This was just several months after the Sony hacks exposed gender-based pay disparities, specifically for the ensemble American Hustle where supporting player Lawrence (who was a key marketing draw) was paid less than supporting character (and not a major draw) Jeremy Renner. Lawrence was arguably intended to be symbolic. All the exuberant salary did was basically guarantee that the film would be viewed as a “test” for the actor’s stand-alone drawing power. But going into Passengers, which by the way was an adult-targeted picture, we had no idea what Pratt’s pull was outside of a “was gonna be a hit regardless” franchise play. Moreover, Pratt’s relatively newfound (and kid-friendly) popularity may well have made himself into an added value element for Jurassic World in a way that, for example, Bradley Cooper would not. Now I will be the first to give Pratt’s crowd-pleasing characterizations partial credit for the legs of those first three hits. He’s worth his weight in gold for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, but not for a non-franchise star sell like Passengers.Īll four of Pratt’s “big” films opened on the strength of proven brands and/or (in the case of Magnificent Seven) someone else’s star power. He snagged the big Passengers money after Jurassic World, which I guess makes more sense than Matthew Broderick snagging a $5 million payday for Inspector Gadget just BEFORE Godzilla. Regarding his work as a cinematic leading man, his big hits were Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.’s The LEGO Movie (a voice-over role), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Universal/Comcast Corp.’s Jurassic World and Sony’s Denzel Washington-starring The Magnificent Seven. But all of Pratt’s hits heading into Passengers were explicitly in the comfort zone of big franchise plays. But in this day and age, no one is really worth $20m (and few are worth $12m) unless he or she are reprising a popular franchise character.Ĭhris Pratt is a beloved celebrity, a solid actor and (allegedly) a pretty nice guy. This payday raised the budget for the film and created new expectations that this would be more than just a studio programmer. And Chris Pratt, fresh off of Jurassic World, signed up as the male lead for an impressive $12m. As you probably know, Jennifer Lawrence made headlines last year when she signed up for the long-gestating project with a whopping $20 million. The movie cost too much, partially because the lead actors were overpaid. But rather than debate what its opening means for the would-be drawing power for its two leads, I’d like to argue something simpler.
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