While and played sweet model Mia Jones on Degrassi: The Next Generation, there's no denying that her role as Elena Gilbert is what brought her fame. From Elena turning into a vampire herself to her passionate relationships with Stefan and Damon Salvatore, she's definitely a memorable teenager.
But while and has been acting steadily in movies since quitting her hit TV show in 2015, she hasn't had much success at the box office. From rom-coms that didn't make much money to a Western love story that her fans most likely haven't even heard of, Nina Dobrev's movies haven't made her a star.
, and she may keep getting cast in movies, but her films haven't done well at the box office. The actress starred in two romantic comedies in 2018, and given that she's such a familiar face after seven seasons of playing Elena, it's surprising to hear that the movies did so badly. Unfortunately, Dobrev's stardom didn't translate to huge numbers.
Dobrev starred in Dog Days alongside many hilarious actors such as Jessica St. Clair, Adam Pally, and Rob Coddry and huge stars Eva Longoria and Vanessa Hudgens. Dobrev's character, Elizabeth, is a morning show host who falls in love with Jimmy (Tobe Bell) when she has to work with him.
According to Box Office Mojo, Dog Days grossed $6,842,356 worldwide. The movie is meant to be a sweet and quirky story about a group of characters who are all connected by the love that they have for dogs. Dog Days didn't break even or earn back its budget, which was $10 million.
And while it's meant to tell a heartwarming tale, it didn't impress critics. Cath Clarke, a critic for The Guardian, wrote of the movie, "It makes Marley and Me look like Citizen Kane, and is actually pretty creepy, in the way that only aggressively life affirming movies can be.
Even though Dog Days didn't make much money, it sounds like Dobrev picked up a skill while filming it: acting alongside dogs. In , she talked about what this was like, and called it "surprisingly difficult."
The actress continued, "You’d think that a dog movie would be super light and you’d get to play with the dogs, but it’s actually the opposite because the dogs are so well-trained. And there are a lot of rules in place to make sure the animals are taken care of and don’t get overstimulated." Dobrev shared that while she was eager to pet the dogs that were surrounding her, actors aren't supposed to do that.
Dobrev also starred in Then Came You alongside Asa Butterfield and Maisie Williams and played Izzy, a character who couldn't be further from Elena Gilbert. Butterflield's main character, Calvin Lewis, develops feelings for Izzy, who works as a flight attendant. This movie didn't earn back its budget, either, or make a profit. According to Box Office Mojo, Then Came You grossed $663,495 worldwide.
The movie definitely has a pretty sad plot: Calvin believes that he doesn't have long to live and gets close to Williams's character Skye Aitken, who is dying of cancer.
Nina Dobrev also played a journalist named Ashley Pollock in the 2019 movie Run This Town, which featured Damian Leiws as the late Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, Ontario who became notorious when he was involved in a scandal. Kevin Donovan and Robin Doolittle reported on this for The Toronto Star and Doolitte wrote all about it in her book "Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story."
But while Ford's tenure fascinated the city of Toronto along with the world, with the mayor appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the movie was criticized.
Dobrev shared in an interview with Original-Cin that she liked that the movie was set in Toronto. She said, "What I loved is that the city of Toronto is really the lead character of this film and I love that. We got to highlight the city and show the city instead of hiding it. I’ve shot a lot of films here where they ended up deleting the CN tower out of the background so it was nice to not only shoot here but feature of the city.
It sounds like even though the movie wasn't a hit at all, the actress still enjoyed making it.
Nina Dobrev's The Vampire Diaries co-stars have continued to play the same kinds of roles. Ian Somerhalder appeared in the vampire series V Wars and Paul Wesley starred in another one of Kevin Williamson's TV series, Tell Me A Story. Dobrev, in comparison, has chosen movies that are very different from each other, and nothing stands out as much as Redeeming Love.
The 2022 film is adapted from the book by Francine Rivers and takes place in the California Gold Rush from the 1850s.
While Redeeming Love had a budget of $30 million, it joins the list of Nina Dobrev's movies that have made much less than the cast and crew were hoping for. It grossed $9,464,198 globally, according to Box Office Mojo.
Mae and told Cinemark, "she really did believe in love and believe that love would prevail in her case... lived in a very difficult era that I would not like to go back to myself."
Perhaps it was the period piece story that didn't appeal to fans, but whatever it was, not many people went to see Redeeming Love in the theater, and the movie didn't get much publicity when it was released, either.
