10 Highest Paid Actors & Their Lowest Grossing Movies
It's all about the money, money, money...
Hollywood's fascination with the mythology of stardom and the immediacy of money means that there's a select group of actors in Hollywood who are able to command the big bucks to star in some of the biggest movies. That happy few are made up of stalwarts who have worked for decades alongside some new kids on the block who are already reaching that level despite only being in the business for a relatively short period of time.
However, just because they and their films earn big bucks now doesn't mean they always did; even the biggest current draws all have films that made very little at the box office and it's fascinating to see the disparity. But why did those particular movies make such little money back?
In some cases it's a very small indie movie that wasn't going to make lots of money anyway or it's just a dud movie that failed to connect with audiences in any way. Perhaps the actor had a very small role or they weren't a big enough name yet to draw in audiences. Whatever the reason they're all a far cry from the sort of huge successes that these stars enjoy these days.
Note: Films where the actors were just narrators/appeared as themselves aren't included, although animated voice performances do count.
10. Dwayne Johnson - Southland Tales
Salary: $14-15 million per movie
The former wrestler really has made massive strides in Hollywood ever since he entered the world of movies back in 2002 with The Scorpion King. Although not every one of his cinematic efforts has been great (*cough* The Tooth Fairy *cough*), he has shrewdly built himself a great career, picking roles that play to his strengths and inimitable persona while simultaneously breaking away from his wrestling mold to become a fully fledged movie star in his own right.
He now sits at an impressive $14-15 million per big studio movie, which is what he got for Hercules and this summer's San Andreas.
Lowest Grossing Film: Southland Tales (2006) - $375k
Many people count Donnie Darko as a fluke for writer-director Richard Kelly as his subsequent films The Box and Southland Tales haven't fared anywhere near as well (he also wrote the screenplay for the poorly-grossing Domino).
This sci-fi/drama/comedy mashup is set in a futuristic Los Angeles that stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Johnson plays Boxer Santaros, an action movie star stricken with amnesia. It's a truly bizarre film - one that gives the actor the chance to deliver the wonderfully WTF line, "I'm a pimp. And pimps don't commit suicide." - that failed to connect with audiences at the box office, making back less than 2.5% of its budget.