When it comes to contract negotiations in Hollywood, hardly any other star is as feared as Tom Cruise. In addition to his fee, the 60-year-old always demands a share in the profits of his films. That alone wouldn’t be anything special, because many other actors do it too. But while most of them only get a share of the profits once the producing film studio has covered its costs and arrived in the black, Cruise earns money from the first dollar at the box office. It doesn’t matter whether the film becomes a hit for the studio or not. Like the industry magazine Variety reported, he is by far the best-earning star in the film business. His current film “Top Gun: Maverick” is said to bring him $ 100 million through his fee and his share of cinema and home entertainment revenues.
For decades, the magic number on the paycheck used to prove superstar status in Hollywood was 20 million. Jim Carrey got that much in 1996 for “The Cable Guy”, which was a record at the time and then the fee that every big star has demanded per film since then.
Joaquin Phoenix received four and a half million for the first “Joker”, for the second it should be 20
Now you might think that the end of the crazy 90s, when money was no object in show business, ended the astronomical fees as well. But in recent years, the battle between streaming services for top stars and subscribers has in some cases even caused salaries to rise again. Apple is paying Leonardo DiCaprio $30 million for his next film, Killers of the Flower Moon. Brad Pitt gets the same amount for an untitled racing driver film. And Will Smith should even get 35 million for the thriller “Emancipation” – which he probably does even before his slapping affair at the Oscars negotiated in March. The only 18-year-old Millie Bobby Brown, who became famous through the mystery series “Stranger Things”, has already received a whopping ten million dollars from Netflix for the sequel to her film “Enola Holmes”. That should be enough to keep a cottage in the Hollywood Hills warm during a global gas crisis.
Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes. She’s getting $10 million from Netflix for the sequel.
(Photo: Imago/Cinema Publishers/Netflix)
The demands only go down if actors absolutely want to take part in a project or work with particularly sought-after directors. Christopher Nolan is such a filmmaker, for which the stars sometimes give up money. The Brit is currently shooting a film about Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”. Among other things, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were willing to play only supporting roles for a significantly lower fee than usual. It is said to be about four and a half million per capita.
What hasn’t changed in Hollywood is that you can primarily make money with sequels to successful films. Best example currently: Joaquin Phoenix got for his role in “Joker” 2019 “only” four and a half million dollars. He is still in negotiations for the second part, which is already planned. But after the first installment grossed more than a billion dollars, it’s now loud Variety a fee of 20 million dollars in space.
Such jumps are of course also a reason why budgets are exploding in Hollywood. And the question will be how long the big studios and streaming services can keep it up. Netflix, for example, had to report a decline in subscribers this year for the first time in the company’s history, the bosses imposed tough austerity measures. In the medium term, it could also push fees down, and as soon as a big player starts doing it, others could follow suit. Of course, no Hollywood star will starve anyway.