Entertainment

‘Gossip’ girls & boys on the big screen

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In Oliver Stone's latest film, "Savages," "Gossip Girl" star Blake Lively ventures far away from the Upper East Side to play the shared lover of two pot growers in California. When Lively and her partners prepare to flee to Indonesia after the guys reject the offer of a Mexican drug gang to fold their business into a larger cartel, Lively's character is captured. Lively, though, is no stranger to such dark fare, winning raves for her performance in the gritty crime thriller "The Town." But the "Gossip" girl hasn't scored with all of her big-screen forays. Before you see what happens to Lively's "Savages" character, take a look back at how she and the rest of her "Gossip Girl" castmates have fared when they left the Upper East Side for Hollywood.

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Lively was already a hit on the big screen before “Gossip Girl” hit the small screen with “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and its sequel, which she filmed between “Gossip Girl’s” first two seasons. Each “Pants” movie earned nearly double its budget at the box office.

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Lively’s acclaimed performance in "The Town" made her a hot commodity in Hollywood and convinced Warner Bros. that she could take on a major role in the “Green Lantern."

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Last summer's "Green Lantern" initially seemed like a disappointment, but it ultimately grossed nearly $220M worldwide, $20M more than its budget.

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Lively's former on- and off-screen love interest Penn Badgley had a significant role in last fall's well-received financial drama "Margin Call." Badgley indicated that he hoped his role would prove he's not just "the guy from 'Gossip Girl." That remains to be seen, but the movie was a hit with critics and audiences. Prior to that Badgley starred in two financially successful, but wildly different, films: the 2009 remake of the “The Stepfather” and 2010’s “Easy A.” Yet in both movies, his performance went largely ignored by critics, except for those who suggested he served as little more than eye candy.

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“Country Strong” gave “Gossip Girl’s” Leighton Meester her first starring role on the big screen, playing a beauty queen-turned-singer. While reviews for the film were mixed, Meester was praised not only for her vocal performances but also for her acting ability. Variety said she “movingly exposes the talented yet insecure young woman beneath [her character’s] shallow-princess veneer,” while USA Today noted that “she can do more than play one of 'Gossip Girl’s' privileged Manhattan socialites.” "Country Strong" made $20.4 million worldwide at the box office on a $15 million budget.

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Last summer, Meester starred alongside Selena Gomez and former "Gossip Girl" castmate Katie Cassidy in the family movie "Monte Carlo." It may not have gotten the best reviews, but the $20 million film made $37.5 million at the global box office. More recently, she joined Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg in the critically panned "That's My Boy," the premiere of which she's seen at here.

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Despite signing with the uber-powerful CAA in 2008, Chace Crawford hasn’t really broken through on the big screen. His first major, post-"Gossip Girl" movie role was in the all-but-forgotten “Haunting of Molly Hartley.” He subsequently starred in the box-office bomb “Twelve.” This summer, he's had small roles in Lionsgate's ensemble film "What to Expect When You're Expecting and the independent movie "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding." --By HILARY LEWIS