Rise of Netflix is forcing actors to think outside the box office

NOT so long ago, a Hollywood actor’s worth would be defined by the number of cinemagoers who flocked to their films. But that was before the rise of Netflix.

A list of the world’s 10 highest-paid actors found that they earned a combined $545.5million (£416.8million) in 2020 – and more than a quarter of that was paid out by the streaming service.

They include Adam Sandler, who has an exclusive deal with Netflix and whose recent hit Murder Mystery broke viewing records when it was watched by 31 million households in its first three days.

Netflix users have streamed more than two billion hours of Sandler, according to the company.

The list, compiled by Forbes magazine, was topped by Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock, for the second year running. He has made $87.5million in the past year and was paid $23.5million by Netflix for Red Notice, an action comedy

scheduled for release in November.

His co-star in that film, Ryan Reynolds, is second in the list, making more than $20million from Red Notice and Six Underground.

Mark Wahlberg is third, after his Netflix comedy, Spenser Confidential, became the streaming giant’s third most-watched original film after

Extraction and Bird Box. Lin-manuel Miranda made the list for the first time after Disney acquired the worldwide film rights to his Broadway production Hamilton for $75million this year.

The only non-hollywood star on the list is India’s Akshay Kumar. He is currently working on his first television series for Amazon Prime, The End, for which he will receive $10million, but Forbes said most of his money comes from endorsements.

“The economics of star power are the same for Netflix as they have been for the traditional movie studios: if you draw a crowd, you get top dollar,” Forbes said.

“For Netflix, though, the secret isn’t in the blockbuster box office results but in how many monthly subscriptions it will sign up and retain as a result.

“That’s a figure that is calculated using Netflix’s treasure trove of proprietary data, including the number of times a film is streamed and the number of repeat viewings, as well as a dash of an actor’s social following.”