Do movie stars still matter or is well-known IP what drives people to theaters these days? It’s a tricky question, but the short answer indicates that the right balance of both is key to success in the streaming age, when Hollywood has changed its metric of success from box office prowess to streaming views and subscriber numbers — a shift that has only accelerated over the course of the pandemic. Whether this shift was bound to happen no matter what or simply exacerbated by the pandemic, we’ll never know for sure, but either way, one thing remains clear — movie stars still want to be paid like movie stars no matter where their work debuts.
To that end, Variety has generously uncovered 17 noteworthy star salaries, and though old-school A-listers like Brad Pitt (Sony’s Bullet Train) and Sandra Bullock (Paramount’s The Lost City of D) are still holding down the $20 million forts at the studios, most have turned to the streamers to secure greater riches.
That includes Daniel Craig, who stands to pocket $100 million for a pair of Knives Out sequels that will premiere on Netflix, and Dwayne Johnson, who inked a $50 million deal to produce and star in Amazon’s holiday-themed action movie Red One. These mega-paychecks include back-end buyouts, which compensate actors for the hefty bonuses they would’ve received had their movies performed well in theaters.
Netflix has been making these kinds of deals for a while, but WarnerMedia just started with last year’s Wonder Woman 1984, which saw the studio buying out the lucrative back-end deals for star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins. Once that happened, the floodgates were open, which is how Denzel Washington wound up earning a reported $40 million for The Little Things, even though that entire movie shouldn’t have really cost a penny over that figure. The same can be said for Will Smith‘s upcoming mid-budget drama King Richard, though his $40 million payday also includes producer fees, and on the bright side, that movie is seen as a serious awards contender that could bring Smith his third Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Netflix is certainly not shy about paying its A-list stars, as Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence reportedly earned $30 million and $25 million, respectively, for Adam McKay‘s satire Don’t Look Up. The streamer also paid Mark Wahlberg $30 million for Spenser Confidential, which seemingly garnered enough views to justify the expense. Meanwhile, Netflix gave Julia Roberts $25 million for the upcoming thriller Leave the World Behind and Ryan Gosling $20 million for the Russo brothers‘ big-budget action movie The Gray Man, which brings a multi-picture bonus with it. Those deals beg the question… if Roberts is getting $25 million, how much is Denzel supposed to get (if he’s still attached to that project) for LTWB, and likewise, if Gosling is getting $20 million for The Gray Man, how much is his co-star Chris Evans getting? At least he was Captain America!
Image via Universal Pictures
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I don’t really see how streamers can sustain these types of inflated star salaries based on viewing numbers, but I’m glad Hollywood’s A-listers are raiding the corporate coffers while they still can. Eventually, investors on Wall Street will stop being so enamored with subscriber numbers and they’ll start wondering why these stars need to be paid so much. I’d argue that the streamers don’t really have top-tier IP, most of which has been snapped up by the major studios, so unless they can create their own IP, like Stranger Things and The Witcher on Netflix, they’re left with no choice but to overpay for top stars.
Variety’s list included Robert Pattinson‘s salary for The Batman, and apparently, he’s only making $3 million for that superhero movie. Of course, the thinking there is that once Pattinson plays Batman, he’ll be able to command top dollar on other projects going forward, and I’m sure there are escalators in his contract that will pay him considerably more for any sequels that Matt Reeves decides to make, since I do believe he had a trilogy in mind.
There are a couple of other interesting things to note about this list. Tom Cruise was paid just $13 million upfront to star in Top Gun: Maverick, but that film is flying straight into theaters, and he stands to make tens of millions more if it’s a hit — especially since Cruise is one of very few stars who demand first-dollar gross on their backend participation, meaning he gets paid even before the studio.
Finally, there’s the curious case of Keanu Reeves, who was paid between $12 million and $14 million upfront to reprise his role as Neo in The Matrix 4, though that figure does not include his back-end buyout, as HBO Max has yet to negotiate that figure. That’s in keeping with the recent news I read in Matt Belloni‘s newsletter indicating that WarnerMedia is still negotiating terms with Legendary to compensate the company for Dune, which was 75% financed by Legendary. Those two sci-fi tentpoles are slated for hybrid day-and-date releases on Dec. 22 and Oct. 22 in both theaters and on HBO Max, so there’s still plenty of time for all parties to come to financial terms, which certainly won’t be cheap.
For the full list of star salaries uncovered by Variety, see below. Keep in mind that Bullock, Pitt, Cruise Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Pine could earn a lot more once back-end bonuses are factored in since their movies will debut exclusively in theaters. Everyone else on this list had their back-end deals bought out because their films will debut on streamers, though the exception is Reeves, who is still negotiating that figure with HBO Max.
Daniel Craig, Knives Out sequels (Netflix) – $100 million
Dwayne Johnson, Red One (Amazon) – $50 million
Will Smith, King Richard (WB/HBO Max) – $40 million
Denzel Washington, The Little Things (WB/HBO Max) – $40 million
Leonardo DiCaprio, Don’t Look Up (Netflix) – $30 million
Mark Wahlberg, Spenser Confidential (Netflix) – $30 million
Jennifer Lawrence, Don’t Look Up (Netflix) – $25 million
Julia Roberts, Leave the World Behind (Netflix) – $25 million
Sandra Bullock, The Lost City of D (Paramount) – $20 million
Ryan Gosling, The Gray Man (Netflix) – $20 million
Chris Hemsworth, Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) – $20 million
Brad Pitt, Bullet Train (Sony) – $20 million
Michael B. Jordan, Without Remorse (Amazon) – $15 million
Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – $13 million
Keanu Reeves, The Matrix 4 (WB/HBO Max) – $12 million to $14 million pre-buyout
Chris Pine, Dungeons and Dragons (Paramount) – $11.5 million
Robert Pattinson, The Batman (Warner Bros.) – $3 million
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About The Author
Jeff Sneider (1870 Articles Published)
Jeff Sneider is the Senior Film Reporter at Collider, where he breaks film and television news and curates the Up-and-Comer of the Month column in addition to hosting The Sneider Cut podcast and the awards-themed series For Your Consideration with Scott Mantz and Perri Nemiroff. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Jeff started his career at Ain’t It Cool News before moving to Los Angeles to write for Variety and later, TheWrap and Mashable. Jeff also served as Editor in Chief of The Tracking Board and has contributed to MTV Movies Blog, Hollywood Life magazine, Washington Square News and the Colorado Springs Independent. His Oscar picks have appeared on the LA Times’ Envelope site, and he agrees with screenwriter William Goldman who famously said of Hollywood, “nobody knows anything.” Jeff hails from Needham, Massachusetts and has never eaten a salad. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Cameo and Blogspot by searching his nom de plume @TheInSneider.
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