Zac Efron or Rob Pattinson–Whose Career Is More Promising?

That was an interesting question I read over at E! Online, and I figured I’d take a run at it myself and offer it up to you, via our comments section.  Who’s got the more promising career, Zac Efron or Rob Pattinson?

First, because I’ve got both the whip hand AND the bully pulpit, my analysis.

Let’s be frank.  Twilight was a box-office draw that beat High School Musical by several orders of magnitude.  The only theatrical released version of HSM made a respectable ninety million worldwide (not bad for a made-for-TV franchise, huh?), but Twilight blew it squarely out of the water with over a hundred and ninety one million.

However, when you look at individual careers, discrepancies emerge.  One, Zac is a full year younger than Rob, giving him a small edge in the looks-conscious world of Hollywood.  VERY small, granted, but an edge is an edge.  Zac also has more and more varied roles than Rob, giving him a much wider body of experience to draw on.  Zac has twenty four credits with two preproduction / filming roles, while Rob has only fourteen with four preproduction / filming.

Objectively, Zac has almost TWICE the experience, and over a much wider range.  Rob has essentially two roles, his Cedric Diggory and his Edward Cullen.  After that, it’s basically some art flicks (like his Salvador Dali in Little Ashes) and some fairly obscure bits.

I have to give the nod to Zac Efron, who’s got the wider body of experience and the slight edge in the looks department due to his extra year.  Sure, there’s no denying that Rob’s a moneymaker, but there’s a fair likelihood he’ll wind up typecast as “the vampire boy”.  Whereas Zac may be known for his clean-cut Tony Bolton, but he’s got room to expand.  And versatility is always a plus. What do you guys think?