news culture Avatar: The story that cost Matt Damon $250 million
The world of Hollywood can definitely be ruthless. While Avatar: The Way of the Water continues to panic the box office, an old story has just come to the surface (it is the case to say it). Matt Damon, the person concerned in this affair, would no doubt have wanted it to be forgotten forever, but the dazzling success of James Cameron’s latest feature film has changed the situation. 250 million dollars, it is not forgotten like that…
To understand all this history, a reminder is necessary. More than ten years ago, Matt Damon was offered, in addition to the main role of Avatar, 10% of the total receipts of the film. At the time, James Cameron wanted him to play Jake Sully and he worked in this direction, by putting in the basket a clause – a priori – impossible to refuse. Well, even though he passed the casting for the film, he ultimately declined James Cameron’s offer. The reason ? Damon was engaged on the film The Vengeance in the skin and he did not want to let down the director and the film crew. In the end, Avatar brought in 3 billion in revenue worldwide and Matt Damon would have received, if he had accepted the role, 250 million dollars. Think about it, a quarter of a billion dollars! Looking back, he admits:
I lost more money than any actor today. It sucks and it’s still something brutal for me, but my children have enough to eat, I’m fine.
A career outside of Avatar
The Bourne saga allowed Matt Damon to make a name for himself on the international scene and the actor became one of the most popular in Hollywood. We have seen him in Le Mans 66, Alone on Mars, Will Hunting, Ocean’s Eleven, Invictus… For his part, the refusal of Matt Damon was a blessing for the Australian actor Sam Worthington. The latter saw his career explode, even if the story does not say if there was, somewhere in his contract, a line stipulating that he was to receive 10% of the receipts. We can nevertheless point out that the story ends well as a whole since Matt Damon did not see his career waver, on the contrary, and Sam Worthington continues to experience success with Avatar: The Way of the Water.
For the anecdote, James Cameron, it seems that the American director has proposed, for the Avatar sequels, a role for Damon. For the symbol. This time, it won’t be about the 10% revenue…
