Huge amount Sam Worthington earned from Avatar films after Matt Damon said he turned down $300 million for role
Over the years Sam Worthington has sneakily built one of the most solid careers in Hollywood, one he is adding to as the star of the brand-new Harlan Coben series I Will Find You.
I Will Find You is the first Harlan Coben mystery drama set in the US, with most of Netflix's most successful adaptations of his novels being set in the UK, and Worthington stars in it alongside Britt Lower and Milo Ventimiglia.
Worthington’s career saw him at one stage presented as one of the next leading men of Hollywood, even making it to the final stages of auditions to play James Bond, losing out to Daniel Craig.
His most famous role however is undeniably as Jake Sully in the Avatar films, which are some of the most financially successful movies of all time.
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Until Avengers: Endgame took the title Avatar was actually the highest grossing movie ever, but how much money did Sam Worthington make from the film.
We only know what Sam Worthington made from Avatar’s sequel, but it’s a life changing fee
Worthington was a fairly unknown actor when the first Avatar came out with James Cameron having to fight for him to star over more well-known names such as Channing Tatum.
Though rumours persist of the supposedly crazy payday that Matt Damon turned down to appear in the lead role, Worthington will have been paid a far lower fee than the Bourne star’s reported $100 million fee.
For Way of the Water, the second film in the series however, Worthington was reportedly paid $10 million as an up-front salary according to GQ India. This article quotes him receiving a deal for 5% of the film’s revenue, which have earned him a whopping $116 million extra.
This is unlikely to have been the exact deal negotiated however, and may have instead been 5% of the profits, as James Cameron has been clear in the past that he would ‘never’ negotiate a deal for a decent chunk of the revenue.
Rumours stated that Matt Damon turned down $100 million, but James Cameron shut them down
Matt Damon himself had claimed that he was offered the lead role in Avatar and 10% of the revenue, a deal that would have made him the highest paid actor for a single role ever.
He stated that he had to turn down the role because of contractual obligations to the Bourne franchise, and a deal for 10% of the first Avatar would’ve netted him a whopping $290 million. Unfortunately for Damon, it appears that he may have been misled by someone along the way because Cameron said he’d ‘never’ agree to that deal.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron said: “He was never offered the part. I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did? Then we wound up on a call and he said, ‘I'd love to explore doing a movie with you. I have a lot of respect for you as a filmmaker. [Avatar] sounds intriguing. But I really have to do this Jason Bourne movie. I’ve agreed to it, it’s a direct conflict, and so, regretfully, I have to turn it down.’
“But he was never offered. There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.
“Now what he’s done is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films.’ And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that.”
Just think, if Damon had starred in it maybe he’d be the one in the newest Harlan Coben show ay?
I Will Find You is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Celebrity, Netflix, Film, TV and Film, Money
Michael Slavin