Why do actors get paid tens of millions for their movies instead of a normal salary?

Question

Why do actors get paid tens of millions for their movies instead of a normal salary?

In: Culture

Answer 1

Because popular actors are a big part of what causes movies to make so much money. Popular actors know this, so they negotiate their salaries to be commensurate with their worth to the movie production.

This probably isn’t true anymore, but in the 00s accountants determined that casting Cameron Diaz in a movie meant it would automatically make an extra $30,000,000-$50,000,000 overseas. That’s huge, and it meant that any movie that cast Diaz could assume at least that much profit. Consequently Diaz was an extremely in-demand actress for about a decade, and she negotiated her compensation so it matched her bankability.