Although Tom Cruise is already among the highest-paid performers in Hollywood, the box office success of his newest film, Top Gun: Maverick, is expected to break all previous records.
Tom Cruise, like many movie stars nowadays, agreed to a smaller upfront fee in exchange for a larger part of the box office earnings.
And it worked well for him.
In this case, literally, the picture is predicted to bring in roughly $100 million.
This is the long-awaited sequel to the original Top Gun, which was released in 1986.
The picture received a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation site, and the box office proved it.
What else? It has earned $1.24 million globally against a budget of $170 million, making it the 19th highest grossing picture of all time and the most profitable movie for the year 2022.
When Hollywood performers used to joyfully negotiate a greater pay up front and call it a day, things started to change and now both Hollywood studios and stars aim to negotiate a fee + share of the earnings formula when they can.
Taking less money up front allows actors like Tom Cruise, who know their box office numbers are always outstanding, to make more money later on, when they bring in the final tally.
Hollywood studios typically pay actors too much for movies that don’t perform well at the box office, so this method works out better for them as well.
Cruise portrays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the film.
In the thirty or so years since he left the TopGun academy, Maverick has honed his skills as a test pilot.
In order to help Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) and teenage pilot Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) save the day, he is called back into action without giving any spoilers.
Because Rooster is the son of Maverick’s old Radar Intercept Officer and buddy LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who was killed in the first film, there is also a sentimental factor.