Paul Rudd Says He Doesn’t Make Money From ‘Friends’
Any Friends fan knows that Phoebe Buffay married Mike Hannigan, played by Paul Rudd. He arrived in season 9 episode 3.
Mike is introduced to Phoebe as a fake date, set up by Joey because he forgot to find a real one. The two fall for each other anyway. After a breakup, because Mike never wants to get married, the two get back together in Barbados, when Mike stops David (Hank Azaria) from proposing to his love.
Mike and Phoebe tie the knot on the street outside Central Perk after a snowstorm.
Mike’s last appearance is in the episode “The Last One, Part 1”.
Does Paul Rudd receive royalties from ‘Friends’?
“Does Paul Rudd get royalties from Friends?” is one of the web’s most searched questions about the star of Ant-Man.
Rudd found this out when he and co-star, Jonathan Majors, took the WIRED Autocomplete Interview together.
His response to the question was “I don’t believe that I do,” and Majors shot back with “Is that any of their business? That’s like financial personal information.”
Rudd stuck with his previous answer and said, ‘I don’t think I did.”
The Clueless actor went on to tell a story about a bar in Los Angeles called “Residuals” where if you received a residual check that was under a dollar, they would take your check, pin it on the wall, and give you a beer.
What do the 6 stars of ‘Friends’ make in residuals?
Not all actors get paid for reruns of their shows. But the cast of Friends does.
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer each receive 2% of syndication income or $20 million each per year since the show still brings in $1 billion annually for Warner Brothers.
The royalties are of course on top of the salaries that the cast made while starring in the mega-hit show.
For season one, each cast member was paid $22,500 per episode. The six famously negotiated their contracts as a group and received $75,000 per episode in season 3 and $85,000 per episode in season 4. Their pay increased from there, and by season 7 each made $750,000 per episode. Finally, season 10 saw each receive $1 million per episode.
What is Paul Rudd’s net worth?
Rudd may not receive royalties from Friends, but he is doing just fine.
The actor, screenwriter, and producer has a reported net worth of $70 million according to Celebrity Net Worth.
He more than doubled his net worth by starring in the Avengers franchise. His net worth was an estimated $30 million before appearing in Avengers: Endgame. Paul Rudd was placed at #83 on Forbes Highest Paid Actors of 2019.
It certainly pays to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Rudd starred in many other hit movies before joining Marvel including, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Night at the Museum, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man, and This Is 40.
