14 DAY TRIAL // Since the infamous couch jumping incident on Oprah's show, Tom Cruise's reputation never fully recovered. However, that did not seem to affect his box office appeal too much: this past year, he made an impressive $75 million (€59.9 million), becoming Forbes' highest paid actor in Hollywood.
Many will argue that Cruise is far from the huge action movie star he was back in the “Mission Impossible” day and no, we're not talking about the most recent “Ghost Protocol.”
Be that as it may, and despite being perhaps one of the most controversial figures in showbiz, he still retains his box office appeal, as The Huffington Post also notes.
“Cruise had a huge year with 2011's 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,' which pulled in $700 million [€559.5 million] at the box office world wide, and according to Forbes, the actor was also paid handsomely for 'Oblivion,' which is set to hit theaters in April 2013,” the Post writes.
Cruise also shot “Jack Reacher” and “Rock of Ages,” but it's yet unsure whether these two were factored in.
Second and third on the list are Leonardo DiCaprio and Adam Sandler, who actually sit at opposite poles from critics' standpoint. They both made $37 million (€29.5 million) last year.
On the one hand, DiCaprio is a reputable actor who starred in more or less commercially successful films this past year. He's done “Inception,” which made a killing at the box office, but he also starred in “J. Edgar,” who was considered a flop from this point of view.
On the other hand, Sandler is no longer the funnyman critics used to love.
“[He] rakes in the big bucks simply because he can get people into seats – regardless of how many terrible reviews the movie receives. Sandler's movie 'Jack and Jill' managed to earn $150 million [€119.8 million] at the box office, despite winning a whopping 10 Razzie Awards,” the Post writes.
Sandler's luck didn't change with 2012 either. His latest comedy, “That's My Boy,” was labeled “a waste of time” by critics.
Back to Tom Cruise, considering the kind of money he made this past year, it's actually good news for him that soon-to-be-ex-wife Katie Holmes doesn't want a dime.
Even if she did, she wouldn't get it because of the iron clad prenup, as we also reported earlier today.