“Fifty Shades of Grey,” the sexually-charged Valentine blockbuster, has made a killing at the tills last month, making a worldwide box-office haul of $529 million.
Because of the huge success of the movie, there are now talks that a sequel is forthcoming, which is just about right, especially from a business standpoint. Striking while the iron is hot always gives favorable results.
The movie earned more than $500 million for its production budget of only $40 million, giving producers a whooping $489 million profit.
Stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were paid only $250,000 each so their combined talent fees hardly accounted for 1.5% of the total film production budget.
Given that the movie has obviously shot the two actors to fame and superstardom, reports are rife that when production starts for the movie sequel, rumored to be titled as “Fifty Shades Darker,” Johnson and Dornan will reportedly command a seven figure sum each, which means their talent fee would hover anywhere from $1 million to $9.999 million each.
Not surprising
The increase would no longer be surprising since the two actors are now officially legitimate stars and can thus command a pay commensurate to the stars that they have become.
It was the same jump that Jennifer Lawrence made for “The Hunger Game” movie series. The actress was paid $500,000 for the first film. On the second film, J-Law has reportedly earned $10 million.
If the producers want to save on cost, their only option is to recast and that would be even riskier. Dakota and Jamie already have the fan recall and it is almost sure that they can contribute in equalling, if not surpassing, the first movie’s box-office results.
The sequel would surely appeal to fans who have watch “Fifty Shades of Grey” if Jamie and Dakota will be reprising their roles as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, respectively, rather than start with fresh faces. That would surely alienate, if not turn off fans.
Not in favor
However, Dana Brunetti, one of the producers of “Fifty Shades of Grey” is not in favor of giving the two stars a pay increase for the upcoming sequel, notes the Inquisitr.
He averred that if a project results to something good for one’s career, it’s okay to take pay cuts because it would appear as if it was an investment or a gamble on the first place. He further explained that most actors complain of not getting paid a lot for a film that did well on the tills but they have to consider the fact that that is not the deal that they have struck in the first place.
Brunetti, who produced “Fifty Shades of Grey” with Michael De Luca and novelist E.L. James, said that actors need to start somewhere. But later on, he relented to the idea that the two actors do deserve a raise for the sequel since they will no longer be new but established ones already.