New Movie Stars: Anna Kendrick's "Cups"

I've written at length about the death of the traditional movie stars and how there are very few people with enough of a following to open up a movie with the strength of their name.  Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler, minus a few missteps are a couple of the few.

But I've tried to find who has the potential to be big.  I remember when I saw The Quick and the Dead in the theaters, I was fascinated by newcomber Russel Crowe and I remember thinking that this man should be a star.  A few years later I was proven right with the release of Gladiator.

I think the same thing about Anna Kendrick.  So far, movies where she has played the lead have done fairly well, but have not been blockbusters.

But last year's Pitch Perfect is an interesting case.  She was the lead actress in a charmingly fluffy movie that made a respectable $65 million at the box office.  But this movie got such good buzz after it left theaters that DVD sales skyrocketed.  This is especially important since sales of DVD's have been on a steady decline.  The soundtrack also sold amazingly.  But strangest of all, a short accapella solo that Kendrick sang broke through the top 100 on iTunes.

Capitalizing on that, the music studio has done a fully produced version of the song along with this music video:

Looking ahead, Kendrick is slated to appear in a lot of smaller, independent movies.  But she is also going to be playing Cinderella in Into the Woods and is signed on to do Pitch Perfect 2.  She seems like a serious young actress who does not strut around for the paparazzi party scene.  But if she builds on this fan base, I think she has it within her to become a new movie star.

Thoughts?