Johnny Depp becomes highest paid actor in Hollywood
American actor Johnny Depp is currently the highest paid actor in Hollywood after scoring a £21 million contract agreement for the Pirates of the Caribbean’s fourth edition, On Stranger Tides.
His earning stated in the deal is considered to be a guaranteed minimum salary for the motion picture in which he portrays Captain Jack Sparrow, but the amount is set to increase as it will surely be another box-office hit.
The figure puts the quirky performer on top of the high-earning Hollywood actors, beating the likes of Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey and Mel Gibson, who each average at about £18 million per film.
Disney studio bosses have agreed to the unprecedented pay agreement due to the absence of Depp’s high-profile co-starring pirates, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, in the next film.
Captain Barbossa is set to be played once again by Geoffrey Rush and Penelope Cruz is expected to carry out the female lead, although the news concerning the young actress still needs to be confirmed.
Depp was paid £15 million for Dead Man’s Chest, the third film, and is likely to collect about £50 million from the four-film series.
Depp now enters the realm of the extravagantly paid Hollywood gang actors.
The list incudes:
Harrison Ford (£38m) Indiana Jones 4
Tom Hanks (£29m) Angels and Demons
Cameron Diaz (£28.5m) What Happens in Vegas
Jim Carrey (£23m) Cable Guy
Will Smith (£18m) Hancock
Sacha Baron Cohen (£16m) Borat
Mel Gibson (£17m) Lethal Weapon 4
Matt Damon (£15m) The Bourne Supremacy
Tom Cruise (£12m) Mission: Impossible III
Robert Pattinson (£10m) Twilight Saga
The participation of Depp to various films has generated over $4.8 billion worldwide. The actor got three nominations at the Academy Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times. He won the Best Actor Awards from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.