Robert Downey Jr paid $50m for Avengers role

[The_Ripper]

Robert Downey Jr stands to earn over $50m for his role in The Avengers. This pay cheque is well above what any of his Avengers co-stars are earning to appear in the blockbuster Marvel movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Robert signed a deal incorporating box office bonuses and back-end compensation in addition to his salary for appearing in the movie.

The deal also relates to any future appearances Robert will make in Marvel movies as its main superhero character Tony Stark/Iron Man.

He apparently renegotiated his deal with Marvel after the first Iron Man movie grossed $585m in 2008, according to the report. The Avengers has already surpassed the $1bn mark at the worldwide box office, just 19 days after its release.

Robert's deal means that his share of the profits from The Avengers will increase as the movie grosses more money.

By comparison, Robert's Avengers co-stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) will each make only $2m to $3m for their participation in the movie.

Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson, who signed deals to pop up in several Marvel movies, are said to be making about twice that for The Avengers with bonuses.

The Avengers is set to become the third highest grossing film of all time, if it surpasses the $1.32bn haul of 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, behind James Cameron's two massive hits: Avatar ($2.8bn) and Titanic ($2.2bn, including grosses from the re-release earlier in 2012).

This kind of backend movie pay deals are not new to Hollywood. Johnny Depp is said to have made at least $250m from the four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Forbes reported that director Michael Bay took home $80m from the first Transformers movie

[doggfather]

good for him.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Backend money is where it's at.  I think Jack Nicholson still has the record for the biggest movie payday since he negotiated for percentages from Batman's gross.  I think he got $60 million or something, and that was in 1989... adjusted for inflation, that would be over $111 million in today's money.

[The_Ripper]

"not bad" for an ex junkie..

[doggfather]

"not bad" for an ex junkie..

 
right

[Nutty]

Backend money is where it's at.  I think Jack Nicholson still has the record for the biggest movie payday since he negotiated for percentages from Batman's gross.  I think he got $60 million or something, and that was in 1989... adjusted for inflation, that would be over $111 million in today's money.

And people rate Batman Begins higher..... smh, lol.

[Hood Crawler]

No one should make that kinda money man.  Insane.  Hope he uses it on his kid and not drugs. lol.

[DJ SUGAFREE QUIK]

If there's another avengers movie I just hope the rest will demand a pay raise.  Its only right!  A billion dollars within 4 weeks. 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

If there's another avengers movie I just hope the rest will demand a pay raise.  Its only right!  A billion dollars within 4 weeks. 

The other Avengers actors and actresses will likely get more money, but they're not going to get Robert Downey Jr. money.  No one else drives the movie the way he does, in terms of his character's dialogue and also action sequences.  He's cool to watch whether he has the suit on or not.  I can't say the same about the other actors or the characters that they portray.

Also, it's not a billion dollars of profit, so it's not like one guy is laughing all the way to the bank with an extra billion dollars.  I think something like 30-40% of box office gross numbers are what the theaters keep.  But regardless, yes, the movie has generated a ton of profit in a short amount of time, though the guys who actually finance the project usually get to keep more of that.