World's highest paid actor earned $10 million a minute: How 'washed up' star beat Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Dwayne Johnson

Hindustan Times

a day ago

Hollywood icon Tom Cruise was reportedly paid between $100-120 million for his appearance in Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning. Given his screen time in the film, this would translate to more than $1 million per minute for the superstar. It is in line with what most of the top stars charge today. Robert Downey Jr will earn $80 million for less than 60 minutes of screen time in the two upcoming Avengers films, while Dwayne Johnson also charges $80-100 million for films in which he appears for over an hour.
The $1-1.5 million per minute 'rate' appears to be a rule of thumb for most of these stars. Hence, it is mind-boggling to think that one actor charged nearly 10 times that amount for what was essentially a cameo. And he did it 15 years ago. This is the story of how a washed-out star became the world's highest-paid actor.
In September 2008, Johnny Depp was announced to join Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. The actor, riding high on the success of his Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, was reuniting with his favourite director to play Mad Hatter, the eccentric character from the fairytale. Even though the Hatter played a pivotal role, the part was essentially a cameo. In the final cut of the film, Johnny appeared for just seven minutes, out of the total 108 minutes.
Yet, Johnny was prominently featured in the promotions, with most posters using his face prominently. Given his star stature and marketability, Johnny was able to negotiate a deal that earned him $68 million for the film. This meant that the actor earned nearly $10 million for every minute that he was on screen in Alice in Wonderland.
In the end, the gimmick did work. Alice in Wonderland was a monumental success despite mixed reviews. The film grossed over $1 billion at the box office. It was the highest-grossing live-action film of 2010, ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 1 ($961 million) and Inception ($828 million). The only film that made more money that year was Disney's Toy Story 3 ($1.066 billion).
Johnny Depp began his film journey as a teen heartthrob in A Nightmare on Elm Street and the TV show 21 Jump Street. But by the 90s, he was disillusioned by his image as a teen sensation and began to look for more meaningful roles. He won acclaim for Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, and Donnie Brasco. But even as he earned critics' praise, many of his films were not doing well commercially. In 2001, he starred in two commercial failures - Blow and From Hell. This led many to wonder if Depp was 'washed out' in Hollywood.
However, just two years later, he scripted a comeback playing the pirate Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film earned $654 million and even earned Johnny an Oscar nod. Another Oscar nomination came his way the following year for Finding Neverland. In 2005, he found further success with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, followed by Pirates sequels, establishing him as the number one star in Hollywood.