Robert Downey Jr., The Rock, Vin Diesel, and Other Actor Salaries Revealed

Actors may not make as much on average as they once did, but there are plenty who are still making quite a bit.

According to a report from Variety, the times have changed in Hollywood. Big name stars who would pull in an easy $20 million per film are no longer the biggest draw when trying to get potential moviegoers out to a theater on opening weekend as they once were.

Instead, its the power of franchises and long-running, popular intellectual properties that draw a crowd. You don’t need to pay top dollar for acting when Marvel Comics characters and lightsaber battles practically sell themselves.

That said, there are still plenty of actors taking home fat paychecks by one method or another. An elite handful like Robert Downey Jr, Vin Diesel, and Dwayne Johnson are still seen as being a big enough draw to be worth a $20 million cut of the budget.

Meanwhile, others are willing to take a pay cut to make sure they get to do the jobs they want. Leonardo DiCaprio may have made $20 million in Christopher Nolan’s big-budget flick Inception but will take half of that to work with Quentin Tarantino on the relatively low-budget Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Some actors make more money based on the success of a film. For example, actors who work with Blumhouse, the studio that keeps churning out low budget horror hits, often work for scale. However, Ethan Hawke got a $2 million pay bonus due to the surprise success of the original The Purge movie.

Sometimes that extra payday doesn’t come until a sequel is announced. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will receive significant pay raises in the sequel to Jurassic World after the first film’s huge success. That applies to directors as well. Patty Jenkins will receive more than triple her original Wonder Woman salary to return and direct the sequel for Warner Bros.

Here’s a sampling of the some of the salaries of celebrities from your favorite films.

Daniel Craig

Movie: James Bond 25
Release: 2019
Salary: $25 Million

Daniel Craig will be paid $25 million for reprising his role as the superspy James Bond for the fifth and what has been said to be the final time.

The film will be directed by Danny Boyle. No details about the plot have been revealed as of yet.

Craig debuted as Bond in Casino Royale in 2006. He’s also starred as bond in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, 2012’s Skyfall, and 2015’s Spectre.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Movie: Red Notice
Release: 2020
Salary: $22 million

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be paid $22 million to star in Legendary and Universal Pictures’ tentpole action-thriller Red Notice.

The film is said to be a global heist film and a two-hander, though Johnson’s co-star has yet to be named.

Johnson is reteaming with writer/director Rawson Thurber for Red Notice. They previously worked together on the comedy Central Intelligence.

Vin Diesel

Movie: The Fate of the Furious
Release: 2017
Salary: $20 million

Vin Diesel was paid $20 million for The Fate of the Furious in 2017. The film was his seventh time leading a film in The Fast and the Furious franchise as Dominic Toretto.

In The Fate of the Furious, Dom plays antagonist after becoming involved with a mysterious woman named Cipher. His former teammates are forced to come out of retirement in response.

The film also starred Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. 

Anne Hathaway

Movie: Barbie
Release: 2020
Salary: $15 million

Anne Hathaway will receive a $15 million dollar payday for Mattel’s iconic Barbie doll to life in live action in 2020.

The film was originally announced for release in 2017, with Alethea Jones directing and Diablo Cody writing the script.

Cody has since dropped out of the project, focusing on Tully instead, and the Barbie movie’s release date was pushed back to May 2020.

Jennifer Lawrence

Movie: Red Sparrow
Release: 2018
Salary: $15 million

Jennifer Lawrence was paid $15 million to star in the film adaptation of John Matthews’ novel, Red Sparrow.

In Red Sparrow, Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egrova, a Russian spy on a mission to make contact with the CIA and discover a mole.

The film was directed by Francis Lawrence and also featured Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons.

Seth Rogen

Movie: Flarsky
Release: 2019
Salary: $15 million

Seth Rogen will be paid $15 to star in the upcoming John Levine comedy Flarsky alongside Charlize Theron.

Rogen will play Fred Flarsky, a down-on-his-luck, unemployed journalist who decides to try to court his childhood crush and babysitter (Theron), who is now one of the most powerful and unattainable women on the planet.

Production on Flarsky began in 2017.

Tom Cruise

Movie: The Mummy
Release: 2017
Salary: $11-13 million

The Mummy may not have been successful at launching the Dark Universe, but star Tom Cruise still took home a tidy sum in the $11-13 million range.

Cruise played a United States soldier who awoke the dreaded mummy and became entangled in her plans.

Cruise starred opposite Sofia Boutella as the mummy, with supporting cast members Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance and Russell Crowe.

Harrison Ford

Movie: Indiana Jones 5
Release: 2020
Salary: $10-12 million

Harrison Ford will return for another outing as adventurer Indiana Jones and be paid between $10-12 million for his trouble.

