Dwayne Johnson Overtakes Robert Downey Jr. To Lead List of Highest-Paid Male Artists In 2019

Famously known for his lead role in Fast n Furious and Jumanji, Dwayne Johnson is getting the biggest cheque in Hollywood to lead in the list of highest-paid actors in 2019 by annual earnings of nearly $90 million.

Last year, Johnson peaked at second place behind Robert Downey Jr. with a whopping $239 million but did not make as much as that this year and dropped in position to third with annual earnings of $66 million.

The Rock received an upfront payment of $23.5 million for his oncoming film Jumanji: The Next Level and HBO handed him a payment $700,000 per episode for his series Ballers. Outside the screenplay, he gets seven figures royalties from his headphone collaboration with Under Armour and also from clothing and shoe lines.

Most of Downey's monies come from his role as Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame from which he gets eight per cent of the film's global gross at the box office. That is aside from an upfront payment of $20 million he received for the role according to Forbes.

In overall, there is a significant drop in earnings in total paid to artists compared last year. In spite of that, some got paid more and vice versa this year. Meanwhile, Jackie Chan maintained in 5th position with an increase in the salary paid to him while Will Smith dropped to 10th position earning less than he did in the previous year.

See below for the full list of highest-paid actors

10. Will Smith 

Annual earnings: $35 million

9. Paul Ruud 

Annual earnings: $41 million

8. Chris Evans 

Annual earnings: $43.5 million

6. Adam Sandler

Annual earnings: $57 million

6. Bradley Cooper

Annual earnings: $57 million

5. Jackie Chan

Annual earnings: $58 million

4. Akshay Kumar 

Annual earnings: $65 million

3. Robert Downey Jr. 

Annual earnings: $66 million

2. Chris Hemsworth

Annual earnings: $76.4 million

1. Dwayne Johnson

Annual earnings: $89.4 million