The Highest Paid Actors Of All Time

There really is no business like show business, especially when it comes to the fees earned by the stars that keep the entertainment machine going. Hollywood was built on transferring monstrous stacks of cash from studios to the stars they're desperate to convince to join projects. Sometimes, though, the immense numbers that find their way into the actors' bank accounts are simply based on a smart business investment. Knowing that they have a hit on their hands, the studios want to make sure that when the results roll in, the actors are happy when they receive a chunk of the box office haul for all their hard work.

Of course, some stars have walked out with a considerably larger bank balance than when they walked in. For some, this has involved taking on the role of a comic book movie villain, while others have had to literally break the sound barrier to ensure that the money comes in when the dust settles and audiences flock to see the final product. In other cases, all it takes is to get totally lost in space and float around for most of the movie's runtime, which sounds like less of a spacewalk and more of a cakewalk if you compare it to other big earners. Let's break them all down and find out which A-list star lands at the top of the Hollywood payday list.

In 2013, Oscar winner Sandra Bullock floated into her biggest paycheck ever when she starred opposite George Clooney in Alfonso Cuarón's award-winning science fiction nail-biter, "Gravity." Clooney signed on to "Gravity" under one condition: that he'd have accommodations that came with a basketball court and a hot tub. Bullock, on the other hand, asked for a bigger salary than usual — plus a little extra. Initially landing a payday of $20 million for her performance, Bullock had details in her contract stipulating that she'd earn 15% of the film's total box office revenue on top of her upfront fee. Needless to say, the total sum by the end of the film's theatrical run was a decent one.

The critical acclaim and attention at awards season led to "Gravity" racking up an impressive $700 million at the box office, which equated to at least $70 million entering Bullock's bank account. Like many entrants on this list, it's a testament to Bullock being business savvy as much as she is an award-winning star. She might not have earned as much for a single performance since then, but "Gravity" still stands as an impressive chapter in her career.

After saving the world on a number of occasions, Robert Downey Jr. earned himself a hefty sum for the first half of the battle for the universe in "Avengers: Infinity War." For his role in the initial throwdown with Thanos (Josh Brolin), Downey cashed in for the impressive amount of $75 million by way of backend add-ons stipulated in his contracts that saw a percentage of the film's revenue added to his baseline pay ($20 million). It was a deal so nice, he made sure to experience it twice.

When he returned for the back-to-back gig of Tony Stark's last stand against the MCU's galaxy-wrecking grimace, Downey earned another $75 million for "Avengers: Endgame," putting his total earnings for the two movies at around $150 million. Naturally, with a contract like that under his belt, RDJr has sparked massive speculation regarding his pay packet for "Avengers: Doomsday," a project that will see him return to Marvel after what will be a six-year hiatus. When Robert Downey Jr. agreed to return to the MCU, it was revealed that the star would be earning somewhere in the region of $50 million, with potential extra add-ons for rumored cameos he might be making in other films. At this rate, he could be earning Tony Stark-levels of cash by the time "Avengers: Secret Wars" rolls around.

Keanu Reeves deserves a higher-than-average payday given the amount of bumps and bruises he's earned over his action-packed career. But his bottom line's most notable increase hit in 1999 when, upon taking on the role of Neo in "The Matrix" films, Reeves also agreed to take a percentage of the earnings of the bullet-dodging, fist-throwing franchise. Factoring in the box office along with his initial fee for his part in the movies, Reeves raked in somewhere in the region of $250 million for the initial trilogy, which means he earned over $83 million for each film. That's some well-deserved pay for being the frontman for one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, no matter where you stand on its sequels.

Reeves' bank balance might not have received as big of a boost for what he's put his name to since then, but that doesn't mean he hasn't earned an impressive pay packet for his more recent projects. For the "John Wick" films, a franchise that saw him don more black and use more guns ("lots of guns"), Reeves accumulated an impressive wage that, if anything, is a testament to the franchise's success. By the time "John Wick: Chapter 4" fired its last bullet, the franchise paid the star $22 million in total. It might not seem like a lot in comparison to Reeves' previous earnings, but that's $2 million more than the first film's entire budget. Well done, Mr. Wick.

Incredibly, even with all of the aforementioned bank-breakers, there are a handful of stars that actually earned nine-figure salaries for appearances in dramatically contrasting movies. From science fiction to scarefests to white-knuckle thrill rides, three Hollywood stars walked away with an impressive bit of cash in their back pocket after making some incredibly clever deals.

The most recent is legendary star and personal stuntman to himself, Tom Cruise. Following the release of the cinema-saving blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick," it was reported that the star earned over $100 million after factoring in an extra chunk from the box office on top of the base salary that got him back into the cockpit. This record-setting haul put him past Will Smith, who had earned a record-breaking $100 million for returning as J in "Men In Black 3," a movie that ultimately earned over $600 million at the box office.

Perhaps one of the most surprising and smartest business moves, however, comes from Bruce Willis. Back in 1999, the "Die Hard" star signed on to a daring project with an up-and-coming director for an initial salary of $14 million plus a portion of the profits. He ended up reportedly walking away with a total of $115 million when M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" became the most successful horror film ever, at the time. His character may not have known he was a ghost, but Willis and his agent apparently knew this spooky little story was going to blow up at the box office.