Tom Hanks delivers for $25m
06/05/2006 10:57  - (SA)  

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Washington - Da Vinci Code star Tom Hanks delivers for his $25m per-movie salary, but not Jim Carrey, whose films haven't done as well at the box office, a comparison in Entertainment Weekly showed on Friday.

Hanks, 49, the star of the much-awaited film of the bestselling religious mystery novel, "remains one of the most bankable brand names in the world, which the Da Vinci Codeshould demonstrate later this month," the Hollywood magazine reported.

Also "worth every penny" of their mega-salaries are actors Will Smith ($25m a film), Brad Pitt ($20m) and 2006 Academy Awards best actress Reese Witherspoon ($15m).

But Canadian comedian Jim Carrey, 44, who was the first actor to ever break the $20m barrier for his 1996 film The Cable Guy, and who now gets the same payout as Hanks, doesn't bring in the bucks at the box office to merit that pay grade, EW said.

"He was the first to pocket a $20m paycheque, but with Lemony Snicket and Fun with Dick and Jane only inching past $100m each (in sales), studios may soon start looking for cheaper funny men," EW said.

EW reaches the same verdict on the $20m paycheques of Eddie Murphy, the Beverly Hills Cop and Nutty Professor star whose most recent films have flopped.

Despite his $12m fee, John Travolta "simply doesn't bring out fans like he used to," EW said, and neither does the former Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford, who commands $15m.

Tom Cruise, whose Mission: Impossible 3 hit the theatres in the United States on Friday, has been asking for no pay upfront and risks his take on a share of the ultimate box office - up to 30% of the proceeds, EW says.

With a total $2.5bn earned by all of his films, Cruise could be worth it, EW suggested.

"It's been a reliably winning gamble for the star, who is said to have taken home $75m for Mission Impossible: 2 and $100m for War of the Worlds."

But such payouts cut into movie studios' own incomes, EW noted, "making it an increasingly less comfortable deal for hit-starved studios".

 

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