With an extensive list of blockbuster films under her credentials, it’s no surprise that Angelina Jolie remains one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, with some of her box office hits including Mr & Mrs Smith, Wanted, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and 2010’s action-thriller Salt.
Jolie’s reported salary per movie in 2010 was said to have been between $15 million to $20 million, putting her in the same earning bracket as the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Cameron Diaz, and Anne Hathaway, who were all earning similar numbers at the time.
In 2012, however, Disney announced it had cast the mother of six as Maleficent in the self-titled family-adventure film, which was set to enter cinemas two years later. To nobody’s surprise, the flick was a massive success, earning $758 million worldwide and subsequently getting the thumbs up for a sequel in just weeks after the first movie’s release.
What was most interesting, however, was the amount of money Jolie was said to have earned for signing on for the movie — and how much did she make for agreeing to star in a follow-up five years later? Here’s the lowdown…
What’s Angelina Jolie’s Highest-Paying Film?
For 2012’s Maleficent, Jolie earned a whopping $33 million, which became her highest-paying salary for a single movie at the time.
But she wasn’t just getting paid to star in the fantasy flick, she had also been awarded producer credits — it’s unclear what exactly the latter role entailed for the actress, but it’s sure to have increased her overall pay after all was said and done.
Because she was filming Maleficent, Jolie had turned down the opportunity of starring opposite George Clooney in 2013’s Gravity; a role which was later passed down to Sandra Bullock, who went on to make an eye-watering $70 million.
The sum was so high because she negotiated a deal that saw her earn around 13% of the backend profits the film made, with its final box office numbers standing at $723 million worldwide.
So, while Jolie may have missed out on what could’ve been a payday twice the amount she made on Maleficent, it’s believed she had a backend deal in place when she signed on for its sequel, which hit cinemas in 2019.
It’s rumored that Brad Pitt’s estranged wife took home anywhere from $50 million to $60 million for the second installment, which she also produced and starred in.
When asked by Collider in a 2014 interview on what had made her want to star in Maleficent, to begin with, the brunette gushed, “Well, I wanted to do something that my children could see. I wanted to have fun and explore different art and performance, in a way I hadn’t done.
“But most of all, I read Linda’s script and I was really moved by it. I actually got very emotional when I finished it. I thought it was one of the best scripts I’d read, in a long time, because of the issues it dealt with. I thought it was, in fact, an important story to tell.”
Jolie’s next major motion picture will be Marvel’s upcoming Eternals, which is rumored to earn her the biggest payday of her career, according to multiple reports close to the deal.
It’s still unclear how much Marvel offered the Los Angeles native, but considering how Robert Downey Jr pulled in $75 million from Avengers: Infinity War, it’s fair to assume that an actress as big as Jolie could potentially be earning similar numbers — especially if the movie fares well at the box office.
Jolie plays Thena, the 4000-year-old daughter of Cybele and Zura who was first generation Eternals, whose character plays a pivotal part in Marvel’s phase 4.
She’s also taken on the role of Karina in the upcoming drama, Every Note Played, alongside Christoph Waltz, who previously worked with the actress' estranged husband on 2009’s Inglorious B******ds.
In March 2021, reports claimed Jolie was ready to provide “proof of domestic abuse” in her ongoing divorce battle against Pitt, whom she parted ways from back in September 2016.
The pair have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle concerning their six children, with sources saying Jolie has not been fond of the idea of sharing custodial rights with her estranged husband following a supposed countless incidents of alleged abuse that occurred in their family household.
The usually very private star opened up in a candid chat with British Vogue in February 2021 about the ordeal, saying, “I don’t know. The past few years have been pretty hard. I’ve been focusing on healing our family. It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body. But I’m not there. I’m not there yet. But I hope to be. I’m planning on it.
“I do like being older. I feel much more comfortable in my forties than I did when I was younger. Maybe because… I don’t know… maybe because my mom didn’t live very long, so there’s something about age that feels like a victory instead of a sadness for me.”
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