Cinematical ponders the question of whether Rob Pattinson or Kristen Stewart is a bigger box office draw.

For all the money the Twilight franchise is making, how much of it actually has to do with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson? This March, exactly one week apart, both Stewart and Pattinson will be releasing a pair of movies that are arguably the biggest since they’ve been wrapped up in all things Twilight. Prior to this, Stewart watched Adventureland gross a measly $16 million, while Pattinson’s Little Ashes didn’t even cross the $500,000 mark.

But that was back in 2008, and one would think the heat on these two has grown since then — especially with the release of a second Twilight film, New Moon, which went on to break records in 2009. Now the two actors are back for another round of solo efforts, with Pattinson debuting Remember Me on March 12th and Stewart rockin’ out in The Runaways on March 19th (I’m not counting The Yellow Handkerchief because it’s way too small to do any sort of damage). To be fair, Remember Me comes from Summit Entertainment and, as such, is fortunate enough to be carrying the first trailer for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The Runaways, meanwhile, has a handful of mediocre Sundance reviews and a much talked-about make-out scene between Stewart and Dakota Fanning. As far as gimmicks go, I’m scoring this one as Pattinson: 1 Stewart: 0.

Even with all that, I still can’t see these two films making a ton of money (Remember Me has the better shot, in my opinion). And if they don’t, should we begin to re-evaluate just how popular K-Stew and R-Patz are? If neither of these two can step away from Twilight and help a movie earn at the box office, then what’s the point? Why the obsession? How can they be superstars and not be superstars at the same time? It just doesn’t make sense.

Who do you think is the bigger box office draw when it comes to solo efforts? Do they need each other to succeed, or do they simply need better material to work with?

I say it’s a bit too early to say.  I’ll be interested to see how it turns out, and I have high hopes for both of their upcoming films. What do you guys think?