Ford already came out of retirement to reprise his role as Jones a decade ago in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film was not well-received by fans.

This time around, Ford will be returning but Shia LeBeauf will not be coming back as Jones’ son, Mutt, who was assumed to be the logical heir to Jones’ lead role in the franchise. It’s unclear what direction Disney will choose to take the franchise instead.

Sandra Bullock

Movie: Minions
Release: 2015
Salary: $10 million

In 2015, Sandra Bullock was paid $10 million to lend her voice to Minions, the animated spinoff of Despicable Me.

Bullock voiced Scarlet Overkill, a new evil overload for the Minions Bob, Kevin, and Stuart to serve.

The film made $1.159 billion worldwide at the box office.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Movies: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Release: 2019
Salary: $10 million

Leonardo DiCaprio will earn $10 million by starring in Quentin Tarantino’s next film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The film is set in 1969. DiCaprio stars as Rick Dalton, a former TV western star who, along with his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), is trying to make his way in a rapidly changing Hollywood. Dalton also happens to live next door to Sharon Tate, one of the victims of the Manson Family.

Robert Downey Jr.

Movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming
Release: 2017
Salary: $10 million

Robert Downey Jr. reprised his iconic role as Iron Man for the first Spider-Man film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Downey was paid $10 million, which is no smalls sum considering he only appeared on screen for about 8 minutes of the movie.

Downey’s Tony Stark plays the role of mentor to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, who is a teenager in the film.

Kevin Hart

Movie: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Release: 2017
Salary: $10 million

Kevin Hart was paid $10 million for his role in last year’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Hart plays Franklin “Mouse” Finbar, the zoologist and weapons specialist who was the avatar of the jock “Fridge” in the world of the game Jumanji.

Hart co-starred with Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black.

Chris Pratt

Movie: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Release: 2018
Salary: $10 million

Chris Pratt was paid $10 million to return as dinosaur trainer Owen Grady in the sequel to Jurassic World.

The film takes place three years after the original Jurassic World. As a volcano nears eruption on Isla Nublar, a mission is mounted to rescue the dinosaurs still located on the former site of the Jurassic World theme park. Grady agrees to help in order to locate Blue, the last living velociraptor he trained at the park.

Emily Blunt

Movie: Jungle Cruise
Release: 2019
Salary: $8-10 million

Emily Blunt will be paid between $8-10 million to star alongside Dwayne Johnson in the film adaptation of the Disneyland attraction Jungle Cruise.

The film has been in the works for some time. It follows a group of adventurers on a riverboat expedition in search of a cure.

Bryce Dallas Howard

Movie: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Release: 2018
Salary: $8 million

Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise her role as Claire Dearing, former head of operation at Jurassic World, in Jurassic World: Fallen Empire.

In the film, Dearing has become a dinosaur rights activist and recruits Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to rescue the dinosaurs left on Isla Nublar before a volcano eruption wipes them all out.

Tom Hardy

Movie: Venom
Release: 2018
Salary: $7 million

Tom Hardy will be paid $7 million to bond with Marvel’s symbiote in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man spinoff Venom.

Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, a reporter investigating a biotech company called the Life Foundation. He ends up bonding with one of the Foundation’s experiments and is reborn as the anti-hero Venom.

Ryan Gosling

Movie: First Man
Release: 2018
Salary: $6.5 million

Ryan Gosling will receive $6.5 million to portray Neil Armstrong in the biopic First Man.

The film is based on James R. Hansen’s book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong and also stars Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Shea Whigham, and Jon Bernthal. The film depicts the years leading up to the Apollo 11 launch in 1969.

Jack Black

Movie: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Release: 2017
Salary: $5 million

Jack Black was paid $5 million to star alongside Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart in the Jumanji reboot.

Black played Sheldon Oberon, the cartographer, cryptographer, archaeologist, and paleontologist who was the avatar of popular girl Bethany in the game world.

 

Michael B. Jordan

Movie: Creed 2
Release: 2018
Salary: $2 million

Michael B. Jordan will earn $3-4 million to reprise his role as Apollo Creed’s son in Creed 2.

The film continues the Rocky saga, with Jordan’s Adonis Creed preparing to face the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the boxer who killed Apollo Creed in the ring in Rocky IV.

Ethan Hawke

Movie: The Purge
Release: 2013
Salary: $2 million

Ethan Hawke was paid $2 million to star in the original The Purge movie.

The Purge ended up spawning an entire franchise with three film sequels – The Purge: Anarchy, The Purge: Election Year, and The First Purge. There’s also a Purge television series in the works.

The original Purge also starred Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Tony Oller, Rhys Wakefield and Arija Bareikis.