Niamh Shackleton
It's 2004 - you're on MySpace listening to Usher's 'Burn' on your Apple iPod mini and all is well with the world.
Hollywood wise, the likes of Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller, Julia Roberts and Halle Berry are some of the biggest names in film having starred in cult classics like Pretty Woman, Cast Away, and Catwoman retrospectively.
But many household names we've come to know and love were just up-and-coming stars at the time, and Entertainment Weekly shared its predictions for the next few years in film and who it believed would make the big time.
Advert
An image of the article spread has been doing the rounds on Twitter of late, and it's left people mind blown to think that there was once a time the likes of Ryan Gosling and Jennifer Aniston weren't the huge Hollywood stars that they are now.
This year is the 20th anniversary of Entertainment Weekly’s article trying to identify who the next big movie stars will be, which include some incredible 2004 time capsule observations. pic.twitter.com/05y72s5qyO
— Jonathan (@jonathanmb32) August 18, 2024
Here are some of the famous faces that were predicted to make the big time:
Hudson was seen as potentially being the next Meg Ryan and was described by Entertainment Weekly as having 'doofy sex appeal' and a 'megawatt grin'.
While Hudson had (and still does) a lot going for her, the magazine did note that her movie Raising Helen didn't do too well the box office.
Rewind 20 years and The Greatest Showman star Jackman had only just starting becoming worldwide renowned after starring in the X-Men franchise.
The publication dubbed him as the possible next Tom Cruise and labeled him as 'equally appealing' at the Top Gun favorite.
However, Cruise had worked with big directors and famous co-stars from the off, while Jackman took a bit longer to bag these kind of movie roles.
Oscar-nominated actor Gyllenhaal was dubbed 'versatile, handsome in that boyish [Tom] Cruise way' back in 2004.
It further noted that Brokeback Mountain star was seemingly 'more turned on by interesting parts than the box office' - something which could have worked against him.
I think we can all agree it hasn't, however.
Arguably Aniston was already a pretty huge name in 2004 and was best known for playing Rachel Green in legendary sit-com Friends, but the series had just drawn to an end at the time after 10 years on screen and Aniston was starting to branch out into film.
Her first movie post-Friends was Along Came Polly with Ben Stiller.
With her time on Friends in mind, Entertainment Weekly questioned if people would be able to see past her character of Rachel Green.
In 2004, Gosling had just released his film The Notebook and was riding the wave of fame that came with in.
He starred as Noah Calhoun in the film, who was quite a serious character.
Questioning if he had the potential to be the next Mel Gibson, Entertainment Weekly praised Gosling's intensity and ability to 'carry a romance' following
The Notebook, but pointed out that he seemingly lacked a 'lighter side'.
Little did they know he'd go on to play the perfect (and hilarious) Ken in the Barbie movie.
In light of the magazine article going viral online, people have shared their thoughts on the 20-year-old piece.
Someone said: "They actually made a few good calls here. But the Matt Damon entry is bizarre — he was already a major star in his own right by that point."
Another wrote: "Matt Damon as the next Denzel and Ryan Gosling with no evidence of a lighter side. This is amazing."
Someone else said of Gosling: "Ryan Gosling is my fave because he would spend almost the next 20 years showing his lighter side."
How times have changed.