00:00 Hollywood history will remember 2023 as the year of Barbenheimer.
00:05 Since their releases on the same day in July, Barbie and Oppenheimer have dominated the box office,
00:10 the awards circuit, and countless essays and op-eds.
00:13 At the Oscars on Sunday, Oppenheimer is expected to sweep most of the major categories,
00:18 including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture.
00:24 Starring in a hit movie remains Hollywood's ultimate golden ticket.
00:28 But even with those two blockbusters, Barbie grossed $1.4 billion worldwide,
00:33 and Oppenheimer was just shy of $1 billion,
00:35 there were plenty of hours left in the year for other entertainment.
00:39 Beyond the hefty salaries, what's truly been earned by this year's highest-paid actors
00:44 is greater power within the industry.
00:46 In an industry where pay can rise or fall based on each performance,
00:50 this list represents a snapshot of who has the most leverage in Hollywood in 2024.
00:55 Here are the top highest-paid actors in 2023.
00:59 #6. Jennifer Aniston
01:03 Friends' residuals ensure that the artist forever known as Rachel Green
01:07 doesn't have to go get one of those job things ever again.
01:10 Yet the 54-year-old actress continues to star in both TV and movies.
01:15 Aniston reportedly makes as much as $2 million for acting and executive producing
01:19 each episode of The Morning Show on Apple TV+,
01:22 and appeared alongside Adam Sandler in Murder Mystery for Netflix,
01:26 all while promoting brands like Uber Eats, Pivlot Fitness, Vital Proteins,
01:30 and her own haircare line, Lola V.
01:33 Tied at #4. Matt Damon and Ryan Gosling
01:37 Many around Hollywood are rooting for Affleck and Damon's upstart artist equity studio to succeed,
01:43 given its promise to help crew members and other below-the-line talent
01:46 share in the movie's profits.
01:48 Its first project, Air, starring Damon and directed by Affleck,
01:52 sold to Amazon before it ever went into production for an estimated $130 million.
01:58 That figure was well above the movie's budget,
02:00 ensuring that there would be plenty of money to go around.
02:03 In addition, the 53-year-old actor took a mere $4 million for his supporting role in Oppenheimer,
02:09 far below his normal rate, in exchange for a small slice of the movie's substantial profits.
02:14 Tying with Damon, he may be just Ken,
02:17 but the supporting role in this year's biggest movie was good enough for an Oscar nomination,
02:21 and one of the biggest paydays of the 43-year-old Gosling's career.
02:26 As an added bonus, his power ballad from the movie, I'm Just Ken,
02:30 has been streamed over 100 million times on Spotify.
02:34 #3. Tom Cruise
02:37 The 61-year-old action star not only defies all conventional wisdom
02:41 when it comes to his outrageous stunt work in his movies,
02:44 but also the evolving norms around how an actor gets paid.
02:47 Cruise is one of the last, if not the very last movie star,
02:50 who can still command a vaunted, first-dollar gross deal,
02:54 meaning he gets paid a percentage of box office and other revenue beginning the day it's released,
02:59 before the studio even recoups its money.
03:02 This year, he cashed in on the latest Mission Impossible movie,
03:05 and continued receiving streaming and on-demand profits for 2022's Top Gun Maverick.
03:11 And studios still definitely want to be in the Tom Cruise business.
03:15 In January, he signed a development deal with Warner Bros. to create new projects.
03:20 #2. Margot Robbie
03:23 The cultural phenomenon that was Barbie took off in July,
03:26 and never really slowed down, grossing $1.45 billion at the worldwide box office,
03:31 and untold millions more in licensing and partnerships.
03:35 As both the producer of the movie and its star,
03:37 Robbie cashed in on an estimated 12.5% of all back-end profits,
03:42 which Forbes estimates were more than $60 million.
03:45 Her now-red-hot production company Lucky Chap
03:48 was also behind last year's much-buzzed-about satire Saltburg,
03:52 and in February, signed a new exclusive first-look deal with Warner Bros.
03:56 #1. Adam Sandler
03:59 In the first three months after Murder Mystery 2 was released on Netflix,
04:03 the streamer reported that it was watched for a total of 173 million hours across the world,
04:08 and ranked in the top 10 in 90 different countries.
04:12 The sequel was part of a very busy year for the Sandman,
04:15 who did more than 40 stand-up comedy tour dates in 2023,
04:19 to go with three Netflix film projects.
04:23 Thanks for watching!
04:26 [c] 2015 The Ultimate Parody Site!
04:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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