Iron Money: Robert Downey Jr., Channing Tatum Named Hollywood’s Most Paid Actors

 

 

Thanks majorly to the success of the Iron Man franchise, Robert Downey Jr. has been named by Forbes as the highest paid actor of 2013.

 

Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark in the Iron Man and Avengers movies, top the charts with an estimated $75million in earnings between 2012 and 2013.

 

He’s starred in six movies that have each grossed over $500 million at the box office worldwide. Two of those films, The Avengers and Iron Man 3, each earned over $1 billion. The Avengers is the third highest-grossing of all time with $1.5 billion at the box office. While the film was nominally an ensemble piece, there was no doubt about who was the real star of the show. As Tony Stark, Downey mixes arrogance, humor and a hint of vulnerability to create a modern-day superhero everyone loves. While it’s probably possible to replace Chris Evans as Captain America, no one else could possibly play Tony Stark.

 

So Downey was able to secure a nice chunk of the film’s profits for himself. He earned more than anyone else on the movie, including director Joss Whedon. And he’ll get a huge upfront payday once the sequel starts filming in February.

 

Ranking second the list after is Channing Tatum with an estimated $60 million in earnings.

 

Tatum is often touted for his looks and his dance skills but he’s also a super smart businessman. He and director Steven Soderbergh self-financed the movie Magic Mike, which meant they didn’t have to get notes from any studio bigwigs and they didn’t have to share any of the film’s sizable profits. The $7 million movie brought in $167 million at the global box office and is a growing business. A Broadway show is in the works as well as a line of bars and a sequel.

 

With his 2.7 million Twitter followers, Hugh Jackman is 3rd on the list of the list of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.

 

Jackman ranks third on our Highest-Paid Actors list with an estimated $55 million in earnings between June 2012 and June 2013. A lot of that money comes from his work as Wolverine in the X-Men films. Yet another X-Men movie (the sixth) hits theaters later this month. It’s the second film to exclusively feature Jackman’s Wolverine.

 

Mark Wahlberg ranks fourth with $52 million. His 2012 film Ted was the biggest surprise hit of the year. Directed by fellow Celebrity 100 member Seth MacFarlane, the film cost $50 million to make and earned $550 million at the global box office. That massive profit helped boost his earnings from $27 million last year.

 

Rounding out the top five is Dwayne Johnson. The former wrestler is now a bona fide movie star who had a film in the top 10 for 10 weeks in a row. His latest, Fast & Furious 6, earned $695 million on a budget of $160 million. The Rock earned an estimated $46 million between June 2012 and June 2013.