Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is receiving a hefty salary for his next film. Photo / Getty
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is receiving a hefty salary for his next film. Photo / Getty
Movie star salaries are shrinking — unless you're Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, that is.
A Variety report into the salaries commanded by some of Hollywood's biggest stars found that many are taking home humbler pay cheques compared to the glory days of the '90s and early noughties, whenhousehold names like Julia Roberts and Jim Carrey could demand salaries of more than $US20 million per film.
In contrast, A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio was asked to halve his usual $US20 million ($NZ28.7 million) pay cheque to star in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. And increasingly, stars are being asked to "bet on themselves" — taking a small percentage of a film's back end profits instead of a large upfront pay cheque.
But as Hollywood belts tighten, there's one certified crowd pleaser who remains unaffected. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is such box-office gold, he has a million-dollar clause written into one of his latest contracts that will make your eyes water.
The affable star — who has more than 100 million Instagram followers, 58 million Facebook fans and another 12.9 million Twitter followers — will receive $US22 million ($NZ31.5 million) for his work in the upcoming thriller Red Notice, to be released next year. A cool $US1 million ($NZ1.4 million) of that is a "social media fee", payment for Johnson's promotional posts spruiking the film across his social media channels.
A hefty fee, but no doubt a sound investment for those marketing the film, given Johnson's enormous social media reach. It's a canny move for the film star, seeing as promotional responsibilities are usually considered part of a film actor's fee and are generally not paid for separately.
Variety reveals that Johnson is one of the few movie stars still able to command a salary of more than $US20 million ($NZ28.7 million) for a film — among the other heavy hitters are Daniel Craig, who will receive $US25 million ($NZ35.9 million) for his work in the next James Bond film, and Johnson's sometime rival Vin Diesel, who bagged $US20 million ($NZ28.7 million) for last year's The Fate Of The Furious.
Further down the Hollywood ladder, the two leads in what's sure to be one of 2018's biggest films, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, receive around half that. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will walk away with $US10 million and $US8 million ($NZ14.3 million and $NZ11.4 million) respectively for their work in the next instalment in the dinosaur franchise.
