Got a bet going with a friend of mine. He believes that this atrocity of an actor actually is in the top 10 of highest paid actors from 2001-2011. I cant believe such a bad actor would be in the top 10 so I took his bet.

I cant seem to google myself to this information.

Can 2p2 help?

Probably.

I remember a few years ago when I first heard about him owing the IRS like 100 Million in back taxes telling my wife "Well, we can look forward to 5 years of Nic Cage being in horrible, yet profitable movies until he pays off the IRS". Sounds about right.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/09/mov...hollywood.html

I skimmed this and Cage was top 5 highest paid, but I'm not sure the time frame they were talking about.

Haha, how much money do you owe him?

How dare you insult the great Nic Cage. The Rock? Awesome. Face/Off? Awesome. Gone in 60 seconds? Awesome. Family Man? Heartwarming. You know nothing about awesome actors and awesome movies OP. And yes, I'm sure you lost the bet. Nic was one of the most in demand actors going into 2001. His National Treasure franchise and the fact that the man cranks out 4 movies a year to please *******s like you surely would place him amongst the top 10 earners.

OP,

Nick Cage is the top billed star in tons and tons of ****ty studio movies. Dude works hard. These are movies he made w/ salaries listed between 2001 and 2011.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) $7,500,000
Trespass (2011) $7,000,000
Seeking Justice (2011) $12,000,000
Drive Angry (2011) $6,000,000
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) $12,000,000
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) $2,000,000
National Treasure (2004) $20,000,000
Adaptation. (2002) $2,000,000
Windtalkers (2002) $20,000,000
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) $7,000,000

These are other movies he was top-billed star in and their budgets, w/ a reasonable guess at his salary based on their budgets, other stars in movie, and how much he was making at the time.

+Matchstick Men ~1M
+Lord of War ($50M budget) ~5M
+The Weather Man ($20M) ~2M
+The Ant Bully ($50M) ~5M
+World Trade Center ($60M) ~5M
+The Wicker Man ($40M) ~8M
+Ghost Rider ($110M) ~15M
+Next ($70M) ~10M
+National Treasure 2 ($130M) ~25M
+Bangkok Dangerous ($40M) ~5M
+Knowing ($50M) ~5M
+Season of the Witch ($40M) ~5M
+Trespass ($35M) ~3M

And that doesn't include a number of other movies where he wasn't top-billed guy.

So my guess is dude has probably made ~200M in that period. Which is a ****ton.

But Johnny Depp made over $200M from the Pirates series alone.

Will Smith prob beats him with about a third as many movies.

Hancock (2008) $20,000,000
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) $20,000,000
I, Robot (2004) $28,000,000
Bad Boys II (2003) $20,000,000 + 20% of the gross
Men in Black II (2002) $20,000,000 + 10% Gross
Ali (2001) $20,000,000
+I Am Legend (prob $20M+)
+Hitch (prob $20M+)
+Seven Pounds (prob $10M+)

Tom Cruise beats him

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) $12,500,000
Knight and Day (2010) $11,000,000 + % of profits
Valkyrie (2008) $20,000,000 against 20%
Mission: Impossible III (2006) $75,000,000
War of the Worlds (2005) (20% profit participation)
The Last Samurai (2003) $25,000,000 + % of profits
Minority Report (2002) $25,000,000+
Vanilla Sky (2001) $20,000,000 + 30% of Profits

So how many other megastars like that are there, especially ones who get a % of gross in blockbuster franchises?

At first I thought your friend was an easy winner, but now I think it's gonna be pretty close. Still think your friend prob wins though.

(All info above from IMDB)

OP,

Do TV actors count? If so, guys like Ray Romano, Tim Allen, and Jerry Seinfeld might give you an angle shot win w/ huge syndication $$$.

Leo
J. Edgar (2011) $2,000,000
Inception (2010) $59,000,000 (includes salary and all back end points off worldwide gross + share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
Blood Diamond (2006) $20,000,000
The Departed (2006) $20,000,000
The Aviator (2004) $20,000,000
Catch Me If You Can (2002) $20,000,000
Gangs of New York (2002) $10,000,000 + Gross Points

Looks like even w/ $60M for Inception, Leo doesn't get there.

So I think your friend wins. Guys who make $10-20M per movie typically don't even make one movie per year. Cage makes a lot less on average but makes like 3 movies a year. It's just special situations like Depp in Pirates/Alice In Wonderland, a star w/ a huge paycheck and big percentage that beat him, and I don't think there are 10 guys like that.

I think its very close actually.

The following are actors who I assume made more than him.

Johnny Depp
Tom Cruise
Mel Gibson
Will Smith
George Clooney?
Brad Pitt?
Adam Sandler probably earns more.
Leonardo Di Caprio

Hmm...

This, it's hilarious, but disappointing.

His overacting is legendary though....

Can you angleshoot him with Ryan Seacrest?

Cage is a travesty of an actor nowadays. I think he is actually just trolling his way to the bank with his performances since he had a few legit awesome performances earlier in his career. Now when you see a film like Next you end up literally laughing out loud at how unspeakably awful his acting is to the point you are convinced he is doing it deliberately.

I mean, I’ll bet no one ever threw a pie at, like Harriet Tubman, the founder of the Underground railroad. I’ll bet you a million ****ing dollars.

TV actors dont count in our bet. Just movies. Im just surprised that he's getting so much per movie but he is a world famous actor.

Cant seem to find a highest paid actors list for each year. It would take some work but at least that way it would be something we could know for sure.

**** that guy. I hate his acting.