Hollywood star salaries: Tom Cruise made whopping $100 million for Top Gun Maverick, Millie Bobby Brown races ahead of Robert Downey Jr

Hollywood star Tom Cruise might be taking a lower upfront fee for the next two Mission: Impossible films, but his smart backend deals ensure that he earns a cut of the profits before the studio breaks even, according to a new report. His latest release Top Gun: Maverick continues to fly high at the box office, having raked in almost $1.2 billion dollars worldwide, and Tom is expected to net around $100 million from the ticket sales, home entertainment rentals and streaming revenue. A new Variety report listing the world’s highest paid actors puts Cruise miles ahead the rest of the pack.
For the longest time, Hollywood’s biggest stars commanded $20 million dollars for their films. But the times have changed since Marvel burst onto the scene. Unfortunately, Marvel stars don’t attract the same popularity when they experiment outside the franchise.
While Tom Cruise leads the list with a $100 million payday for Maverick, Will Smith follows with $35 million for the Apple TV+ film Emancipation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are tied with $30 million each for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and a Formula One film, respectively. Both headed for streaming.
Dwayne Johnson, Will Ferrell, Chris Hemsworth, Vin Diesel and Tom Hardy have all charged $20 million for their upcoming releases (Black Adam, Spirited, Extraction 2, Fast X and Venom 3, respectively). Joaquin Phoenix earned himself a major salary hike for Joker 2. The Oscar-winner will make $20 million for the sequel to the 2019 film, for which he was paid $4.5 million. Jason Momoa will earn $15 million for the Aquaman sequel and Ryan Gosling is making $12.5 million for Barbie, the same as his co-star Margot Robbie.
Towards the bottom of the list, Robert Downey Jr is getting $4 million for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, less than Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown, who is charging $10 million for the sequel to Enola Holmes. This is likely because Downey has a much smaller supporting role in the ensemble, and is making the same amount as his co-stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. It’s not clear how much lead actor Cillian Murphy is making.
In Bollywood, the highest-paid actors can charge upwards of Rs 20 crore per project, and this is outside the pool of A-listers such as the three Khans and even Akshay Kumar. Ranveer Singh, who has established himself as one of the most bankable actors in Bollywood, is said to charge more than Rs 45 crore for a film. Varun Dhawan earns more than Rs 35 crore, while Kartik Aaryan, who is now climbing the ladder of success in Bollywood charges around Rs 21 crore for a film. Meanwhile, the pay disparity between the lead actors and actresses is ever-widening. Deepika Padukone charges around Rs 30 crore for a film, while Kangana Ranaut reportedly makes over R 27 crore. Other leading actors like Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor charge around Rs 20 crore for films.
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