You might be surprised to hear this, but actor Marlon Wayans was paid $100,000 for a movie he never even starred in. And the bigger surprise is the fact that the reason he gets that money is because he was almost Robin in director Tim Burton's Batman Returns.
He was removed from "Batman Returns" during pre-production due to the amount of characters already in the script. However, Wayans' time was not completely wasted: Not only did he actually get paid for the role, but he also is entitled to residuals.
Does Marlon Wayans get residuals from Batman Returns?
In the end, it wasn't a complete loss for Wayans because he still receives residual checks to this day for “Batman Returns.” Although the actor has never confirmed, according to Cinema Blend, Wayans received a payout of $100,000.
How much did Michael Keaton get paid for Batman? Keaton reportedly earned $5 million for his work in Batman (1989). In today's money, that equates to about $10 million—which is an astronomical rate for an actor.
Who got cast and paid to play Robin in Batman Returns?
I still get residual checks. Tim Burton didn't wind up doing three, Joel Schumacher did it and he had a different vision for who Robin was. So he hired Chris O' Donnell,” Wayans explained, according to Gizmodo. Wayans was still in the early stages of his career during this time.
Marlon Wayans Wasn't In 'Batman Forever,' But He Still Gets Paid For It!
Who was paid not to be in Batman Forever?
However, Wayans did get paid for not appearing in Batman Forever. Having originally been cast by Burton to appear as Robin in Batman Returns, Wayans was cut from an already crowded film.
When discussing the situation during an interview years ago, he said: I was actually supposed to play Robin, in Batman Returns, about 15 years ago. But there was too many characters. I was cast, I was paid and everything.
He got a cool $5 million for the role, and you can certainly make the case that casting Jim Carrey as the questioning villain made Batman Forever into an event all by itself.
Kilmer was paid $6 million (about $12.1 million today) to play the title role in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever after Michael Keaton hung up the cowl.
Jack Nicholson was the highest-paid actor for a single movie for his role as Joker in 1989's Batman, earning around $90 million. Nicholson's contract included a $6 million upfront payment and a percentage of the final box office gross and profits from Joker-related merchandise.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Marlon is worth a staggering $40 million, which is a direct reflection of his accomplishments as an actor and entrepreneur. Marlon became famous after he appeared as a cast member in the sketch comedy series In Living Color in the early 1990s with his siblings.
This allowed Joker to run absolutely wild with the full backing of Wayne Enterprises, but after Joker was defeated, the stolen money wasn't returned to Bruce Wayne. Because the government deemed Bruce untrustworthy with this fortune, it was transferred to Lucius Fox.
In an attempt to help with the film's box office and merchandising, Jack Nicholson agreed to cut his standard fee of $10 million to $6 million. Although it paid off the actor when Batman became a global phenomenon, Nicholson apparently demanded top billing, to ensure his name appeared before Michael Keaton's.
During the first months of shooting, Ward was paid $350 per week. The series only lasted three seasons, for a total of 120 episodes; according to Ward in an interview, this was because of the high cost of production.
While it seems unlikely that Bale will ever return to the role, he remains the current highest-earning Batman actor, surpassing even his two successors in the role. Whether the British actor will ever be unseated remains to be seen, but for now, he remains the most profitable Batman ever put to screen.
Heath Ledger portrayed the role of the Joker in Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero film, The Dark Knight. If reports are to be believed, the actor reportedly locked himself up in a hotel room for a month to prepare for the role, for which he was reportedly paid a salary of $20 million.
Morgan Freeman famously appeared as Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's Christian Bale-fronted Batman trilogy: 2005's Batman Begins, 2008's The Dark Knight and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. It has been reported that Freeman was paid $5 million for each of the three films, totaling $15 million when all was said and done.
In a new interview with Howard Stern, Clooney went even further in discussing the movie and revealed how much he earned for making it. Clooney was paid a mere $1 million salary, while Schwarzenegger received a hefty $25 million. Interestingly enough, the two actors never even worked on set together.
Affleck's portrayal of Batman was darker and more brooding than previous interpretations of the character. He was paid between $10 and $20 million for his role as Batman.
Elf was Will Ferrell's second box office hit. He reportedly received a whopping salary of $17 million for that film alone, more on par with what his talents would dictate in the mid-2000s. He was allegedly offered $29 million to act in an Elf sequel, but couldn't get his heart into it, so he turned it down.
Pattinson's salary for The Batman seems paltry, but don't be deceived! While he is reportedly taking home $3 million to play Bruce Wayne, that is likely just what Pattinson is making upfront and doesn't include box office points and bonuses he'd make on the backend after the film's release.
After attempting to kill KGBeast for what he did to Grayson, he is confronted by both Batman and the Teen Titans. After the fight, Damian decides to abandon the Robin identity and leaves a note to his former teammates, providing them with coordinates to Nightwing to join the Titans.
The biggest hindrance to a Robin solo movie is that Robin's story cannot be told without Batman. Titans tried to do just that in Season 1, but it didn't work. Gotham Knights has followed suit, but Robin's connection to Batman in the show isn't central to the story, so they have been able to get away with it.
