Crime pays... at least, it does if you happen to be the Clown Prince.
A recent breakdown by Variety revealed what the stars of the year's biggest movies were
paid for their roles.
While Joaquin Phoenix's salary for Joker wasn't quite in line with your average lead in a
comic book film, it was nothing to laugh at, either.
Existing apart from the established continuity of the DC Movie Universe, Joker shocked the
world by virtue of generating major awards buzz, making roughly all of the money, and
being an excellent, complex film which is open to wildly varying interpretations by
design.
As comic book movies go, the flick was made on a modest budget; it cost $62.5 million
dollars to produce, and studio Warner Brothers went with an understated advertising campaign,
particularly as contrasted with your average Marvel Studios blockbuster.
"Avengers!
...Assemble."
As a result, Joker became one of the most ridiculously profitable movies of all time,
surpassing $1 billion at the worldwide box office and making Warners' brass look like
a bunch of geniuses for greenlighting the film.
One of the ways in which the flick's budget was kept in check, though, was by paying Phoenix
a comparative fraction of what he might have made if he'd opted for a more typical entry
into the comic book movie genre.
For his role as failed comedian turned agent of malevolence in October's smash hit film,
Phoenix earned $4.5 million certainly not a pittance, but not exactly Robert Downey,
Jr. money, either.
Speaking of Iron Man, there exists the distinct possibility that both he and Phoenix will
be up for statues come awards time; it sure would be interesting to see how Academy voters
think Downey's role in the biggest movie of all time stacks up against Phoenix's performance
in writer/director Todd Phillips' humble little comic book movie.
"People… are starting… to notice."
Believe it or not, when it comes to 2019 franchise films, Phoenix's salary for Joker is not only
on the low end, according to Variety, it's kind of near the lowest.
Only Jessica Chastain, who anchored September's It: Chapter Two as the adult Beverly Marsh,
was paid less; she took home $2.5 million for appearing in the Stephen King sequel,
and it's fair to say that this was to be expected considering that movie's huge ensemble cast.
As for the high end, Variety notes that Downey will rake in a whopping $20 million for the
forthcoming The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle, the same amount that he received up front
for his role in Avengers: Endgame.
Note the qualifier "up front"; when the dust settled on that film's record-shattering box
office run, Downey's back end pay had put his total Endgame earnings at an eye-watering
$75 million.
By way of comparison, Downey's co-star Chris Evans only scored a $15 million payday for
his final appearance as Captain America.
Dwayne Johnson is also in the $20 million club, having earned that amount for his appearance
in this summer's Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
His co-star Jason Statham was paid $13 million, while Idris Elba who portrayed the flick's
villain Brixton took home $8 million.
Also noteworthy is the fact that in 2020, the female stars of the most highly-anticipated
comic book and franchise fare will be earning paychecks much more in line with those of
their male counterparts than in years past.
For example, after clocking a mere $300,000 to star in 2017's Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot
will earn $10 million to reprise her role in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984, an amount
much closer to what is typically paid out to male stars of solo superhero films.
Meanwhile, Margot Robbie is reportedly earning between $9 and $10 million for returning to
the role of Harley Quinn in February's Birds of Prey, and Emily Blunt will pull down between
$12 and $13 million to star in the sequel to the hit 2018 horror flick A Quiet Place.
Those whopping salaries are creeping ever closer to those being paid out to established
A-listers like Tom Cruise and Will Smith; the former will take home between $12 and
$14 million for appearing in the Top Gun sequel Maverick, while the latter will notch a $17
million paycheck for starring in Bad Boys for Life.
Compared to those staggering totals, you could make the argument that Phoenix was egregiously
underpaid for starring in Joker but you have to keep in mind that Warner Bros. viewed the
film as a total gamble before it set the world on fire.
Somehow, we doubt Phoenix is upset; he's stated on more than one occasion that he didn't make
Joker for the money anyway, and it also seems pretty likely that he'll have the last laugh
come awards season.
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