Signing actors to pay-or-play contracts is a common practice in Hollywood, albeit one that can backfire spectacularly in certain circumstances. If the studio wants a big name to commit to a movie, then sometimes they’ll be offered a contract that guarantees they’ll be compensated for their efforts regardless of whether or not the project even makes it in front of cameras. In most cases, it goes off without a hitch, but in others, it can leave the money men hugely out of pocket.
A very prominent example of this is the abandoned Superman Lives, which has gone down in history as one of the most expensive films that was never made, with Warner Bros. funnelling an estimated $40 million into the production. Included in these costs was Tim Burton’s $5 million salary, while Nicolas Cage is reported to have been paid $20 million in full after the proposed director and star both signed pay-or-play deals.
It looks like Warner Bros. have fallen into the same trap again now after forcing Johnny Depp to resign from the role of Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3. The 57 year-old only shot one scene before he was informed that his services were no longer required, but due to the small print in his contract, the fallen star is still set to pocket his usual eight figure salary.
Collecting at least $10 million for a single scene that won’t even end up in the final product is good work if you can get it, but having also been dropped from Pirates of the Caribbean, you’d imagine that Depp would be much happier to still have a job, as would his fans based on the huge amount of online support he’s received since being booted from Fantastic Beasts 3.
