Gal Gadot Is Getting Paid $10 Million for ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ and Some People Aren’t Happy About It
Millions of Americans will likely spend part of their Christmas Day watching Gal Gadot crush some villains in Wonder Woman 1984. The superhero flick will open in theaters on Dec. 25 and be available to stream on HBO Max the same day. It’s the first of more than a dozen new movies from Warner Bros. that will be heading straight to streaming in 2021.
The move to instant streaming availability might delight movie fans, who will be able to watch the latest releases in the comfort and safety of their own homes. But it’s causing an uproar in Hollywood, with many wondering what the change to traditional release schedules means for the future of the industry — and for big movie star salaries.
Gal Gadot is getting paid $10 million for ‘Wonder Woman 1984’
Wonder Woman 1984 will play on the big screen, but pandemic-related theater closures and the fact that the film will be available to stream means that box office take for the big-budget movie will be far smaller than expected. That could have meant a significantly reduced payday for Gadot and the film’s director Patty Jenkins, whose compensation was tied to the film’s overall success at the box office. But thanks to a deal worked out with Warner Bros., both will still earn eight figures for their work on the movie.
Gadot will earn more than $10 million for Wonder Woman 1984, according to a Dec. 7 report in the New York Times. Jenkins will also earn more than $10 million. The numbers are in line with what both would have likely earned if the movie had a traditional theatrical release.
Some feel the ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ star got special treatment
When Warner Bros. decided it wanted to release Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max on Christmas Day, it approached both Gadot and Jenkins to get them on board with the plan before making a public announcement, according to the Times. That meant working out an agreement to ensure key players involved in the movie wouldn’t take a financial hit due to the shift to streaming.
Other stars didn’t get such a heads up. When Warner Bros. revealed it would be releasing its entire 2021 movie slate on HBO Max, many people were shocked, according to the report from the Times. Among other questions, many were wondering how they would be getting paid. And representatives for a raft of big-name stars — including Denzel Washington, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, and Keanu Reeves — wanted to know why they’d been kept in the dark about the move when Gadot was informed in advance.
Washington, who stars in the upcoming thriller The Little Things, which is scheduled for release on Jan. 29, 2021, was among those blindsided by the news. Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Washington was not happy with the way the decision was made, though he would have been willing to negotiate a deal with the studio similar to Gadot’s. The Directors Guild of America also complained about a “lack of transparency” in a letter to Warner Bros. (via Deadline).
Lawsuits may be on the horizon
Insiders say lawsuits may be looming for Warner Bros.
“I would have called my lawyer and said, ‘Are they allowed to do this?’” producer Jason Blum said on the KCRW podcast The Business.
“They have 17 groups of people who think [the movie] they did was gonna hit, and as a result of hitting, this is how much additional money they were going to make,” he went on to say. “They have to deal with 17 groups of people who all say, ‘I want to get paid as if my movie did a billion dollars like you did for Wonder Woman. Clearly, they can’t do that.”
