$1 billion budget for Avengers: Infinity War – What will the actors be paid?
A 1 billion dollar budget is rumored for 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, as Marvel Studios makes it rain for their hottest property.
Avengers: Infinity War, the latest installment in Marvel’s blockbuster superhero franchise, reportedly has a budget of $1 billion. Yes, I said billion.
Blockbuster Budget and Cast
This is actually for both Infinity War and Avengers 4 (or Avengers 3 and Infinity War 2, however you want to parse it). Still, it’s still an incredible budget for, well, anything. Infinity War includes the largest cast of any of the Marvel cinematic universe film to date, as it unites the characters from all of the MCU movies.
We will see Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, The Hulk, Hawkeye, Peter Quill (fine, Star-lord), Nebula, Thanos, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Loki, Nick Fury, Vision, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Drax The Destroyer, Groot, Mantis, The Collector, and Wong. And probably more. All those actors gotta get paid.
Payday
My question is how Marvel will dole out those salaries. Robert Downey, Jr., apparently will make $200 million for the two upcoming films. How will the rest of the cast make out? So far, no one has come close. On November 9, 2015, the International Business Times reported that
"Robert Downey Jr, earned $40m for reprising his role of Tony Stark aka Iron Man for the fifth time on the big screen, while Johansson got $20m for her portrayal of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow.Chris Evans (Steve Rogers aka Captain America) was next in line earning much less than the previous two with $6.9m, while Jeremy Renner, not far off, walked away with $6.1m for his involvement as Clint Barton/Hawkeye. Thor actor Chris Hemsworth earned the second-lowest amount, $5.4m, leaving Mark Ruffalo in sixth position earning $2.8m."
But the very next day, Variety learned that Johansson earns roughly the same compensation from The Avengers series as her male co-stars Chris Evans (who plays Captain America) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor).
Previous reports suggested Johansson received more than twice the salary of Hemsworth and Evans for Avengers: Age of Ultron. But those statistics were not accurate, sources added.
For Avengers Assemble, Business Insider reported that Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson both earned $4 to 6 million. Robert Downey, Jr., got a whopping $50 million after his negotiations with Marvel in the wake of the success of Iron Man. And via The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo took home $2 to 3 million each.
All The Ladies
This movie will include all five ladies we know from the Marvel movies. Scarlett Johansson is of course back as Black Widow. Brie Larson will play Captain Marvel, Elizabeth Olsen is coming back as Scarlet Witch, and Zoe Saldana will take another turn as Gamora. And Karen Gillan can once again vamp the heck out of Nebula. We also have relative newcomer Pom Klementieff, who will play the new Avenger, Mantis. Will Marvel pay them the same as their equally famous male counterparts? Culturess will report back. We have our eye on you, Marvel!
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Avengers: Infinity War will be in theaters April 27, 2018.