Any star who plays either a lead role or major supporting part in a franchise sequel always tends to earn more money from back-end deals and percentage points based on the profits and box office earnings than they do from a basic salary, which is why Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans and Paul Rudd all appeared on last year’s list of the highest-paid actors, because they each had a substantial presence in Avengers: Endgame, which went on to become the highest-grossing movie in history.
Gal Gadot already received a major bump in pay for headlining Wonder Woman 1984 after the first installment turned out to be such a runaway success, with the actress getting $10 million upfront. If you’ll remember, people were outraged at the rumors that she’d only picked up $300,000 for her maiden solo outing, but those figures were a base salary that was then topped up to the tune of millions.
With Wonder Woman 1984 now heading to HBO Max the same day that it lands on the big screen, there’s literally no chance it performs close to the level required for Gadot to collect the performance-related bonuses attached to the various box office milestones, especially with the theatrical industry still on its knees.
However, the latest report claims that Warner Bros. went directly to the actress and director Patty Jenkins before it was confirmed that the DCEU blockbuster was being sent to streaming, and offered both of them a sizeable chunk of change, said to be at least a further $10 million each, to offset any losses from the small print in their respective contracts. Not only does this keep the key duo happy, but a huge wad of cash is likely more than enough to stop either Gadot or Jenkins from publicly voicing their opinions on the matter, like many others have.
