The actors paid over $100 million for a single role
Hollywood is a tough industry to crack – most actors owe their success to a mixture of both talent and luck. For some actors, years of starring in popular and well-respected movies have led them to achieve supreme levels of stardom, becoming incredibly desirable names for studios and filmmakers to attach to their projects.
Thus, actors in high demand come with a high paycheck. Oftentimes, one movie role can earn an actor hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Earning what the average person would struggle to make in a lifetime, actors get to enjoy one of the most profitable industries in the world.
While it’s staggering to think that an actor can earn $1million from a single job, some have raked in much, much more. Unbelievably, there are several actors that have been paid as much as $100million for one film. It’s hard to comprehend what it would be like to possess so much wealth from completing a singular job, but certain stars, such as Tom Cruise and Will Smith, don’t have to imagine.
Smith reportedly took home $100m after starring in Men in Black 3, which was released in 2012. The film, the third instalment in the popular franchise, grossed $624m, meaning Smith earned a sizeable chunk of that income. The actor stars as Agent J alongside Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K, with other performances coming from Emma Thomspon, Jemaine Clement and Michael Stuhlbarg. Smith was part of a deal that allowed him to earn a percentage of the film’s box office earnings on top of a standard rate of $20m, which explains how he came out on top with $100m in the bank.
A similar deal has led Cruise to pocket an extraordinary amount for Top Gun: Maverick. While the exact amount is not yet known, Cruise accepted $13m for the role and a percentage of box-office earnings. However, Top Gun: Maverick became the second-highest-grossing film of 2022 after Avatar: Way of the Water, raking in $1.496 billion worldwide.
Thus, Cruise will have likely earned at least $100m from the film. The actor also earned close to $100m after starring in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011. According to Forbes, he received $75m for his starring role as Ethan Hunt.
Keanu Reeves is also one of Hollywood’s highest-earning stars. He was paid $250m for all three instalments in The Matrix series, which means each movie earned him around $83.3m. However, Reeves is known for using his cheques for good, reportedly donating 70 per cent of his earnings from The Matrix to cancer charities.
