Is Ryan Gosling's buzz bigger than his box office?

PopGoesTheNews.com It's hard to miss the official poster for The Ides of March, which shows the faces of the political drama's two male leads Ryan Gosling and George Clooney blended together. The striking composite image is a big risk for the studio behind the flick (opening Oct. 7) because Gosling's visage hasn't exactly been a big money-maker.

Movies marketed with the 30-year-old Canadian actor's face have generally not done well at the box office. The four in which he received top-billing — and appeared solo on the official posters — have taken in less than $38 million combined (all figures are domestic box office). Drive has earned a little more than $23 million since it opened in mid-September and The Believer, Half Nelson and Lars and the Real Girl made only $14.4 million in all.

When Gosling is portrayed as the romantic male lead the results are slightly better. The three movies in which he co-starred, and appeared on posters, with actresses have earned a total of $91 million at the box office. But this respectable figure is almost entirely thanks to The Notebook ($81 million) because All Good Things ($582,000) and Blue Valentine ($9.7 million) were duds.

Better still are the movies in which Gosling has been marketed as part of an ensemble cast. Crazy Stupid Love had him sandwiched between Steve Carell and Julianne Moore and earned $82.3 million; Stay, showing Gosling in the middle of Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman made $3.6 million; Fracture, showing the actor below Anthony Hopkins, earned $39 million; and The United States of Leland, where Gosling shared the poster with co-stars like Don Cheadle and Kevin Spacey, took in less than $350,000.

When Gosling was left off the posters completely (Remember the Titans, Murder by Numbers) the total box office haul was an impressive $150 million.

Gosling has appeared solo on posters for four movies.

The Ontario-born actor has been in front of the cameras for 18 years, he's good (his role in Half Nelson earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor) and he's often been touted as Hollywood's next big leading man — but the buzz about Gosling is bigger than his box office.

According to Box Office Mojo, Gosling's films have averaged $21.6 million — a long way from Clooney's $53.3 million and only slightly more than Hollywood has-been Pauly Shore ($18.6 million). In fact, Gosling's box office average is less than fellow Canadians Ryan Reynolds ($39.6 million), Keanu Reeves ($45.8 million) and The Notebook co-star Rachel McAdams ($71 million).

The Ides of March could prove Gosling has what it takes to sell movie tickets and he's got several new flicks to come:  The Gangster Squad with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin and The Place Beyond the Pines co-starring Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes. Only time will tell if Gosling's average will reach the heights of leading men like Tom Cruise ($95.7 million), Will Smith ($132.7 million), Harrison Ford ($104.6 million) or Tom Hanks ($105.6 million).

Perhaps it's more fair to compare him to an actor who's around the same age and has almost the same number of credits to his name — an actor with a box office average of $37.7 million. But when was the last time you went to a Josh Hartnett movie?

See also...
07/25 • Ryan Gosling exits cosmetic surgery clinic in Ontario
04/19 • Ryan Gosling comes home for a break