Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Critics agree. The internet agrees. Both halves of Rotten Tomatoes agree. The box office agrees. Wonder Woman was a good movie. However, the star of said good movie and a large part of what made at least one DC movie the opposite of terrible sure didn’t make a lot for her box office slam dunk. It’s been reported that Gal Gadot made $300,000 for her role in Wonder Woman.
Of course, $300,000 is nothing to sneeze at, and this number comes without accounting for the bonus actors receive once their film passes a box office milestone — something Wonder Woman is sure to achieve. However, when you consider that Wonder Woman has already made $500 million and has just crossed its third week in theaters, less than half a million seems cheap.
In the grand scheme of superhero franchises, Gadot’s reported payday seems to be more of the rule rather than the exception. Gadot originally signed on for three DC movies, each of which would pay the actress $300,000 — Batman v. Superman, Wonder Woman, and the upcoming Justice League. Conversely, Marvel powerhouse and my personal favorite Chris, Chris Evans signed onto the first Captain America movie for only $300,000. Between their multi-contract deals and the staggering cost of these movies, it’s not unusual for some lesser superhero stars to see salaries in this range for their multi-million and billion dollar movies. Not everyone can be Robert Downey Jr., who negotiated his way into an over $40 million payday for a Captain America movie (Captain America: Civil War).
But don’t think this news comes without pay discrimination critiques. Henry Cavill earned a reported $14 million for his role in Man of Steel. Judging by that as well as Batman v. Superman’s $300 million budget and star power, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenberg saw larger paydays than Gadot. Also, Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman were two movies that flopped so hard, they’ve essentially become running jokes. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, is an actually good movie that audiences are willingly paying money to see.
A lot of that success comes down to Gadot’s powerful and vulnerable performance. The bottom line is that DC and Warner Bros. need to give Gal Gadot more money.
Wonder Woman is in theaters right now.
