D&D Movie/TV Chris Pine is making $11.5 million for D&D movie

[Umbran]

How many people flocked to see Chris Evans in The Red Sea Diving Resort?

How many people flocked to see him, Daniel Craig, and Jamie Lee Curtis in a Rian Johnson written and directed film - Knives Out?

Well, approximately $312 million dollars worth - on a film that had an estimated budget of $40 million. Not Marvel money, but financially successful, clearly. Enough so that Netflix payed $450 million for the rights to the two sequels.

It looks like names are super-helpful in establishing brand/franchises, as sure as anything I'll see Knives Out 2.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How many people flocked to see him, Daniel Craig, and Jamie Lee Curtis in a Rian Johnson written and directed film - Knives Out?

Well, approximately $312 million dollars worth - on a film that had an estimated budget of $40 million. Not Marvel money, but financially successful, clearly. Enough so that Netflix payed $450 million for the rights to the two sequels.

It looks like names are super-helpful in establishing brand/franchises, as sure as anything I'll see Knives Out 2.

Knives Out was an excellent film, but it almost certainly would have passed unnoticed without the big names.

 

[Umbran]

Knives Out was an excellent film, but it almost certainly would have passed unnoticed without the big names.

Exactly my point.

 

[Vaalingrade]

And it succeeded in spite of Rian Johnson.

 

[Maxperson]

Even the best writers get paid basically sadness and a bag of cheetos was my point.

The big writers make a million or more off of a script.

 

[billd91]

It looks like names are super-helpful in establishing brand/franchises, as sure as anything I'll see Knives Out 2.

And vice versa. A studio looking to establish or reboot a franchise (MCU as an excellent example for establishment, James Bond for reboot) may opt for actors who don't already have a big price tag (Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Craig) either because they've been in smaller productions, less successful productions, or primarily on stage. It keeps the talent budget a bit lower at the most vulnerable time and, if successful, then markets the actors into bigger star power and draws for subsequent franchise films.
It doesn't always happen/work, but you can still sometimes see the intention.

 

[jmartkdr2]

And it succeeded in spite of Rian Johnson.

Disagree: that was exactly the type of movie Rian should be making, and I'm looking forward to more of it. he was just miscast (or whatever) for a main-story Star Wars movie.

 

[dave2008]

11 million isn't even a big budget actor. A lister back in the 90's was 20 million.

Yes, but that is till top of the line today. According to GQ, Chris's payday puts him in the top 20 (#16 actually) per movie.

EDIT: $20 mill per movie gets you in the top 10

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Exactly. But they are rarer, and of those three only Johnson is a guaranteed hit these days.

Contray to what some folks say, even the Baywatch movie was a success, one of the most profitable R rated Comedies ever, $177,856,751 world box office on a budget of $65,0000 to $69,000,000. Applying the double the budget rule, the movie made roughly $40,000,000 to $50,000,000 profit, before counting Baywatch Merch and streaming rights and critics called it a flop. I would love to have that kind of "flop".

 

[Mannahnin]

Disagree: that was exactly the type of movie Rian should be making, and I'm looking forward to more of it. he was just miscast (or whatever) for a main-story Star Wars movie.

Eh. There were things I really disliked about that movie, but at least it had some coherent ideas. :/ The biggest issues with the new trilogy were the lack of a plan/arc for the three movies, and the excessive retreading at the expense of better writing.