As one of the most bankable stars in the industry with a proven track record of box office success who also operates his own production company that’s been involved in everything from NBC’s The Titan Games to the DCEU’s Shazam!, partnered with Under Armour for an exclusive clothing line, launched his own annual athletic competition, co-financed the purchase of bankrupt football league the XFL and owns a premium tequila brand, it would be an understatement to say that Dwayne Johnson is a very wealthy man.
In fact, last year alone the 48 year-old earned a massive $87.5 million to regain his crown as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, and he regularly commands a paycheck of at least $20 million per picture. However, even those eye-watering amounts of cash might not be enough to satisfy him, because we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Fast & Furious 9 would be heading to outer space long before it was confirmed, and that Han would be returning to the franchise – that Johnson is asking Universal for more money to officially sign on for Hobbs & Shaw 2 than Vin Diesel was paid for the most recent movies in the series.
According to our intel, the actor views himself as the bigger draw of the two and wants to be compensated as such. While you can’t argue with his standing in the business, and he might very well be the single most recognizable star on the planet, Fast & Furious is Vin Diesel’s baby. The chrome-domed action hero has been in since the ground floor, and over the last 20 years, he’s become the main creative driving force behind the series, and also produces through his One Race Films banner.
We know that the actor pulls in about $20 million every time he throws on Dominic Toretto’s tank top, which is less than the $23.5 million Johnson was paid for Netflix’s Red Notice. And while it’s unclear how much exactly The Rock wants for the sequel, we imagine that Universal will give their leading man whatever he requests in order to get Hobbs & Shaw 2 moving ASAP, especially given how successful the first outing was.