How Matt Damon lost out on ~$250M turning down a role

[beowulf]

Crazy, he was offered the lead in the Avatar franchise that included a % of the gross which he figures would have meant about ~250M at this point.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/entertainment/matt-damon-avatar/index.html

Appearing on Friday’s episode of CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” Damon spoke with the host about how in 2009, he was offered not just the lead role in James Cameron’s “Avatar,” but a percentage of the film’s earnings.

“It’s something awful like that,” Damon joked when asked about his $250 million calculation, going on to say he’s “sure it’s the most money an actor ever turned down.”

Damon said he was obligated to finish production on the “Bourne” series that he starred in between 2002 and 2016, and he didn’t want to “leave them in the lurch” to go do “Avatar.”

Click to read more...

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Fortune favors the bold, Matt!

 

[The Crypto Guy]

That's an OOPSY.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

leaving the poor guy with a net worth of just $251 million

 

[HanSolo]

Fortune favors the bold, Matt!

My immediate thought

 

[Osprey]

I didn't get the reference, so I looked it up. How have I not seen this before?

One of the historical events depicted should've been Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn

 

[The Crypto Guy]

leaving the poor guy with a net worth of just $251 million

We call those people, “peasants”.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

I didn't get the reference, so I looked it up. How have I not seen this before?

One of the historical events depicted should've been Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn

I still can’t believe this happened. It was a big Super Bowl ad and everything!

 

[PeteWorrell]

I didn't get the reference, so I looked it up. How have I not seen this before?

One of the historical events depicted should've been Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn

I liked it when South Park kept making fun of that ad.

 

[S E P H]

People actually went to go watch the second Avatar movie? I get wanting to give a movie series a chance as I did with the first one, but did people not learn from the first one?

 

[beowulf]

People actually went to go watch the second Avatar movie? I get wanting to give a movie series a chance as I did with the first one, but did people not learn from the first one?

Nah they didn't, they saved their money to see Sound of Freedom....come on dude.

 

[StreetHawk]

Crazy, he was offered the lead in the Avatar franchise that included a % of the gross which he figures would have meant about ~250M at this point.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/entertainment/matt-damon-avatar/index.html

Appearing on Friday’s episode of CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” Damon spoke with the host about how in 2009, he was offered not just the lead role in James Cameron’s “Avatar,” but a percentage of the film’s earnings.

“It’s something awful like that,” Damon joked when asked about his $250 million calculation, going on to say he’s “sure it’s the most money an actor ever turned down.”

Damon said he was obligated to finish production on the “Bourne” series that he starred in between 2002 and 2016, and he didn’t want to “leave them in the lurch” to go do “Avatar.”

You'd have thought that a director like Cameron, could easily get actors to want to work with him on a film. Given his resume and successes. With all of the CGI they were using, didn't really need a big name actor.

Kind of like Christopher Nolan. Cast of Oppenheimer cost way less than what they typically command. Top person was Murphy at $5 mill, while the other co-stars got $4 mill in Blunt, RDJ, Damon, etc. Production cost for it came in at $100 mill.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Wow. And that's not even factoring in the fact that they will eventually (allegedly) be having 4 more films in the franchise... All just to make those crappy Bourne movies!

Not to say Avatar is an amazing movie, but it's nothing short of a box office juggernaut.

 

[StreetHawk]

Wow. And that's not even factoring in the fact that they will eventually (allegedly) be having 4 more films in the franchise... All just to make those crappy Bourne movies!

Not to say Avatar is an amazing movie, but it's nothing short of a box office juggernaut.

He was committed to shooting the Ultimatum movie which came out in 2007. Avatar came out in 2009 which obviously needed a lot of time with cgi. That was the overlap.
Bourne series did change the way action movies were done with the close quarter hand to hand fighting. Bourne took plenty of hits during his fights which was more realistic. Tough being able to carry on after that seemed a bit of a stretch…

 

[Very Stable Genius]

I didn't get the reference, so I looked it up. How have I not seen this before?

One of the historical events depicted should've been Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn

Yeah, it was a cringefest, but he explained that his water charity got a hefty donation from them so that's why he did it IIRC.