Johnny Depp has appeared in some of the most massive films of the 2000s and 2010s and has made a lot of money. While some may think his biggest payout came from his stint as Captain Jack Sparrow, it was actually from a different movie.
According to The Management Group (via Insider), who is Depp’s former management firm, the actor earned over $650 million over the 13 years he was with the firm, which was from 1999 to 2016. After filming a few Pirates movies, Depp starred as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. He ended up making even more on the backend of this film, with about $55 million on top of the $20 million he received at the start, making this his highest payday on a single movie.
Obviously, one of his biggest roles was for Pirates of the Caribbean where he played Captain Jake Sparrow. The article states that after Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Blake Pearl, Depp began regularly making $20 million per movie. Also, according to THR, Depp made about 20% on the backend as well. This brought his total up to over $40 million per the Pirates movie. Then, when the Pirates sequels came out Depp ended up making more than $40 million per sequel on the backend alone, according to THR. While this is a lot of money, he ended up making $15 million more on the backend of Alice in Wonderland in comparison to Pirates.
The Insider article notes that Depp’s films like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Alice in Wonderland, and the 2014 musical Into the Woods came out when movies were still getting “prime home entertainment releases and cable play.” The article says he took home $25.7 million in residuals.
In 2018 Depp was asked to step down from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald because he lost a libel case against a UK newspaper. He appeared in one scene of the movie, and according to the article he had a “pay-or-play” deal in place, and he was paid $16 million. he was then replaced by Mads Mikkelsen for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Depp is currently in the midst of lots of drama with his ex-wife Amber Heard. The actor sued her over a response she wrote for The Washington Post that explained her experience with Depp and domestic violence. At the end of the trial, Depp won $15 million in damages from Heard, and Heard won $2 million from Depp. Heard is now trying to appeal the defamation case.
Allegedly, the actor had verbally agreed to a $22.5 million deal for the sixth installment in the Pirates franchise. However, everything between Depp and Heard has put a pause on a lot of projects, and has impacted his net worth. The actor also revealed that since his Pirates days he “not only lost $650 million,” but he was also “$100 million in the hole.” The actor also sold his 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion in Australia for a record-breaking $40 million.
So, over the years Depp has made and lost a lot of money. As the face of a massive franchise, it makes sense why his net worth was so high, and why the Alice in Wonderland deal was able to be higher. However, he has lost a lot in recent years, and with the drama between him and Heard still unfolding it will be interesting to see if he loses or gains anything financially in the future.
