Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 Payday Revealed, It’s Huge
With Marvel confirming that Deadpool 3 is on the way, a new rumor suggests just how much Ryan Reynolds will be paid to return as Deadpool.
This article is more than 2 years old
When Disney purchased Fox, one of the most exciting projects purchased was the character of Deadpool. In the first two films, Ryan Reynolds was able to parody some aspects of Marvel films, like the X-Men, but within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who knows what antics Deadpool could get into. With Kevin Feige recently revealing that Deadpool 3 is in the works, a new rumor shows the payday Reynolds could be getting for the upcoming film.
Gossip writer Daniel Richtman said on his Patreon page that it looks as though Ryan Reynolds could be getting $20 million to revive the character of Deadpool. While that sounds like a lot, that’s actually around the same amount Reynolds usually makes for his films. For example, Netflix gave Reynolds more than $20 million apiece for Six Underground and his upcoming Red Notice.
If anything, this amount might be a little too low. Recently, it was rumored that Apple TV+ was offering Ryan Reynolds more than $30 million to star in A Christmas Carol. Last year, Reynolds was the second highest-paid actor in Hollywood, earning $71.5 million. With Reynolds starting to make more than $20 million for roles recently, Marvel might actually be giving Reynolds less than what he’s worth.
Yet for an actor just now joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ryan Reynolds getting $20 million is somewhat impressive. Marvel seems to pay their actors more the longer they’re in the franchise and, naturally, the larger projects they’re involved in. For instance, Robert Downey Jr. was the highest-paid actor in Avengers: Endgame, with an upfront salary of $20 million. Meanwhile, actors like Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson made $15 million each. Actors further down the line, like Paul Rudd, made around $8 million.
However, with Avengers: Endgame, Marvel offered back-end deals to some of their stars. Robert Downey Jr. made an 8% back end deal, meaning that since Avengers: Endgame made $700 million in profit, Downey Jr. took home an extra $55 million, in addition to his original $20 million. Bradley Cooper, who voiced Rocket Raccoon in Avengers: Endgame, earned $7 million for the role due to a 1% back-end deal. Since Deadpool was easily the most profitable superhero franchise Fox had when they were purchased by Disney, it would make sense that Ryan Reynolds could make a similar back-end deal.
But Disney knows just how much having Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is worth. 2016’s Deadpool only cost $58 million to make, and ended up earning $782 million worldwide. While Deadpool 2 kicked up the budget to $110 million, the sequel made that back in its opening weekend alone, and eventually went on to make $734 million worldwide. With that kind of box office gross, Ryan Reynolds would be a steal at $20 million.
While this rumor is probably right, considering $20 million seems to be the baseline Ryan Reynolds makes for a movie at this point, this number actually seems low. Reynolds is steadily becoming one of the biggest sure things in the movie business, so $20 million might not be enough to get Reynolds for long.
