5. Tom Cruise - War Of The Worlds (2005): $100 Million
For a blockbuster sci-fi with a budget of $132m that featured Hollywood's biggest star being directed by its most famous filmmaker, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg's collaboration on War of the Worlds was made incredibly quickly. Cruise and Spielberg delayed production on Mission: Impossible III and Munich respectively to shoot the HG Wells adaptation in just ten weeks, and the end result saw the actor land the biggest payday of his career outside of his signature role as Ethan Hunt. Although usually able to command a fee of $20m per movie, Cruise opted against taking a salary at all for War of the Worlds, instead negotiating a deal that would see him net 20% of the movie's total profits. This turned out to be a very wise move as the movie went on to become the biggest hit of his career, earning $591.7m at the box office and over $113m in home video sales. Regularly named as one of the highest-earning stars in Hollywood, War of the Worlds is estimated to have netted the diminutive action star around $100m.
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