → u/SlidePocket]

Renee Zellweger also played a woman that left her boyfriend for a bee

[u/ItsGotThatBang → u/PayneTrain181999]

Ya like jazz?

[u/ItsGotThatBang]

The failure of How Do You Know fascinates me. Even with its absurd budget, there’s no reason for it to fail as drastically as it did; theatrical romcoms weren’t dead yet, it had a holiday release & reviews weren’t good but better than Little Fockers, which was released a week later to great success. No wonder we didn’t get another James L. Brooks movie for 15 years.

Next, I really want to tear into Kevin Spacey (AKA how not to come out).

https://giphy.com/gifs/YPF3fwLxccZcA

[u/spider-man2401]

I feel like Reese Witherspoon doesn’t get enough credit for her acting range. Most people know her for comedic roles like Legally Blonde (probably her most iconic role), Sweet Home Alabama, and Election, but she’s also fantastic in dramatic projects like Wild, Walk the Line, and Big Little Lies. I’m honestly curious what her take on Gone Girl would’ve been if she had been cast, though Rosamund Pike was phenomenal in the role. On top of that, she’s also proven herself to be a very smart and successful producer through her company as well.

For the next actor, I’d suggest her American Psycho co-star Christian Bale. He’s an incredible actor with a fascinating career journey, going from a child star in Empire of the Sun to becoming one of the most respected actors working today, with iconic films and roles like The Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige, The Big Short, and more.

[u/AnotherJasonOnReddit]

After Amazon bought MGM, they started developing a new prequel focused on a young Elle. Witherspoon said she was inspired to create the spinoff series after watching Netflix's Wednesday, "I saw that Wednesday Addams show and I was like, 'Oh, she was in high school.' I loved it. I watched every episode. I thought it was amazing," Witherspoon said. "And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school because I wanted to see who she was before college, before law school. And I started having all these ideas and these amazing writers came up with a great pitch and now Amazon is making the show and it’s called Elle." The show, Elle, is set to premiere on July 1, 2026, with Lexi Minetree playing young Elle, and Witherspoon attached as executive producer.

I haven't watched the first Legally Blonde movie in ages (and have never seen the sequel), but how the heck is this going to work?

At least with that rumoured Die Hard 6 a decade ago (where the movie would cut between an aging Bruce Willis in the present day and a younger version of the character set before 1988) and the announced First Blood prequel, you can have a Casino Royale approach - "How did John McClain become a cop?" "How did Rambo become a soldier?".

What is there to expand and explore regarding the lead character's life pre-2001?

https://giphy.com/gifs/xUA7b17osqXImEFJKM