Sometimes actors take a risk by tying their salaries to the performance of a project. They initially take a cut in pay in hopes of a bigger payoff. This worked for Kevin Hart.
During an interview with comedian and host James Corden on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” Hart revealed what he ultimately took home for the 2019 film “Jumanji: The Next Level.”
The sequel starred Hart, Dwayne Johnson (who co-produced the film), Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain and Madison Iseman, reprising their roles from 2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”
Hart, who earns about $25 million per film, took home $30 million for “Jumanji: The Next Level.” For the first “Jumanji” installment, Hart reportedly made just about $10 million.
Hart told Corden he received “between 25 to 30” million in a contract, based largely on how the film performed. “’I took less money hoping that the movie would find amazing success,” he said.
Hart had an inkling that “Jumanji: The Next Level” would perform well and that tying his salary to performance might pay off. The first “Jumanji” film raked in a whopping $962.5 million at the box office.
“Jumanji: The Next Level” had a production budget of $125 million and grossed $800.1 million.
“If I had to do a rough guess…See I made backend player. It’s not about what you take up front for the movie so I took less money hoping that the movie would find amazing success because I’m a good partner. Because of the success of the movie, overall you’re probably in between 25 to 30″ million dollars,” Hart said.
He emphasized: “That is not a Kevin Hart success. That is a studio success. The good thing about being a good partner is you want your studio to be successful. So, Sony being a good partner at the time, they did an amazing job marketing and promoting, which allowed all the cast members to find success in this particular movie. It’s not just one; it’s all of our success.”
Hart has his hands in other business ventures outside of Hollywood. He is opening a fast-food chain of plant-based items called Hart House, in Los Angeles this month. In 2017, Hart launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate.
Hart current net worth is $215 million. Over the last 10 years, his net worth reportedly has grown at a pace of 250 percent.
The 3rd Jumanji had too much cussing and off color acting. The movie would have been ok without all that crap. I don’t understand the need for that junk. The “Next Level” was better than #3 which had very little swearing and the script and content was better. I hope #4 has better writing. Having the same cast would great.