The movie and TV industry is shifting over to streaming and with it come some major paydays for top tier talent being drawn to these projects.
The old approach of smaller upfront fees in exchange for profit participation and major back-end deals is going the way of the dodo – replaced by more conventional (and bigger) straight upfront salaries.
Now Variety has done a new report on this change and revealed the salaries of some of the biggest stars. Daniel Craig tops the list with the James Bond star set to earn a major $100 million paycheck for the next two “Knives Out” films.
Others scored high numbers by having existing ‘back-end’ deals bought out by a streaming service. Dwayne Johnson scored $30 million upfront for Netflix’s “Red Notice” with a further $20 million to potentially come when the backend is settled. Will Smith and Denzel Washington grabbed $40 million each for HBO Max’s “King Richard” and “The Little Things,” and Michael B. Jordan snagged $15 million for “Without Remorse”.
Netflix is certainly a big upfront payer on its films. Leonardo DiCaprio was given $30 million and Jennifer Lawrence scored $25 million for Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up”, Mark Wahlberg landed $30 million for “Spenser Confidential,” Julia Roberts is getting $25 million for “Leave the World Behind,” and Ryan Gosling is getting $20 million for “The Grey Man”.
That’s not to say traditional theatrical titles aren’t handing out the dough. $20 million paychecks are set to be handed out to Sandra Bullock for “The Lost City of D,” Chris Hemsworth for “Thor: Love and Thunder” and Brad Pitt for “Bullet Train” with those potentially having back-end deals.
Same goes for Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick” and Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix 4” – both getting $13 million upfront and likely major back end payouts from box-office and producing deals.
Meanwhile Chris Pine is getting $11.5 million for “Dungeons and Dragons,” while Robert Pattinson is getting a fairly economical $3 million for “The Batman”.
But film isn’t where all the money is at. Chris Pratt is reportedly pulling in $1.4 million per episode for Amazon’s sci-fi series “The Terminal List” while Jeff Bridges landed $1 million per episode for FX’s “The Old Man”.
The next tier sees Bryan Cranston for Showtime’s “Your Honor,” Kate Winslet for HBO’s “Mare of Easttown,” and the three returning “Sex and the City” stars for HBO’s “And Just Like That” snagging $650,000-750,000 each.
At $600,000 per episode you get the three stars (Gillian Anderson, Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer) of Showtime’s “The First Lady,” the two male stars (Martin Short, Steve Martin) of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” and Pedro Pascal for HBO’s “The Last of Us”.
Others scoring good deals in the $350,000-$600,000 range include the likes of Alec Baldwin for Peacock’s “Doctor Death,” Angela Bassett for FOX’s “9-1-1,” Jude Law for HBO’s “The Third Day,” Jason Sudeikis for Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” Henry Cavill for Netflix’s “The Witcher,” Ted Danson for NBC’s “Mr. Mayor,” and several cast members of HBO’s “Succession,” ABC’s “The Conners,” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things”.
