Forbes names The Rock the millionaire actor for the second year in a row, but his list of heavyweights includes other revelations just as interesting: how much Netflix is making male stars richer today, for example.
Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? According to Forbes magazine, the stew would be valued at about 87.5 million dollars. Dwayne Johnson returns, thus, to crown his annual list of highest paid actors for the second time in a row, which means that he has beaten Ryan Reynolds (71.5 million) and Mark Wahlberg (58) in their fight for the highest position from the podium. While we wait for the leading business media to publish its ranking of most valued actresses in the middle of this week, these three muscular guys make up the holy trinity of Hollywood success.
The reason why Johnson has managed to surpass Deadpool by more than ten million is, when you stop to look closely at his last fiscal year, quite simple: Il Rockerino is not just an actor, but he is closer to becoming a a fucking franchise. Which does not mean that he chooses his roles exactly wrong, as Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw and Jumanji: The Next Level show, his two blockbusters of 2019. It is worth that the first one did not raise as much as the deliveries of his mother saga (Fast 8, without going any further, exceeded the barrier of one billion at the box office), but The Rock knows perfectly well that the secret of his formula lies above all in linking his name and his charisma to recognizable, attractive and of proven solvency. Only in this way can he allow himself from time to time to sponsor more personal projects, like that Family Fighting where he briefly plays himself. In addition, his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, has just closed the Ballers series after five long seasons (in which it always remained the most watched comedy on HBO).
Speaking of television, his Roquísima also premiered the second season of The Titan Games this year, with which it closed an additional agreement for its broadcast on Netflix outside the United States. NBC seems so happy with what the guy is cooking up that they've also struck a deal with him to produce and star in Young Rock, a sitcom inspired by his own life. As if all this were not enough, Dwayne Johnson has already deposited his checks for the imminent Jungle Cruise, Black Adam and Red Notice, whose premieres/shoots have had to be postponed due to the health situation. Oh, and he has a popular brand of vodka. And he charges millions for promoting on social networks. And he runs a line of clothing and accessories for Under Armor. He said it: more than a man, a registered trademark.
The rest of the Top 10 is made up of Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel (Johnson's natural enemy after their run-ins in the F&F franchise), Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Will Smith, Adam Sandler and Jackie Chan. What's interesting about the 2020 list is how, in stark contrast to last year's, Disney is no longer the top employer of the highest-paid stars: only Miranda, whose deal with Disney+ for the Hamilton broadcast rights has put directly on the list, he can be considered a company boy. With Avengers: Endgame already released and names like Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans disconnected from Marvel, the new sheriff in the city of Hollywood is called Netflix. What we mean by this is that the streaming giant is directly responsible for a quarter of the many millions in total that the Forbes list adds: Johnson and Reynolds, for example, have received 20 each for starring in Red Notice with Gal Gadot, who will surely appear (high above) in the female version.
Wahlberg walked away with a similar amount for Spenser Confidential, while Affleck has Last Wish and Sandler signed that famous deal (valued at no less than $250 million) with the company in 2014. In other words: a lot of actors are getting rich off the money. money that Netflix does not have, as its debt is increasingly scandalous. We'll see what happens in 2021.
