Josh Hutcherson

Josh Hutcherson has enjoyed one of the most successful transitions from a robust child acting career to adult roles with manly leading and co-starring characters, starting with a small role in the outstanding Harvey Pekar adaptation, American Splendor (2003), starring Paul Giamatti.

Hutcherson landed his first significant role only two years into his movie career as a young teen in the sports comedy, Kicking & Screaming (2005), starring Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Kate Walsh, and Mike Ditka. In a busy breakout year for Hutcherson, he scored one of the top roles in the English-language voice cast of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (2005), with Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, and Jena Malone, and which premiered at the Venice film festival before grossing an astounding $236 million globally.

Josh Hutcherson had his first starring role in a studio release in the Mark Levin-directed rom-com, Little Manhattan (2005), with Bradley Whitford, Cynthia Nixon, and Charlie Ray. Hutcherson was cast by director Jon Favreau as co-star of the sci-fi Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), with Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, and Tim Robbins, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing. Hutcherson had a supporting role under Barry Sonenfeld’s direction in the road comedy, RV (2006), starring Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels, Cheryl Hines, Kristin Chenoweth, and Will Arnett, and grossing a weak $87.5 million against $50 million costs.

Josh Hutcherson starred in the Gábor Csupó-directed fantasy drama, Bridge to Terabitha (2007), co-starring AnnaSophia Robb, Robert Patrick, and Zooey Deschanel, and earning strong reviews and box office returns ($137.6 million globally) for Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Hutcherson continued his string of starring roles with the family movie directed by Todd Holland, Firehouse Dog (2007), with Bruce Greenwood, Dash Mihok, Steven Culp, and Bill Nunn, and released by 20^th Century Fox for over $17 million returns.

After Hutcherson appeared in the little-seen drama, Winged Creatures (2008), he co-starred with Brendan Fraser in the 3D sci-fi adventure, Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), directed by Eric Brevig, with Seth Meyers, and earned a powerful $244 million global gross for Warner Bros. Josh Hutcherson then co-starred with Chris Massoglia, John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Ray Stevenson, Patrick Fugit, Willem Dafoe, and Salma Hayek in the money-losing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009).

Hutcherson co-starred with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Mia Wasikowska in director/co-writer Lisa Chodolenko’s comedy-drama, The Kids Are All Right (2010), which turned a tidy profit ($34.7 million gross) for Focus Features and earned four Oscar nominations, including best picture. Hutcherson was a co-star and executive producer on Detention (2011), writer-director Joseph Kahn’s slasher comedy with Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, and Dane Cook, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival.

Josh Hutcherson co-starred opposite Dwayne Johnson in his biggest-grossing movie to date with the New Line/Warners adventure sequel,  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), based partly on Jules Verne’s 1875 classic, The Mysterious Island, and with Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzmán, and Kristen Davis, and grossing a stunning $335 million.

Hutcherson was cast in the plum recurring role of Peeta Mellark opposite Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss in the mega-hit The Hunger Games (2012), and then progressed through The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 (2015). Hutcherson starred in the segment directed by Benicio del Toro in the seven-part anthology set in Havana, Cuba, 7 Days in Havana (2012), with other segments directed by Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Julio Medem, Pablo Trapero, Laurent Cantet, and Juan Carlos Tabío.

Josh Hutcherson starred and executive-produced The Forger (2012), with Lauren Bacall, Alfred Molina, and Dina Eastwood, and then co-starred in the commercially failed $65 million remake, Red Dawn (2012), co-starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Hutcherson was cast in his first voice role in a Hollywood studio-produced animated feature, Epic (2013), from Blue Sky Studios/20^th Century Fox Animation, and with the voices of Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O’Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, and Beyoncé, and grossing $268 million on a $93 million costs.

Hutcherson again co-starred and served as an executive producer in director-writer Andrea Di Stefano’s crime thriller, Escobar: Paradise Lost (2015), with Del Toro and Brady Corbet, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Josh Hutcherson was cast by director/producer/star James Franco in the John Steinbeck adaptation, In Dubious Battle (2017).

He joined the ensemble of Nat Wolff, Vincent D’Onofrio, Selena Gomez, Robert Duvall, Bryan Cranston, Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, and Zach Braff, with the movie premiering at the Venice film festival to tepid reviews and poorer box office via distributor Momentum Pictures. Franco tapped Hutcherson again for a supporting role in his far more successful dark comedy, The Disaster Artist (2017), with brothers Franco (James and Dave), Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, and Jacki Weaver, earning a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination while grossing $30 million, three times costs.

Hutcherson co-starred opposite Alexandra Shipp and Brianna Hildebrand in co-writer/director Tyler MacIntyre’s slasher comedy, Tragedy Girls (2017), with Craig Robinson, Kevin Durand, and Jack Quaid, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival. Josh Hutcherson played the title voice in the animated family movie, Elliot the Littlest Reindeer (2018), with Samantha Bee, Martin Short, Morena Baccarin, and John Cleese, followed by Hutcherson playing support in writer-director Mike Gan’s little-seen horror movie, Burn (2019), with Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Suki Waterhouse, Harry Shum Jr., and Shiloh Fernandez.

After co-starring with filmmaker-star Franco (for a third time) in The Long Home (reportedly released in 2021), alongside cast members Zoe Levin, Tim Blake Nelson, Courtney Love, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett, and Beth Grant, Hutcherson starred opposite Morgan Freeman in co-writer/director Rusty Cundieff’s sci-fi thriller, 57 Seconds (2023), but which was released by The Avenue to poor reviews.

Hutcherson starred in the Universal/Blumhouse horror movie directed by Emma Tammi, Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023), with Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard, grossing a knockout $295 million (Blumhouse’s biggest-grossing movie through 2023). Hutcherson then faced off against Jason Statham in producer-director David Ayer’s brawny revenge actioner, The Beekeeper (2024), released by Amazon MGM Studios.

Josh Hutcherson joined the cast of Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Matilda De Angelis, and Laura Morante in the much-delayed film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s 1950 novel, Across the River and into the Trees (shot in 2020, premiered in 2022, and finally released in the U.S. in 2024), written by Peter Flannery and directed by Paula Ortiz. Hutcherson co-starred with Isabelle Fuhrman, David Thewlis, Dennis Quaid, and Kiera Allen in the Candian-produced sci-fi drama, Littlemouth (date to be announced), written and directed by Jonathan Sobol.

Josh Hutcherson took on another starring role in co-writer/director John Swab’s drama, Land of Grace (date to be announced), with Frank Grillo, Andy Garcia, Melissa Leo, and Mekhi Phifer. Writer-director Santiago Manes Moreno cast Hutcherson as the lead in his crime-revenge thriller, Last Ticket (date to be announced). Hutcherson once again joined Garcia (as his real estate mogul father) for writer-director Raymond De Felitta’s Manhattan-set drama, Artist in Residence (date to be announced), in which Hutcherson contends with an eccentric, stubborn Diane Keaton.