This 2004 Magazine Tried To Figure Out Who Would Be Hollywood's Next Big Stars And It's Wild

For those old enough to remember, 2004 feels like both yesterday and an entire lifetime ago.

It was the year of Britney’s unforgettable single Toxic, the year The Notebook was released and the year that our screens were graced with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie’s iconic reality show, The Simple Life

Back then, it was hard to see what could have been ahead for us in pop culture. Who would be famous? Who would take on Hollywood? What was coming next?

In fact, Entertainment Weekly asked exactly that in their August 13th, 2004 issue which had a cover asking: “Why Hollywood Can’t Find The Next Julia Roberts?”

Now, all of these years later, one X (formerly Twitter) user has shared some of the highlights from the issue in which the mag tried to identify who could be the Next Big Thing.

A treasure trove of 2004 stars

In the issue, the writers tried to not only identify who the Next Big Thing would be but also who could directly replace the stars at the time.

Starting strong with Julia Roberts, the writers suggested that Rachel McAdams could be her successor after playing the lovable “bee-atch” in Mean Girls, but could run the risk of being overly-exposed too soon.

All these years later, it’s safe to say Rachel found the perfect balance of fame without overexposure. 

Other suggestions were Kirsten Dunst and Reese Witherspoon who were considered worthy follow-ups to the Pretty Woman star but at the time, Entertainment Weekly wasn’t sure if audiences would be as sold as them.

Next, Jake Gyllenhaal was considered a worthy successor to Tom Cruise but the mag predicted that he may be more swung by “interesting” projects than the big box office hits.

Sack Lunch Bunch anyone?!

Hugh Jackman was also noted as a potential new Tom Cruise which is a little off the mark, but not as much as Tobey Maguire, who has definitely not followed in the footsteps of the action movie star.

The real highlight of the issue, though, is realising just how much Ryan Gosling has progressed as an actor since 2004. Back then, Entertainment Weekly had him down as a potential new Mel Gibson saying: “He’s got Gibson’s Braveheart intensity down pat, and The Notebook proves Gosling can carry a romance.”

However, they added: “So far, there’s no evidence of a lighter side.”

Hard to imagine the sultry, moody side of 2004 Ryan when the actor gave us the hilarious performance as Ken in the 2023 Barbie movie, with a stunning song to boot with I’m Just Ken.

Another successor for Mel was predicted to be Orlando Bloom, though they said his “wimp factor is as high as Mount Doom.”

Savage.