The highest paid movie stars of 2021 have been revealed. 2021 is packed to the rim with blockbusters thanks to the fact that most movies that were set to be released in 2020 were pushed back into this year. From Marvel's latest offerings like Black Widow and Spider-Man: No Way Home to Daniel Craig's final James Bond film, No Time To Die, audiences have a plethora of options heading into the back half of the year. While the box office saw a resurgence of sorts at the beginning of the summer, though, the release calendar could soon be shifted again as audience concerns about COVID rise once more due to the Delta variant.
Still, the theatrical landscape has been upended entirely due to these changes and many major blockbusters have hit various streaming platforms over the last 18 months. From Black Widow debuting on Disney+ to Amazon purchasing the rights to The Tomorrow War and Coming 2 America, the way audiences watch movies have changed and so, too, has the way some of Hollywood's biggest stars are getting paid. Studios have had to adjust contracts in order to meet talent's demands especially when it comes to major names who earn part of their salary on the backend contingent on a movie's box office performance.
That hasn't stopped some of Hollywood's biggest names from earning an even bigger paycheck, though. Variety has revealed the top stars of 2021 and the list is full of the who's who of Hollywood. Daniel Craig tops the list with his salary from Knives Out 2 and 3, netting a reported $100 million. Dwayne Johnson is right behind Craig with a $50 million paycheck from Red One. Will Smith and Denzel Washington both earned $40 million for their films King Richard and The Little Things, respectively, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg scored $30 million for Netflix films Don't Look Up and Spenser Confidential. Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, and Sandra Bullock are the first and only women to appear on the list. Lawrence garnered $25 million for Don't Look Up, while Roberts earned the same for another upcoming Netflix film, Leave the World Behind. Bullock's payday comes from romantic comedy The Lost City of D.
Other names on the list include Ryan Gosling, Chris Hemsworth, and Brad Pitt, all of whom netted $20 million for upcoming blockbusters The Gray Man, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Bullet Train. Michael B. Jordan, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Chris Pine, and Robert Pattinson round out the list. It's no surprise to see some of Hollywood's most veteran talent on the list, including figures like Cruise, Roberts, Smith, Pitt, and Washington, all of whom have been scoring big paydays for years thanks to the fact that their star quality alone is enough to draw audiences to theaters.
The same can be said for Johnson, who has proven himself to be a major player in recent years thanks to hits like Jungle Cruise and the new Jumanji films. What is interesting is that a lot of the films that these stars are being paid for will be heading to Netflix, including Don't Look Up, the Knives Out sequels, Leave the World Behind, and The Gray Man. This is likely because Netflix includes extra money for backend payments that would normally come from the box office. With the list's mixture of the Hollywood Old Guard and it's various rising stars like Pattinson and Jordan, it will be interesting to see how this list shifts and changes in the coming years.
Source: Variety