Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart in "Killers of the Flower Moon."
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Most actors don't get paid like they used to, but some can still negotiate huge deals.
Streaming and tech companies like Netflix and Apple shell out millions of dollars.
Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly paid $30 million for "Killers of the Flower Moon."
It's rare for actors to bring in huge salaries today, at least compared to the days when audiences were drawn to a movie primarily based on its leading star.
Years ago, if a certain actor's name was attached to a movie, it almost guaranteed success. In the '90s, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, and Jim Carrey were paid massive salaries because they attracted a crowd.
For instance, Carrey was paid $20 million — a rarity today — for "The Cable Guy" in 1996, because it was expected he could deliver a huge opening weekend.
Now, audiences are more attracted to franchises than its stars. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, for instance, dominated the box office for the last decade (to be fair, Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man, made bank off of those movies).
But some actors still command the recognition and leverage to strike gigantic deals, particularly Smith, Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
And with the rise of streaming services, actors find that the likes of Netflix and Apple aren't afraid to shell out tens of millions of dollars. Some movie stars in streaming movies snag such big paydays because they're granted a streaming back-end buyout, which aims to make up for box-office losses.
Insider ranked the highest-paid movie roles of all time that earned actors more than $25 million. Some actors — like Smith, DiCaprio, Cruise, and Tom Hanks — appear multiple times.
Stone topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid actresses in 2017 with $26 million, most of that coming from her Oscar-winning role in the 2016 film "La La Land."
Schwarzenegger promised that he'd be back for a third Terminator movie under some pretty specific circumstances, including a $29.25 million "pay or play" fee, which he would receive even if the movie wasn't made.
DiCaprio received $30 million for his role in Netflix and director Adam McKay's star-studded movie "Don't Look Up," which includes a streaming back-end buyout.
24. Mark Wahlberg as Spenser in "Spenser Confidential"
Wahlberg received $30 million for Netflix's action comedy "Spenser Confidential," which was Netflix's third biggest movie of all time upon release with 85 million households watching in its first month (the streamer counts a view if an account watches at least two minutes of a movie).
23. Leonardo DiCaprio in "Killers of the Flower Moon"
DiCaprio is getting a big payday from Martin Scorsese's latest film, in which he plays a man who plots with his uncle to steal his wife's family fortune by murdering them one by one.
Apple is showing that it's not afraid to shell out millions of dollars to actors that appear in its movies, as it paid $35 million Smith for the drama "Emancipation."
Smith received $40 million for his role as Richard Williams, the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. It includes a back-end buyout because the movie will be hitting theaters and streaming on HBO Max simultaneously.
Washington snagged $40 million for "The Little Things" after receiving a back-end buyout when the movie streamed on HBO Max the same day it hit theaters.
Hanks has struck "act now, get paid later" deals on multiple films, in which he would receive a portion of the box-office earnings. That got him at least $40 million for "Saving Private Ryan," but it's not his most lucrative deal.
Diaz was paid a mere $1 million to get "Bad Teacher" produced, but received a portion of box-office earnings, which secured her over $40 million for the movie. It's known as one of the most "legendary" deals in Hollywood history.
Robbie was paid a reported $12.5 million for her starring role in the breakout hit of 2023, but her role as producer on the film and box-office bonuses boosted her payday to about $50 million, according to Variety.
Johnson was paid $50 million for the upcoming holiday action movie "Red One," which Amazon Studios won in a bidding war. The compensation includes a back-end buyout for the streaming movie.
Netflix landed two "Knives Out" sequels in a deal worth $469 million, and star Daniel Craig could earn "upward of $100 million" for the sequels, according to THR.
The first "Knives Out," released by the studio Lionsgate, was a box-office hit with more than $300 million worldwide off of a $40 million budget.
DiCaprio earned at least $50 million for Christopher Nolan's 2010 film "Inception" just from box-office earnings, but his deal also included home video and television sales. According to Forbes, he took a pay cut because the movie was so "risky," but he and Nolan agreed to split first dollar gross points.
Though Nicholson was paid $6 million up front for his role as the villainous Joker in the 1989 "Batman" film, he reportedly secured a lucrative deal that included box-office earnings and merchandise sales from its sequels — that he didn't even appear in.
11. Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"
Forbes reported in 2010 that "On Stranger Tides" — the fourth "Pirates" movie released in 2011 — was one of the most expensive movies ever made, with production costs of over $410 million. A large portion of those costs were due to paying staff and actors. Depp alone made $55 million for the movie.
Sandler struck a deal with Netflix in 2014 for four exclusive movies worth an estimated $250 million, or $62.5 million per movie, according to Forbes. Netflix renewed the deal in 2017 for four more movies, and again in 2020.
8. Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
To get Ford back for a fourth "Indiana Jones" movie, Paramount agreed to a deal that split a large portion of the film's earnings between him, director Steven Spielberg, and producer George Lucas.
Bullock was paid $20 million up front for "Gravity," which is an impressive number on its own. But her deal also included 15% of box office revenue, which landed her at least $70 million.
Downey was the highest-paid actor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after negotiating a deal in which he received backend profits that resulted in $75 million for 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War." He even made $50 million for the first "Avengers" movie in 2012, according to GQ.
4. Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol"
Cruise earned $75 million from the fourth "Mission: Impossible" movie, "Ghost Protocol," which allowed him to top Forbes' most powerful actors list in 2012.
