2. Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise, being one of the most bankable actors in the industry, can cash on this when it suits him, which for Cruise, is basically every movie he ever does. Sure, he is guaranteed to get at least $20 million for every movie he stars in, but the reason why his net worth currently sits at $480 million is because of his negotiating prowess.
He has done this time and time again, including for the Mission Impossible series, which saw him bring in $290 million across the four films, earning more than any other character in movie history. He also negotiated for 2001’s Vanilla Sky, 2003’s The Last Samurai and 2010’s Knight and Day. But his biggest paycheck came with 2005’s War of the Worlds.
This is particularly more interesting than others on this list because he didn’t take a base fee at all – he simply took 20% of the total profits. All in all, Cruise made out with $100 million for the film alone.
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