Iron Man’s solid earnings

According to The Hollywood Reporter actor Robert Downey Jr is in line to earn over $50m for his role as Iron Man in The Avengers which was released in South Africa two weeks ago. His pay cheque is well above what any of his co-stars will be earning.

Downey signed a lucrative deal with the studio which incorporated box office bonuses and back-end compensation over and above his already substantial salary for appearing in the Blockbuster movie. The deal allegedly also relates to any future appearances he will make in future Marvel movies as the main protagonist Tony Stark aka Iron Man.

The deal was tied down after protracted negotiations with Marvel, after the first Iron Man movie grossed $585m in 2008. The Avengers has already surpassed the $1bn mark at the worldwide box office in the short 19 days since it was released. The cleverly structured deal means that his share of the profits from The Avengers will increase as the film’s profits increase.

Unfortunately his co-star’s salaries pale in comparison with his in that they (Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) are due to receive between $2m and $3m each for their role in the hit action movie. Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson have signed deals which will see them popping up in several Marvel movies are reported to be earning double that of their co-stars.

The success of The Avengers means that it is set to become the third highest grossing movie of all time as soon as it surpasses Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 which grossed a cool $1.32bn. This will put the movie in behind James Cameron’s epic hits The Titanic, which has grossed $2.2bn including grosses from the 3D re-release this year, and Avatar which grossed $2.8bn.

These backend movie deals are not new to Hollywood and actor Johnny Depp has made at least $250m from his performances in The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. According to Forbes, director Michael Bay has also profited from the same sort of deal and took home close to $80m from the first Transformers movie.