This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.
Johnny Depp is one quirky thespian. Whether he's playing a Gothic mutant with scissors for hands, a sadistic throat-slitting barber, or one wacked-out pirate who sounds a lot like a drunken guitarist from one of the greatest rock 'n roll bands of all time, Depp works overtime to extract as much weirdness from a part as he conceivably can so he can present a compelling performance to paying audiences at the local multiplex. And he gets paid pretty well for his services.
In fact, he's set to earn multiple millions of dollars to appear in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. That's right, if you thought Disney (NYSE: DIS) was thinking of stopping at the third one (like maybe it should), then you turned out to be wrong. It's difficult to say exactly how much Depp will make from the next Pirates adventure. The Movie Blog claims that the number is as high as $75 million. I've read other reports that confirm this figure, but I've also read speculation that the value relates more to the potential of his earnings power in terms of gross participation, merchandise, etc. In other words, it might be reasonable to assume that Depp will earn as high as $75 million if Pirates 4 is a huge box-office hit on the level of its predecessors. He may, however, receive a lesser amount upfront. I believe the latter to most likely be the case based on the way Hollywood works. We unfortunately will never know the specific details because the SEC does not require public media companies to report talent compensation (in my opinion, they should). No matter what, though, he'll be grossing a lot of bucks when he returns as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Of course, Depp has already earned a ton of money in his lifetime. In fact, according to celebrity-salary authority Forbes, Depp is estimated to have brought in over $70 million between June 2007 and June 2008 alone. The year before that, he was said to have taken in approximately $60 million from the second Pirates film. Simply amazing. And while I think he's a great talent, it really bugs me that he's set to take a significant chunk out of the cash flow of the next Pirates project. It's the coffers of studios like Disney, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) that take on the risk of spending precious capital on movies, not the celebrity stars. I will concede, though, that Depp's Jack Sparrow character is pretty integral to the franchise. However, if Disney decided to get rid of Sparrow and create a new starring role in the film for an unknown actor, there's nothing in the rule book that says such a transition couldn't work. Remember how unimaginable it once seemed for a Terminator sequel to be lensed without California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, it's happened. Terminator Salvation, due out next summer, will not have Schwarzenegger to lean on (for that matter, it won't have James Cameron, either). It will, however, have superstar Christian Bale, fresh off his success from The Dark Knight.
Fear not, Sparrow fans. Disney execs would most likely never chance leaving Depp out of the equation at this point. From what I can gather, the next Pirates adventure won't be setting sail until 2012. That gives Depp a few years until he collects his big payday. And it allows him time to make money on other roles. According to IMDb, he'll be featured in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and he'll be portraying The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland.
I'm not sure if Depp will be earning as much money from these projects, but you can bet that he won't be crying poverty anytime soon. Come next year at this time, I'm sure he'll have added tens of millions more to his net worth. He may love to play arty, esoteric characters, but deep down, I'm sure Johnny Depp was always counting on a big check from a mainstream summer fantasy. Well, he got that, and a whole lot more.
Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change at any time. And a note to both Disney and Johnny Depp: How about teaming up for a remake of The Black Hole? That might be worth even more than the Pirates flicks.
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