27. Emma Stone as Mia in “La La Land”
$26 million
26. Ryan Reynolds in “Six Underground”
$27 million
25. Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”
$29 million
24. Leonardo DiCaprio as Randall Mindy in “Don’t Look Up”
$30 million
23. Mark Wahlberg as Spenser in “Spenser Confidential”
$30 million
22. Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart in “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Coming 2023)
$30 million
21. Jim Carrey as Carl Allen in “Yes Man”
$30 million
Carrey reportedly exchanged his salary for “Yes Man” for an ownership stake in the movie, which paid off.
20. Will Smith as Peter in “Emancipation”
$35 million
19. Will Smith as Richard Williams in “King Richard”
$40 million
18. Denzel Washington as Joe Deacon in “The Little Things”
$40 million
17. Tom Hanks as Captain John Miller in “Saving Private Ryan”
$40 million
Hanks has struck “act now, get paid later” deals on multiple films, in which he would receive a portion of the box office earnings. That got him at least $40 million for “Saving Private Ryan.”
16. Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey in “Bad Teacher”
$42 million
Diaz was paid a mere $1 million to get “Bad Teacher” produced, but received a portion of box-office earnings, which secured her over $40 million for the movie.
15. Dwayne Johnson in “Red One” (Coming 2023)
$50 million
14. Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in “Knives Out” sequels
$100 million ($50 million per movie)
Netflix landed two “Knives Out” sequels in a deal worth $469 million, and star Daniel Craig could earn “upward of $100 million” for the sequels, according to THR.
13. Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb in “Inception”
$50 million
DiCaprio earned at least $50 million just from box-office earnings, but his deal also included home video and television sales. According to Forbes, he took a pay cut because the movie was so “risky,” but he and Nolan agreed to split first dollar gross points.
12. Jack Nicholson as The Joker in “Batman”
$50 million
Though Nicholson was paid $6 million up front for his role in the 1989 “Batman,” he reportedly secured a lucrative deal that included box-office earnings and merchandise sales from its sequels — that he didn’t even appear in.
11. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
$55 million
10. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in “Forrest Gump”
$60 million
The box-office hit “Forrest Gump” is another case in which Hanks opted for performance-based pay, in which he received an estimated $60 million.
9. Adam Sandler in his Netflix movies
$250 million for four movies ($62.5 million per movie)
Sandler struck a deal with Netflix in 2014 for four exclusive movies worth an estimated $250 million, or $62.5 million per movie, according to Forbes. Netflix renewed the deal in 2017 for four more movies, and again last year.
8. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
$65 million
To get Ford back for a fourth “Indiana Jones” movie, Paramount agreed to a deal that split a large portion of the film’s earnings between him, director Steven Spielberg, and producer George Lucas.
7. Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland”
$68 million
6. Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone in “Gravity”
$70 million
Bullock was paid $20 million up front for “Gravity,” which is an impressive number on its own. But her deal also included 15% of box office revenue, which got her at least $70 million.
5. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man in “Avengers: Infinity War”
$75 million
4. Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”
$75 million
3. Keanu Reeves as Neo in “The Matrix” trilogy
$250 million ($83.3 million per movie)
2. Will Smith as Agent J in “Men in Black 3”
$100 million
Will Smith’s performance-based pay for the third “Men in Black” movie got him $100 million of its $624 million gross.
1. Tom Cruise as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in “Top Gun: Maverick”
$100 million+
Cruise took just $13 million upfront in exchange for a lucrative backend deal which is likely to nab him over $100 million as the movie has earned nearly $1.5 billion worldwide.
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