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08:38 PST 01/14/2021
by
Mia Galuppo
,
Denzel Washington would receive his $ 20 million plus backend fees, while the number of bonuses tied to HBO Max’s day and date plan would be costly for the studio.
The Warner Bros. Business Affairs Department did not have a very relaxing vacation. The group were working through the end of the year in a bid to appease top talent who were kept in the dark about the Dec.3 reveal outlining plans for the entire 2021 slate from the studio to appear day and date at the national level. in theaters and HBO Max.
One of those negotiations took place with Denzel Washington, who heads The small things, released on January 29, the first of 17 titles to be released under the HBO Max model day and date. Washington’s feature film deal is said to be a $ 20 million fee plus the backend, leading insiders to assume that it will bring in a much larger salary than the $ 10 million Gal Gadot received as a Wonder Woman 1984 went to streaming on December 25. “Denzel will never negotiate his deal and a really strong backend,” says an executive at a rival studio, adding, “People are going to be very happy with their deals.”
While few stars can command a salary as large as Washington’s, the large number of talent offers that now require some sort of bonus payment in light of WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s exposure exercise , is costly to Warner, sources say. Each talent agency manages its own set of transactions, with CAA managing alone 55.
Apparently, no formula has yet been adopted by the studio, but at least one proposal has been sent to representatives. According to sources, a draft Warners proposal pointed out that talent earning less than $ 4 million would receive 25% of their salary at the film’s release as an advance on box office bonuses. Anyone earning $ 4 million and more from the advance would receive 40% of their salary. In addition, the box office performance thresholds related to bonuses would be halved. And regardless of how the film unfolds at the global box office, all postponements would be honored upon the film’s release. (Warner Bros. declined to comment.)
Even with domestic theatrical closures, some representatives believe the new global halved box office thresholds will be easier to achieve than pre-pandemic bonus benchmarks. But, as a new wave of COVID-19 cases sees countries implementing new closures, the state of the exposure is constantly changing. The proposal is not a universal solution that can be transposed to each transaction.
And there are filmmakers hoping for a glass theatrical release. Legendary, behind the Warners 2021 titles Godzilla vs. Kong and Denis Villeneuve Dune, is still working on the problem with the studio.
This story first appeared in the Jan. 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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