The year is 1993. The big Oscar-season movies are Schindler’s List, which makes a grave Hibernian named Liam Neeson famous, and Philadelphia, in which Denzel Washington tacks another critical success onto a résumé that already includes such prestige movies as Malcolm X and Glory. Meanwhile, the biggest action stars of the 1980s, both in their mid 40s, release winking or self-parodic movies — The Last Action Hero for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Demolition Man for Sylvester Stallone — that suggest they know their time is running out.
Neither movie does that well at the box office, both Arnie and Sly look pretty creaky underneath all their bulk, and you wonder, naturally enough, what the future of action movies holds. Fortunately, you happen to have a Magic 8 Ball on hand, so you hold it up and ask: Who will be the biggest action stars 20 years from now?
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