The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are among the most successful and well-known film franchises in the world. For Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood, these franchises were the big break into the film industry. But what happened next and who of the two had the more successful career?
Just because you play in a large franchise doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll become the ultimate superstar, whether you want to or not. Both Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood show that you don’t necessarily need the next massive franchise success after the first one.
Both major roles started in 2001 and evolved in interesting directions. But who of the two had the better career? We’ll take a look at this in this article, based on the box office results of the films both starred in. Additionally, there will be a brief overview of individual roles for both actors after their major franchises.
Daniel Radcliffe’s career began here:
From Harry Potter to the Useful Corpse
Before The Philosopher’s Stone, Daniel Radcliffe only appeared in 2 insignificant roles. In 2001, it started with Harry Potter. Until 2005, he only filmed the first four parts of the series. In between, he only starred in one television film and the forgotten December Boys.
After Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Radcliffe attempted to take on darker roles. In 2012, he played the lead role in the horror thriller The Woman in Black and in 2015 in the horror film Victor Frankenstein.
His biggest role afterwards was probably in Now You See Me 2. According to The Richest, this is also the most successful film he starred in after the Harry Potter series. The Woman in Black and Trainwreck also grossed over 120 million dollars.
The experimental phase of his career began in 2016 with the film Swiss Army Man. In the film, Radcliffe plays a corpse used by Paul Dano for various things, for example, to crack coconuts.
He continued to have exciting and experimental roles afterward. In the comedy Guns Akimbo, he plays a programmer who finds himself in an internet show where guns are screwed onto his hands. In the semi-biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, he plays the titular musician, who tells a fictional version of his life.
Radcliffe’s last major success was in 2022 with The Lost City. The film is a comedy featuring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Radcliffe played a wealthy villain there.
Hobbit, Penguin, and Hooligan
Elijah Wood’s career started even before The Lord of the Rings. He appeared in a total of 21 films in varying degrees of prominence. The massive success came in 2001 with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Between the three parts, he also appeared in four films, such as Spy Kids 3-D.
But not only The Lord of the Rings was a major success for Wood. Right after the trilogy, Wood also tried his hand at genre films, like Sin City (2004) and Hooligans (2005). In the latter, he played an American who dives deeper into the English hooligan scene.
He starred in the cult film Sin City in 2005, which grossed over 150 million dollars. Another huge success was his lead role in the two Happy Feet films. The two animated films by Mad Max director George Miller grossed over 500 million dollars together.
He has generally appeared in a lot of films. Notable would be the trashy The Last Witch Hunter (2015) with Vin Diesel or a voice role in Star Wars Resistance. Generally, Elijah Wood has voiced many films, but also games. Examples include the Legend of Spyro series or God of War: Ghost of Sparta. In addition, he has produced unusual films like Mandy and The Color Out of Space.
Apart from that, he drew attention during the pandemic in 2020 when he interacted with many fans in Animal Crossing. He could also be seen in a promo clip for Baldur’s Gate 3 alongside Sean Astin.
Who had the better career now?
Looking only at the number and earnings of their films, Radcliffe is ahead. According to The Numbers, the films in which Radcliffe starred as a lead and supporting actor grossed over 8.4 billion dollars. Elijah Wood has a value of about 6 billion dollars according to The Numbers. It should be noted here that for both values, the major franchises make up the bulk and Harry Potter has four more films.
When looking at the number of films and series, Elijah Wood has the edge. One thing that should be commendably mentioned for both is the diversity of their roles. Both tried out different roles and genres and didn’t remain trapped in their franchise direction. Radcliffe has already addressed the comparison between the two actors: Daniel Radcliffe discusses comparisons to Elijah Wood: “Conceptually, we are the same person”
