PHOTO: The Rock tops the list for the second year in a row, thanks to a $23.5 million check from Netflix for upcoming film Red Notice and his successful Under Armour line, Project Rock.
Adam Sandler isn’t the star movie studio executives call when looking for an actor who can deliver boffo box office results.
The former Saturday Night Live funnyman peaked in 1998 when he sold $240 million worth of tickets at the domestic box office. Since then he’s been trending downward: Last year Sandler’s only movie to hit theaters was Uncut Gems, a critics’ darling that brought in only $51 million; Sandler earned just about $5 million. No matter: He still landed at No. 9 on the annual Forbes ranking of highest-paid actors.
The secret? Netflix.
The streaming giant paid Sandler $31 million—75% of what he made all year—as part of his four-film, $250 million deal signed in 2014. Netflix users have streamed more than 2 billion hours of the funnyman, which led to a fresh deal signed in January reportedly worth even more than the first.
While nobody got more from Netflix than Sandler in percentage terms, plenty of others benefited. This year’s ten top-earning actors collected a combined $545.5 million, more than a quarter of that paid out by Netflix. The streaming giant, in fact, cut $140.5 million worth of checks to six of the top ten. Dwayne Johnson tops the list for the second year in a row with $87.5 million, collecting $23.5 million for his role as an art-thief-chasing Interpol agent in the upcoming Netflix original film Red Notice. Netflix paid out an additional $85 million to Ryan Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck and Vin Diesel.
Adam Sandler in “Uncut Gems,” his only theatrical release of last year.
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