When we watch a film, all we see is what's happening on the screen, very few of us think about what goes on behind the scenes and what takes places to make it happen. A great film, and even a bad film doesn't get released after just a few months of work, it can take years, in fact ten years in James Camerons case with Avatar. This is because making a film takes huge amounts of effort and preparation, but ultimately what makes it happen is money. However as we know, nothing in this world is free, and the film industry is definitely no exception to this. Therefore this post is all about ridiculous pay checks, huge budgets and just money down the drain...
Complete destruction in Casino Royale - 2006
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This action-packed thriller by Martin Campbell and starring Daniel Craig had a budget of £110 million. And no wonder. Because in one single afternoon, three Aston Martin's were destroyed in result of perfecting the car roll sequence. But wait, there's more... Each car is valued at £220,000!! Now look at that beautiful car in the picture to the left and picture it being destroyed three times for a five minute clip. Now this may just be me being tight, but what a waste!
That's what I call a hungry cast in The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey - 2012
For this film, Peter Jackson, the director had a huge budget of £414 million and I'm glad he spent that money wisely. As during the making of The Hobbit, he managed to spend £1.1 million on food! Obviously. Also £281,000 on coffee. That's a lot of hyperactive dwarfs!
A man of few words in Terminator 2: Judgement Day - 1991
In the second film of the Terminator series, our Terminator is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some may call him an action hero and some people like myself will call him an awful actor, which is why this next figure annoys me so much. Because Arny managed to rake in a salary of £12 million. But more annoyingly, he only spoke 700 words in the entire film! That means roughly £16,000 per word! So 'Hasta la vista baby' got him £64,000. That's just not fair.
Over priced ridiculousness in Tenacious D, Pick of Destiny - 2006
In this Rock-Comedy, the makers, Kyle Gas & Jack Black certainly didn't hold back when spending a bit of cash. In one short scene the camera pans across the famous Hollywood sign for only a few seconds, costing them £37,000. They show another short clip of old school rock star Pete Townshend, power sliding. To get this clip they had to ring up an ask the man himself. Allegedly he said 'of course, but it will cost you £150,000' So that's what they paid. These little things don't come cheap!
Every body loves an underdog in The Shawshank Redemption - 1994
In 1994, the film Shawshank Redemption was released. Those who have watched it will probably say it's one of the best films they have ever seen. So how come it done so bad at the box office? This film cost 18 million to make, and only just about scraped a profit, as hardly anyone went to see it. Yet nearly two decades later, the film that barely managed to pay for itself, is ranked No.1 on the IMDb's Top 250 Films of All Time list. Turning their tiny profit, into a not so tiny profit!
Loosing money in Run For Your Wife - 2012
Most people from Britain know that Danny Dyer always plays a tough, violent character in the usual gangster flicks. But recently the actor decided to change things up and go for a comedy role in this extremely sh*t film called 'Run For Your Wife' I doubt you have heard of it. This may have been Dyer's worst ever decision. As the film made an immense £747 at the box office! Yes I'm being sarcastic. £747 is beyond embarrassing, especially as the film cost £2.5 million to make. Which means that, at this rate, it would have to show for another 3,347 weeks to break even. Which is about 65 years. Awkwaaard.
Ever wondered how much actors really get paid? Well don't wonder. Because trust me, you don't want to know!... Warning: The figures you're about to read below are truly ridiculous and might make you want to cry.
In order for actors to make a serious fortune, they must demand more than just a single salary. They also need to make sure that they get a small percentage in the films revenue. For example, if Brad Pitt does a movie, he may want 10% of the film's revenue on top of his £20 million salary. That would mean he would get 10% of the movie gross revenue. So if his movie goes on to earn £100 million, Brad Pitt is entitles to an additional £10 million (10% of £100 million). This is partially why some of the actors below get insane paychecks! I shall now present Hollywood's highest paid actors...
Tom Cruise - The 50 year old actor gets on average about £15 million per film that he stars in as a main character. His highest paying role so far has been Agent Ethan Hunt in the
Mission Impossible franchise, as he raked in a total of
£216 million from it. Cruise made £52 million off the first film, £56m off the second, £56m off the third and £52m off the fourth. Resulting in the largest cumulative paycheck any actor has ever received for a single part.
Keanu Reeves - In The Matrix trilogy, Reeves earned a total of
£193 million. For the first film he was paid a salary of £7.4 million with a percentage of 10%. The Matrix eventually made £340 million worldwide, so he bagged a total payment of £40 million. The second one earned him £93 million and finally he received £60 million for the third one. The £93m that Keanu earned from the second film, The Matrix: Reloaded, is the largest paycheck ever received for a single film. And to think Will Smith turned the part down!
Johnny Depp - Depp's totally improvised portrayal of the highly praised character, Captain Jack Sparrow in
Pirates of the Caribbean , definitely paid off! Literally. As the 4 part series earned him a total of
£137 million. He made £15m for the first, £44m for the second, £37m for the third and £41m for the fourth. There has also been rumors of Depp returning for a future fifth installment and that he has negotiated a deal that could be worth £70 million, which will include a cute of merchandise, DVD sales and the box office earning. That's a lot of cash for one guy!
Tom Hanks - When Hanks realised that the production of
Forrest Gump was going extremely over budget, he wisely handed over half his £7 million pay check, so that shooting could continue without any half measures, in exchange of a 10% share in the overall revenue. Smart guy. Because his £7 million pay day turned into a £52 million payday on top of a Best Actor Academy Award. That's what I call a good result.
Jaden Smith - Finally, Jaden Smith is our highest paid child actor, despite his dad Will and Jada having an enormous fortune, he has chose not to slob around but to follow in his parents foot steps and make his own fortune, being already worth £6 million at just the age of 15. Back in 2010 Jaden played the role of Dre Parker in
The Karate Kid, earning him a total of
£2.2 million, making him the highest paid actor for a single film. That's a lot of money for a 12 year old!
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This action-packed thriller by Martin Campbell and starring Daniel Craig had a budget of £110 million. And no wonder. Because in one single afternoon, three Aston Martin's were destroyed in result of perfecting the car roll sequence. But wait, there's more... Each car is valued at £220,000!! Now look at that beautiful car in the picture to the left and picture it being destroyed three times for a five minute clip. Now this may just be me being tight, but what a waste!
