Adam Sandler continues to laugh all the way to bankability as Hollywood’s top earner. And the youngest-ever newcomer joins the salary A-List this year along with an actress who came out of retirement.
Hollywood’s collective panic over consolidation, the rise of AI and declining theatrical ticket sales now includes another concern—the supposed death of movie stardom. Top musicians, athletes, internet creators, and even podcasters now regularly out-earn their counterparts in film and television. And the box office failure of Dwayne Johnson—last year’s highest-paid actor—in The Smashing Machine, Julia Roberts in After The Hunt or Glen Powell in The Running Man are further proof to many studio executives that an A-List name above the title is no longer enough to guarantee commercial success.
The trend was more pronounced in 2025, when fewer star-driven movies were released. The combined earnings of the 20 highest-paid actors in Hollywood is still impressive, but their collective $590 million haul is down 20% from last year’s $730 million, and this year’s top earner—Adam Sandler, who earned $48 million after fees paid to his agent and manager—fell well below last year’s No. 1 ($88 million).
Pay may not be rising, but it’s at little risk of falling too far, as studios still write eight-figure checks every year to actors who they believe can bring attention to a project. It’s why Universal attached Scarlett Johansson ($43 million) to its Jurassic franchise reboot and Apple put Brad Pitt ($41 million) in the driver’s seat for F1, two of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year. While One Battle After Another was the lowest-performing movie in nearly 15 years for Leonardo DiCaprio ($25 million), it’s hard to imagine the Best Picture favorite earning $210 million at the box office without him.
Even the once-bulletproof Marvel Cinematic Universe felt the need to bring back its longtime iron man, Robert Downey Jr., to ensure an Avengers: Doomsday windfall in 2026. For his role as Doctor Doom, Marvel is paying Downey a Tony Stark-worthy fortune estimated at more than $100 million guaranteed across its next two projects, plus hefty performance bonuses.
Actors crave a similar safety net and have increasingly found it on streaming services, where guaranteed fees and a buyout of future profit participation is still the standard, at least for stars with enough leverage. Sandler’s long-term deal with Netflix remains the richest of all, paying him handsomely each year no matter what movie he puts out. Denzel Washington ($38 million) and Daniel Craig ($27 million) also scored huge deals for streaming movies last year, and Mark Wahlberg ($44 million) became the king of the streaming-first stars after appearing in pair of projects or Amazon and Apple.
Netflix, in particular, has developed a stable of familiar faces on the platform. In addition to long-term deals for Sandler and Kevin Hart, who did not have a new movie out last year, the streamer signed a two-picture deal to bring Cameron Diaz ($20 million) out of retirement to star alongside another Netflix regular, Jamie Foxx. Meanwhile, Millie Bobby Brown ($26 million) is the first streaming-native star, having built her career almost entirely on Netflix and earned lucrative fees for Stranger Things and The Electric State that most Hollywood insiders don’t think she could match elsewhere.
At just 22, Brown is the youngest actor in the top 20 by nearly two decades, and the first member of the new generation to break into upper echelon of earners. Some emerging stars, like Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell—who earned an estimated $7 million and $10 million up-front, respectively, for their 2025 projects—have yet to prove consistent bankability, while others are soon to become mainstays.
The favorites for Best Actor at this weekend’s Oscars, Timothee Chalamet and Michael B. Jordan, did not make the 2025 list for Marty Supreme and Sinners but are set for estimated $20 million paychecks on their next projects, and will be almost certainly be joined next year by Zendaya, who has four movies and the HBO series Euphoria slated for release in 2026.
Ultimately, while negotiations have gotten more tense and prolonged between talent representatives and studios, both sides agree that premium talent remains indispensable, at least as one element in a successful film or TV package.
“We’ll keep asking for more!” one prominent agent says gleefully. “They’ll keep asking us for less. But in a negotiation, I like our chances.”
The Highest-Paid Actors of 2025
Adam Sandler
$48 million ($60 million gross)
The 59-year-old Sandler was one of the first big stars to leave movie theaters behind in 2014, finding a cushy home at Netflix, where he is unquestionably the biggest draw on the platform. Recently seen sitting next to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos at the Super Bowl, Sandler earns huge annual guarantees regardless of the commercial appeal of his projects. In 2025 he produced and starred in the long-awaited Happy Gilmore 2, and got a second payday for co-starring in Netflix’s Jay Kelly, earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Golden Globes and a several critics’ awards along the way.
Tom Cruise
$46 million ($54 million gross)
Portraying his Ethan Hunt character for perhaps the final time, the 63-year-old action star took less money up-front for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning—which materialized when 2023’s Dead Reckoning was split in two—in exchange for an ultra-rare, first-dollar gross participation in the movie’s nearly $600 million in box office revenue. Having ruled the box office for decades, many think Cruise has his sights on awards and critical acclaim in 2026 with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s upcoming Digger, the first project under Cruise’s development deal with Warner Bros.
