He’s been at the top of the Hollywood movie industry for more than four decades.
And thanks to his latest blockbuster release Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is officially the highest earning film star, Variety reported on Wednesday.
Cruise, 60, who is not only the star of the sequel but also its producer, is expected to make more than $100 million from movie ticket sales, his salary and his cut of home entertainment rentals and streaming revenue.
Top Gun: Maverick is now Paramount’s highest grossing movie ever worldwide taking in $1.2 billion globally and the first of Cruise’s movie to pass the billion dollar mark.
It is also only the 12th film in history to cross the $600 million mark at the domestic box office.
Though Cruise is set to take a lower fee upfront for starring in the next two Mission: Impossible films – with sources estimating his paycheck to be between $12M to $14M – he earns a sizable percentage of the movies’ first-dollar gross.
That means he ‘gets box office bonuses before the studio even breaks even’ ensuring he always get a good pay day.
One movie executive noted that Cruise and Dwayne Johnson (who made $22.5M for Black Adam) are two stars whose high salaries are certainly justified.
‘I would never bet against Tom Cruise. Most actors aren’t worth what you pay them, but Cruise and maybe Dwayne Johnson justify their salaries,’ he told Variety, making note of Tom’s excellent ability to promote his films all over the globe.
The second biggest earner, according to Variety, is Will Smith.
He signed on to star in the action thriller Emancipation for $35 million in June 2020.
Apple won a bidding war for the distribution rights to the film which is being directed by Antoine Fuqua and principal photography began in New Orleans in the summer of 2021.
However, this past May it was announced that the film’s release would be pushed back to 2023 citing production delays.
However, the news followed shortly after Smith’s ‘slap heard around the world’ when he struck Oscar host Chris Rock live on stage during the Academy Awards telecast on March 27.
The incident prompted outrage worldwide and a very public backlash.
He resigned his Academy membership on April 1, and was banned from attending Academy events for a 10-year period, effective April 8.
Since then Smith, who won the best actor Oscar for King Richard, has been laying low and staying out of the spotlight.
Smith’s biggest pay day to date was for 2012’s Men In Black 3 for which he took home a rumored $100 million.
Other high earners in the film category include Leonardo DiCaprio who earned $30 million for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of The Flower Moon and Brad Pitt who is getting $30million for an as-yet untitled Formula 1 drama.
Meanwhile, Chris Hemsworth (Extraction 2), Denzel Washington (Equalizer 3), Vin Diesel (Fast X), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker 2), Tom Hardy (Venom 3), Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds (Spirited) all earned $20 million for their respective films.
Lower on the list were stars of the highly-anticipated upcoming Barbie film, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, each making $12.5 million.
