There are a handful of franchises that have a huge following, including Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and so on. One of these is the Transformers franchise which has six movies to its name, with another one on the way. Mark Wahlberg found himself as part of the huge ensemble, starting from the fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, which was released in 2014.
By 2014, the franchise had been well-established and was doing pretty well at the box office. The previous film, Dark of the Moon, made over a billion dollars at the box office, and therefore, it was obvious that Mark Wahlberg was going to receive huge paychecks for his work. However, despite earning well and being the lead of a huge franchise, Mark Wahlberg said goodbye just after 2 films.
How Much Did Mark Wahlberg Make From Transformers?
Mark Wahlberg played the character Cade Yaeger in Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Last Knight. As mentioned above, by the time Wahlberg joined the franchise, it had already seen immense success, both at the box office and among the audience. Thus, the Boogie Nights actor earned some of the fattest paychecks of his career through these two films.
According to Statistic Brain, Wahlberg made a whopping $17 million for Age of Extinction. This does not include what he may or may not have earned after the profits reeled in. Made on a budget of about $210 million, the film grossed $1.10 billion at the box office. According to Deadline, the net profit for the film was about $250 million.
Wahlberg then reprised his role in The Last Knight. Of course, this meant that he would be getting an even bigger paycheck, especially thanks to the box office performance of the predecessor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor made up to $40 million for his second Transformers film
Unfortunately, despite earning $605 million at the box office, The Last Knight caused Paramount to lose over $100 million and was a commercial failure. Wahlberg never returned to play Cade Yaeger ever again.
Why Mark Wahlberg Left Transformers Behind
Michael Bay bid his farewell to the Transformers franchise as a director after The Last Knight and Wahlberg followed suit. During his appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the actor stated,
“This is the last one. This is the last Transformers. Michael Bay has vowed that this is it. So I get my life back”
Since The Last Knight wasn’t the last film of the franchise, he probably meant that it was his last film for the franchise. Bay told Fandango,
“I’ve done it enough, and I’ve had a great time doing it. I’m going out with a bang on this one and I feel like you gotta go out while you are ahead, you know. I think I’ve had a good run and I’ve got a lot of other movies I want to do.”
However, while he is not returning to direct more Transformers films, he will be seen as one of the producers of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The film will be directed by Steven Caple Jr. and will star Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson, Michelle Yeoh, and others.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts releases in theatres on 09 June.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
