It's no secret that movie stars can make millions upon millions of dollars to play someone else
on screen.
But for some actors, money isn't everything—particularly when it comes to sequels.
Find out why certain household names decided not to follow up a successful film, despite
being offered a truckload of money.
Vin Diesel
Fast & Furious movies come out at a rate that's, well, fast and furious.
Vin Diesel was in the first film, and all the most recent entries, but he skipped the
2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, despite being offered 25 million dollars.
Diesel told Hashtag Legend:
"Sequels had gotten such a bad name and I had started to think of that first Fast and
Furious as a classic, like a Rebel Without a Cause.
If we 'sequelised' it the way studios were doing at the time, just slapping a story together,
I'd ruin the chance of that first one becoming a classic."
Ironically, Diesel used that time to film The Chronicles of Riddick, a sequel to the
2000 movie Pitch Black.
That franchise was much closer to Diesel's heart, so much so that he took home a relatively
meager $50,000 dollars.
Will Smith
With The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith transitioned from music into television.
And with Independence Day, the top grossing movie of 1996, Smith transitioned from TV
star to full-fledged movie star.
"Who's the man, huh?
Who's the man?"
When producers approached Smith to return for an Independence Day sequel, Smith countered
their initial offer with a request for $50 million dollars for two sequels.
Despite getting shot down, Smith still considered being in the movie.
In 2015, the sequel's director, Roland Emmerich, said:
"He just was tired of sequels and he did another science fiction film, which was his father-son
story, so he opted out."
Michael Keaton
Primarily known as a comedic actor, Michael Keaton was a bit of a left-field choice to
star in Tim Burton's Batman films.
But both Batman and Batman Returns ended up doing incredibly well.
That's why it was so shocking when Keaton walked away from the franchise before Batman
Forever went into production.
He also walked away from a reported $15 million dollars.
"What was it about three that you just didn't like?"
"Sucked."
"Yeah?
There you go!
That pretty much says it all."
"Yeah, it just was awful."
Jodie Foster
Movies that win the Academy Award for Best Picture don't often have sequels, but The
Silence of the Lambs isn't like most movies.
"Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims."
"I didn't."
"No.
No, you ate yours."
After winning an Oscar for her portrayal of FBI agent Clarice Starling, Jodie Foster was
offered $20 million dollars to return for the sequel---one of the biggest actor paychecks
up to that time.
But Foster said no, deciding instead to direct a film about a circus sideshow performer called
Flora Plum.
The film died in production, and Julianne Moore stepped into the role of Clarice, for
which she was paid a mere $2 million dollars.
Keanu Reeves
The original Speed was lightning in a bottle.
A huge box office success, it made veteran actor Keanu Reeves a viable action star, and
thrust Sandra Bullock onto the A-list.
Then there's Speed 2: Cruise Control, which ranks among the most poorly-reviewed, franchise-killing
sequels of all time.
Bullock returned, but Reeves didn't, reportedly leaving $11 million dollars on the table.
After filming the physically taxing Chain Reaction, Reeves' manager had a simple explanation:
"He didn't want to do two action movies back-to-back."
Bruce Willis
In the first two films in The Expendables franchise, Bruce Willis appeared alongside
an ensemble of faded-but-beloved action stars.
To return for the third film, he was offered $3 million dollars—for just four days of
work.
But when Willis asked for a salary boost to $4 million, it turns out he was, well, expendable.
Producers refused the pay increase and Harrison Ford got the part instead.
The Expendables 3 co-star and co-writer Sylvester Stallone tweeted out that Willis' behavior
was: "Greedy and lazy...a sure formula for career failure."
Katie Holmes
Dawson's Creek actress Katie Holmes starred as Bruce Wayne's girlfriend in Batman Begins.
But she opted out of the next movie, The Dark Knight, choosing instead to film the forgettable
heist comedy Mad Money.
Holmes told Business Insider in 2016 that she doesn't regret her choice to walk away
from a critically-acclaimed blockbuster, saying,
"It was a decision that I made at that time and it was right for me at that moment."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Holmes would've earned between $1 and 2 million dollars
for The Dark Knight, much more than the roughly $250,000 she got for Mad Money.
Jim Carrey
1994 was the year Jim Carrey officially became a household name, when he starred in three
hit movies: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber.
Carrey starred in sequels to Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber, but turned down the sequel
to The Mask, despite a $10 million dollar offer.
On turning down that much cash, Carrey told the Los Angeles Times:
"I don't want people to start thinking about me as, like, a money person, cause I'm not.
To me, that's a little Monopoly game that's being played in the other room."
"That's how wealthy people laugh…
OH!"
Hilary Duff
If you weren't a tween or the parent of a tween in the early 2000s, then the Lizzie
McGuire television phenomenon probably escaped you.
Disney executive Dick Cook was so confident that a Lizzie McGuire movie would be a hit
that he offered lead actress Hilary Duff a two-movie deal for $3.5 million dollars.
Hilary's manager, who happened to be her mother, asked for $5 million instead.
Cook said $4 million was his final offer and gave the Duffs a deadline when the offer would
expire.
A day after that deadline, Duff's mom agreed to the $4 million, but it was too late.
And that's why there's only one Lizzie McGuire movie.
Will Ferrell
Elf is a modern-day Christmas classic, and to revisit Buddy the Elf would be to ruin
the spirit of the original.
That's a big reason why Will Ferrell refused to make Elf 2, resisting the lure of offers
as high as $29 million dollars.
Regarding his decision, he told The Guardian:
"I remember asking myself: could I withstand the criticism when it's bad and they say,
'He did the sequel for the money'?
I decided I wouldn't be able to.
I didn't want to wander into an area that could erase all the good work I've done."
"So I'm here now, I found you, daddy."
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