Leonardo DiCaprio was once the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, thanks to his whopping $59 million windfall from the box office success of Inception in 2011. These days, The Wolf of Wall Street actor gets paid in a salary range of $20-$30 million for each of his roles. DiCaprio also secured a $30 million paycheck for his Netflix project Don’t Look Up, the highest payment made by the streaming platform.
The Blood Diamond actor got his first Oscar nomination at the age of 19 for his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. This was followed by critically acclaimed performances in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and James Cameron’s Titanic. DiCaprio even negotiated a smart deal for his role in the latter movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Smart Tactic That Earned Him 16X His Salary
James Cameron’s epic disaster film, Titanic, starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the leading roles as Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater. The film made on a huge budget of $200 million amassed a colossal $1.84 billion at the box office upon its initial release, becoming the first movie to cross the billion mark. Further re-releases of the movie pushed the global box-office gross to $2.257 billion. The earnings from video and DVD sales and rentals added another $1.2 billion to the movie’s account.
DiCaprio was offered a salary of $2.5 million for his role and Winslet was offered $2 million. The salaries were relatively modest considering the massive budget of the film. However, The Aviator actor negotiated a 1.8% backend cut for his role in the film and earned an additional $40 million from the box office and home media success of the film. It was almost 16 times his original agreed-upon salary for the film.
His co-star Winslet, however, failed to negotiate any such deal and ended up getting paid only her salary. Interestingly, the Shutter Island actor was only 21 or 22 years old when he struck this smart deal with Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, the co-financiers behind the project.
What Is Leonardo DiCaprio’s Net Worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Leonardo DiCaprio made $300 million in salaries from films between the years of 1995 and 2020. The 48-year-old actor also earns a significant income from brand endorsements. But the Gangs of New York actor also donates to charitable causes, including those related to climate change. The Departed actor is very much active in the Real Estate business, owning a number of properties, at least 12 in Southern California itself.
The Django Unchained actor’s movies have raked in $7.2 billion at the global box office. The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor won his much-awaited Best Actor Oscar in 2016 for his performance in The Revenant. DiCaprio was paid $20 million for his role as fur trapper Hugh Glass in the movie. Also, his other Oscar-worthy performance in The Wolf of Wall Street, which narrowly missed the mark in a heavy competition, earned him $25 million.
The J. Edgar actor’s latest film is the 2023 Western crime drama, Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese in their sixth feature film collaboration. The film, which is set for a theatrical release on October 20, earned DiCaprio a hefty paycheck of $30 million.
Fans can enjoy the movie that earned Leonardo DiCaprio $42.5 million, Titanic, now available for streaming on Netflix and Paramount Plus.
Source: Celebrity Net Worth