Mark Wahlberg
$44 million ($58 million gross)
Wahlberg has reached new career heights in the past few years by becoming streaming services’ go-to guy with a gun. In 2025, the 54-year-old starred in AppleTV’s The Family Plan 2 and Prime Video’s Play Dirty, commanding an estimated $25 million for the latter after Robert Downey Jr. left the project to rejoin the Avengers franchise. The busy year also included Mel Gibson’s lower-budgeted Flight Risk and a handful of producing projects, while his 35-year-old rap song “Good Vibrations” continues to pop up in TV shows and movies, paying him handsomely each time.
Scarlett Johansson
$43 million ($50 million gross)
Universal felt it needed star power to reboot its flagship Jurassic franchise and offered the 41-year-old Avengers alum an estimated $20 million up front plus a significant share of profits to land her for Jurassic World: Rebirth, which became one of the year’s biggest hits. Hollywood’s highest-paid actress also made her directorial debut in 2025 with Eleanor The Great, and returned to Wes Anderson’s acting ensemble for the third time in The Phoenician Scheme.
Brad Pitt
$41 million ($54 million gross)
F1 was Apple’s most ambitious movie project to date, and the tech giant spared no expense to secure a producer (Jerry Bruckheimer), director (Joseph Kosinski) and star who could turn the movie into a true theatrical hit. The film even earned an unexpected Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, and a sequel is now in the works. In a rare concession, Apple agreed to give the 62-year-old Pitt a traditional gross participation deal, rather than the buyout that has become standard among the streamers, allowing him to share in the movie’s more than $600 million in box office receipts.
Denzel Washington
$38 million ($42 million gross)
The 71-year-old star’s fifth collaboration with director Spike Lee, Highest 2 Lowest, was also the most lucrative, landing the two-time Oscar winner an estimated $35 million fee-plus-buyout that many talent representatives believe to be the marketplace’s high watermark. And Washington’s back catalog of more than 50 movies continue to pay him million each year—not bad for the guy who said in an interview last year, “I don’t watch movies! I’m tired of movies.”
Jack Black
$28 million ($33 million gross)
After the success of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Super Mario Bros. and last year’s near-billion-dollar grosser A Minecraft Movie, few can argue that the 56-year-old Black is anything less than the biggest children’s movie star in the world. Plus, he doubled up in 2025 by co-starring with Paul Rudd in a reboot of Anaconda, which also became a modest success for Sony.
Jason Momoa
$28 million ($33 million gross)
In transition from playing Aquaman in the previous DC comic book universe to Lobo in the new James Gunn-led DCU, the 46-year-old Momoa seems to have found another lucrative franchise with A Minecraft Movie, which already has a sequel in the works. And when he wasn’t busy last year promoting that movie, or his AppleTV series Chief of War, Momoa has been spotted playing bass guitar in his rock band Öof Tatatá across the West Coast and in the United Kingdom.
Daniel Craig
$27 million ($32 million gross)
After the success of Knives Out in 2021, studios and streamers alike competed to win the rights to a sequel. In the end, director Rian Johnson chose Netflix, which offered a two-picture deal with handsome guarantees for both himself and the 58-year-old former James Bond. Though the latest Benoit Blanc mystery performed well in limited theatrical release before heading to streaming, Craig is not believed to have received additional compensation, which is expected to be the case once again in the next movie he will appear in: Greta Gerwig’s Chronicles of Narnia adaptation.
Millie Bobby Brown
$26 million ($35 million gross)
Stranger Things is Netflix’s most valuable original property, and perhaps the only IP the streamer has created that can support ancillary business such as immersive retail pop-ups, a live stage play and future spin-offs. Brown emerged as the show’s breakout star, earning top-of-market fees for its fifth and final season in the fall, plus a number of side deals with Netflix for other projects, including last spring’s disastrously reviewed blockbuster The Electric State. At just 22 years old, she is the youngest actor ever featured on Forbes’ Highest-Paid Actors list.
John Cena
$26 million ($35 million gross)
The 48-year-old WWE superstar ended his 23-year wrestling career in December as one of its most decorated and highest-paid performers. But in recent years Cena has also carved out a niche for himself in straight-to-streaming comedies, like 2025’s Heads of State, and as a super hero in the DC comic universe, headlining season two of Peacemaker last year. Not included in this total is Cena’s prodigious commercial work, which includes spots for McDonald’s, Neutrogena and Honda.
Reese Witherspoon
$26 million ($34 million gross)
Now several years removed from the sale of her production company Hello Sunshine to Candle Media, Witherspoon remains active executive producing projects for the company, and the 49-year-old’s own projects remain in high demand. A fourth season of The Morning Show aired in 2025 and a fifth has been confirmed by AppleTV, padding Witherspoon’s pockets with an estimated $20 million in acting and producing fees each time out. She also starred in a romantic comedy alongside Will Ferrell for Amazon Prime Video, You’re Cordially Invited.
