What makes an actor an A-lister

TL;DR

"A-list" actors are exceptionally successful, their notoriety extends beyond the silver screen, and their name guarantees a box office hit.

Long Explanation:

As per Oxford Definition:

A real or imaginary list of the most celebrated or sought-after individuals, especially in show business.

And from Wikipedia:

A-list is a term that alludes to major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry or to major recording artists, major international sports stars or other occupations such as the most successful film directors, certain high-profile media and entertainment moguls and the most notable international TV broadcasters.

Another Definition (still from Wikipedia):

In popular usage outside the film industry, an "A-list celebrity" simply refers to any person with an admired or desirable social status. In recent times, the term has given rise to any person, regardless of profession, in the limelight. Even socialites with popular press coverage and elite associations have been termed as "A-list" celebrities. Similarly, less popular persons and current teen idols are referred to as "B-list" – and the ones with lesser fame "C-list". Entertainment Weekly interpreted C-list celebrity as "that guy (or sometimes that girl), the easy-to-remember but hard-to-name character actor".

To answer

What makes an actor an A-lister?

From an old article

"A-list" actors are exceptionally successful, their notoriety extends beyond the silver screen, and their name guarantees a box office hit. Some "A-list" actors include: Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, and Johnny Depp. The "A-list" actors are usually made up of male actors as with more high earning positions.

A new definition from a year old article of The Sydney Morning Herald

The phrase has been tossed around so much it's lost some of its meaning. It started off as a bit of industry jargon, which studios and financiers used to consider whether they should cast someone in a project.

"'A-list' has a colloquial kind of consumer charm to it, but it really is a serious business when you're in the business," said James Ulmer, the Los Angeles author whom many credit for conceptualising letter-based star rankings.

It describes 10 new metrics of A-Lister as well.

If you want to get a list of A-Lister, you can visit Hollywood Reporter

The terms "A-list" and "Bankable star" are intricately related, and basically revolve around how much profit an actor's role in a movie can bring in for a studio.

The term "A-list" has become an industry standard in Hollywood and is part of a larger guide called "James Ulmer's Hot List", in which he defines an actor's starpower as a measurement of:

• Bankability: How the actor's name alone guarantees a sale up front in today's global marketplace.
• Career management: How well has the actor chosen roles to maximize career potential?
• Willingness to travel and promote: How cooperative is the actor in promoting projects?
• Professionalism: How reliable is the actor to work with, both on and off the set?
• Inside Dirt: The truth about what it's like to work with the top 200 actors worldwide.
• Box office bait: Who the actor has worked for and how much the project made.

Contemporary lists get updated independently from publication to publication, but a good example, The Hollywood Reporter, updates its A-list annually, polling agents and studio executives, to rank actors accordingly.

For more info specifically about James Ulmer's The Hot List scale for actors, consult this page on his website.

I think a list is opinionated but ultimately the niche or typecast doesn't matter as much.

During his prime, a movie Jim Carrey was in would be automatically considered a hit. Same for Adam Sandler.

Vin diesels limitation I believe comes from most of his success has been with the fast and furious movies that have such a large cast of prominent actor and actresses the success of the movies can't be attributed solely to him.

What I've always understood is that an A list actor is someone that guarantees a box office hit.

B list actors are ones that have some notable success but are cast in supporting roles and rarely in a main role. When they are cast in a main role it's usually in a movie that supports a certain niche or cult following.

Bruce Campbell is a good example of this. He has been in many tv shows and a good number of movies, he has moderate success but is not a big name star. But Evil Dead has a cult following and he is known for it.

I always thought of an "A-list" movie star as someone that is extremely popular (a broad cross section of the population knows their name). This influences their status as "bankable" stars because having their name attached to the movie will draw people to watch the film that might have not watched it otherwise. This additional draw is the "bankability" of the star, and relies on people recognizing the name (weak) as well as whether they recall enjoying this actors films in the past (strong).

I would also say that A-list status and bankability aren't always hand-in-hand even though they are very related. One handy heuristic I'd offer for bankability is if the movie is being described among your peers as "the new " then that actor is probably a bankable star for your peer. The fact that the movie is described as a certain actor's film means that actor is bankable in direct relation to the number of people talk favorably about it in those terms. For example Scarlett Johansson by box office take is in the top 10 highest grossing stars by box office take. This clearly gives her A-list status (because many people know her name due to the success of her movies), but I don't know if I would consider her as bankable as Tom Cruise. This is because I have heard many people talk about "the new Tom Cruise movie", but I've never heard someone say they were excited about "the new Scarlett Johansson movie".

I know the presence (bankability) of a certain star does influence my decision to watch a movie or not. For example I saw the movie Hot Pursuit for rent a while ago and I decided to rent it because I've enjoyed several Reese Witherspoon movies in the past. As it turns out I hated the movie, so now I'll be more careful about renting a movie based on her presence in the future. This is why actors need to balance accepting any role that comes their way to earn money and stay on the public's radar with avoiding movies that are likely to flop. To bring this back to my example Reese Witherspoon definitely earned money with her starring role in Hot Pursuit but her bankability suffered with me. That doesn't compromise her A-list status though.

Vin Diesel is an A-list actor. He banked globally. That’s why they call it “A” list, his name is known like the first letter of the Alphabet in places they don’t even speak English or enough schools to teach it. A-list actors educate about the talents of an American all around the world. My only question regarding Vin is if he’d ever do a movie with me and not the kind where I’m his love interest, but a possible cohort working with the FBI. Jim Carey can be in it too, his role is top secret, but important to note Vin Diesel is a more relevant A list actor than Jim in 2020. Jim is a niche actor, I honestly think it should’ve stayed that way. He doesn’t even act more than just play himself in every movie, a complete moron. We have to reconsider how the entertainment industry categorizes talent, and people should be compensated for their showcases of talent; representative of an American skill set of theater appreciation. Not complete mockery of what is a douchebag in America. He would agree to it. I can fix this by being in a movie with him. Jim Carey so desperately wants to be taken seriously before he dies. That’s why he grew a beard that one time. I’m kidding about him being a moron, having a healthy sense of humor can be a token to success in American culture. Let’s just be hopeful.