Sandra Bullock News Update: The Oscar's Best Actress nominee is expected to receive an out of this world pay check amounting to at least $70 million.
As quoted from The Hollywood Reporter, According to multiple sources, Bullock's deal with Warner Bros. for the Alfonso Cuaron-directed space epic calls for her to earn $20 million upfront against 15 percent of first-dollar gross. That means once her advance is covered, she will collect 15 percent of the studio's slice of the box-office pie, known as "film rentals."
Each studio negotiates individual deals with theater owners to determine what those rentals are, but a rule of thumb is that the studio will collect roughly 40 to 50 percent of the box office (it gets somewhat less in foreign markets than domestically).
Gravity has earned more than $700 million at the worldwide box office and is expected to cross the $750 million mark. Assuming Warners gets 45 percent of that, Bullock's take would be more than $50 million, including her upfront payment. But theatrical revenue is just one part of what she'll make, as she also gets a percentage from home video, TV and ancillary revenue.
One veteran finance lawyer said, "The theatrical window is going to generate a third of the total revenue a movie will earn; it will get another third on DVD; and then the final third comes from pay and free TV." Gravity might earn fairly more at the box office, says this lawyer, because "pay and free-TV numbers cap out at a certain point."
This first-dollar-gross deal of Bullock is highly unusual in today's marketplace, where studios insist on taking back costs before sharing profits with talent. Quoted from an article in Yahoo News, "several industry lawyers contacted by THR to analyze the terms expressed surprise that she was able to score such a lucrative deal. (Robert Downey Jr. has a similar one onIron Man films.) But her reps at CAA and the Ziffren Brittenham law firm closed the pact in late 2010 before the belt-tightening now taking place. Bullock also signed on at an opportune moment: Angelina Jolie had dropped out of the film and the studio knew it needed a megastar to carry the drama about a woman stranded in space who spends most of the movie alone.
At the same time, the actress was riding high from an Oscar win for 2009's The Blind Side, which made $309 million globally. Guaranteeing her $20 million against first dollar seemed appropriate, given that there only was one other castmember (Clooney, who replaced Downey)."
According to News, Bullock is already one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars, as she was No. 7 on Forbes' list of 2013's top-earning actresses.
The same source said that last year's wealthiest actress was Angelina Jolie, who made $33 million but turned down Gravity so she could work on directorial projects.