George Clooney
$25 million ($30 million gross)
Clooney was the toast of Broadway in 2025, cowriting, producing and starring in a Tony-nominated and record-breaking box office production of Good Night, and Good Luck, but the stage work paid pennies compared to the silver screen. The 64-year-old Oscar winner earned an estimated $6 million in salary and royalties in 13 weeks on Broadway, but an estimated $20 million in fees and a back-end buyout for Jay Kelly, Netflix’s awards contender that landed Clooney a Golden Globes nomination for Best Actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio
$25 million ($29 million gross)
A second Academy Award for Best Actor for One Battle After Another seems unlikely at this point, but the 51-year-old Oscar winner used his fame and prestige to propel Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie to a respectable $210 million at the global box office and a presumptive Best Picture win. DiCaprio’s fees and back-end definitions remain among the best in Hollywood, and attaching his name to a project still carries enough weight to get a movie made, which is why he is reportedly considered for roles in more than a half-dozen future projects, including playing Evel Knievel, Jim Jones, Theodore Roosevelt and the lead of Michael Mann’s Heat 2.
Rob Mac
$23 million ($30 million gross)
It was an important year for the 48-year-old actor, showrunner and co-owner of Welsh soccer club Wrexham AFC, having sold a minority stake in the team in December and filed to legally change his name from Rob McElhenney to Rob Mac. On TV, in addition to the documentary series about his Wrexham ownership with one of last year’s highest-paid actors, Ryan Reynolds, Mac also churned out season 17 of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and season four of Mythic Quest.
Chris Pratt
$22 million ($29 million gross)
While Pratt may be recovering from the box office disappointment of Mercy in January, the 46-year-old actor starred alongside Millie Bobby Brown in The Electric State in 2025 and returned to The Terminal List for a new season on Prime Video, a show he also executive produces. Through his production company, he will produce and star in a 2026 adaptation of Jocko Willink’s young adult novel Way of the Warrior Kid.
Tom Hardy
$21 million ($28 million gross)
Before the Ellisons took over, Paramount’s previous regime offered above-market rates for big-name actors to beef up its streaming service, resulting in Hardy’s MobLand and Michael Fassbender’s The Agency, among others. The 48-year-old Hardy’s turn as a British gangster turned the show into a hit, and a second season was quickly ordered. Also last year, Hardy also produced and fronted Gareth Evans’ shoot-em-up Havoc for Netflix.
Jennifer Aniston
$20 million ($26 million gross)
Few 20-year-old movies return even six figures each year in residual income to their stars, but the 57-year-old Friends star earns an estimated $5 million per year in “mailbox money” from the beloved 1990s sitcom. Aniston also earns an estimated $2 million per episode in acting and producing fees for The Morning Show, as well as lucrative endorsements with Smartwater and Dunkin’, not to mention her own haircare brand, LolaVie.
Cameron Diaz
$20 million ($23 million gross)
Lured out of retirement with a reported $45 million, two-picture deal with Netflix, the 53-year-old Diaz starred in the appropriately named Back In Action, her first movie in more than a decade. The movie (which costarred Jamie Foxx) racked up 46.8 million views in its first three days, according to Netflix, and sits as the platform’s seventh-most-watched movie of all time. Next, Diaz will reprise her role as Princess Fiona in Shrek 5, which is currently in production.
Jason Bateman
$19 million ($25 million gross)
While top actors are often paid minimally for voice work in original animated movies, they often command millions for a sequel, with box office bonuses replacing some of the traditional profit-sharing. Because Disney’s Zootopia 2 was the second-highest grossing movie of 2025 (earning $1.8 billion, just behind China’s Ne Zha 2, which brought in $2.2 billion), the 57-year-old Bateman cashed in. Elsewhere, Bateman starred in the acclaimed Netflix series Black Rabbit, and though it’s not counted in this total, his Smartless podcast collaboration with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes continues to pull in many millions each year.
METHODOLOGY
Estimations were calculated through interviews with agents, lawyers, managers, executives and industry experts, as well as data sources such as IMDBPro and Box Office Mojo. The figures represent pretax earnings for the calendar year 2025, minus fees for representation—10% to agents, 10% to managers and 5% to lawyers, per industry standard, although some actors do not have all three.
Actors were credited for all compensation on projects in the year they were released, despite the fact that often up front fees are paid when a movie is filmed, which could be years in the past, and back-end participation or buyouts are often paid several years into the future.
Additionally, the ranking only includes earnings related to film and television, such as acting, producing, directing. Entrepreneurial endeavors not related to entertainment, such as joint ventures, licensing, commercials or social media partnerships, and other forms of entertainment like stand-up comedy and podcasting, were not counted.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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