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Here’s the secret behind Kevin Hart’s massive Hollywood paycheck: it’s not about what you see on screen but about what happens before the cameras roll. While most stars sign up for big upfront paydays, Hart’s got a different playbook. His genius move? The back-end deal.
Take Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), a film that made over $800M globally. Kevin didn’t grab a fat paycheck up front. Instead, he bet on the movie’s success, taking less money in exchange for a cut of the profits. And guess what? That gamble paid off big time. Hart told James Corden, “If I had to make a rough guess… see, I’m a ‘back end player,’ so it’s not about what you take upfront. I don’t want upfront money for the movie, so I took less money and hoped that the movie would find amazing success because I’m a good partner.” And boom—his share ended up between $25 million to $30 million. Cha-ching.
This isn’t some one-time fluke, either. Kevin’s savvy strategy follows in the footsteps of Hollywood legends. Just look at Tom Hanks—he did the same thing with Forrest Gump (1994), pocketing an astounding $70M after the film became a sensation. Or Jack Nicholson, who took a small upfront fee for playing the Joker in Batman (1989) and ended up cashing in somewhere between $40M and $60M once the movie hit the jackpot.
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