Robert Pattinsons salary for The Batman was only $3 million upfront??
Variety had a really interesting story this week about movie star paychecks and which movie stars are really raking in the really massive paychecks. Buried within the article, Variety noted that Robert Pattinson is on the lowest end of “movie star paychecks,” having only gotten $3 million for The Batman. Which is very low, especially considering the upfront salaries of so many men for such crappy films. While Variety doesn’t say this, I would assume that Pattinson only (“only”) got $3 million upfront and then he has a very generous backend deal. That is truly the only explanation I have for why his quote is so low.
A $20 million-per-picture paycheck has been industry standard for top talent since 1996, when Jim Carrey stunned Hollywood by earning that sum for his dark comedy “The Cable Guy.” That number still stands for headliners of movies made for theatrical release, including upcoming projects starring Sandra Bullock (Paramount’s “The Lost City of D”), Brad Pitt (Sony’s “Bullet Train”) and Chris Hemsworth (Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder”). And it’s a sliding scale. Chris Pine will earn close to $11.5 million for the Paramount franchise hopeful “Dungeons and Dragons,” and Robert Pattinson picked up $3 million for his turn in “The Batman,” a grittier take on the comic book icon.
Five years ago, many of these paydays would be the top of the heap. Now they’re dwarfed by the riches offered by Netflix, Amazon and other streamers. Daniel Craig, for instance, is walking off with north of $100 million thanks to the eye-popping sale of two sequels to Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out.” His windfall can be attributed to the fact that Netflix compensates movie stars for the projected back-end box office participation they would reap if their movies were released exclusively in theaters. Add to that salary bumps Craig would’ve received for second and third films in the murder mystery series, and the outgoing James Bond is sitting on a nine-figure check.
The fact that Daniel Craig has scored $100 million for two Knives Out sequels… my God. He also had a pretty crazy deal with the James Bond franchise, and tons of side-deals for “in character” cross-promotion. As for Pattinson… he’s playing a comic-book character with a built-in audience, and Rob was also part of a massively successful franchise before. I seriously don’t know why his quote is so low unless he was specifically aiming for a backend payday.
I genuinely think this looks good, still.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, ‘The Batman’.
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