Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to 80s classic Top Gun, roared into theatres in 2022. Led by returning lead man Tom Cruise, the film sees Cruise's hero from the original film training a new batch of fighter pilots. The film also starred Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Glen Powell among others.
The film was a smash hit, ending the year as the highest-grossing domestic film and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide. It also received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It ended up taking home the award for Best Sound. However, its financial success may have been extra important as new reports emerge about how much Cruise earned for the film
Tom Cruise May Have Earned $200 Million For "Top Gun: Maverick"
As part of Deadline's recap of the most valuable films of 2022, the outlet analyzed their #2 pick, Top Gun: Maverick. The film made a profit of $391 million (net: $1.145 billion), balanced against a production cost of $753 million. Over a third of that production cost can be found in the actors' pay. Deadline lists the "participation" cost at $280 million. While unsurprising given the names found in the cast, it's just an insane amount to pay out. It is by far the highest cost of the film. In fact, it's a full $100 million higher than the second highest cost, prints and ads.
Now just how much of that is Cruise's payday? According to Deadline, "Cruise landed what sources call an old-fashioned movie star deal, one of the best in history. While some tell us it’s well north of $100M, others tell us it’s double that of his best payday on Mission: Impossible, which would get him to $200M." If that high-end claim is true, that means that Cruise made almost as much money making the film as the film made in gross profit. Of course, a name like Tom Cruise doesn't come cheap, but $100-200 million is an unbelievable amount of money. However, that is unconfirmed. If true, it would set a record for the highest payday of all time. But for now, that record is still held by Keanu Reeves. Reeves made $156 million he made across the second and third Matrix films.
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