It's no doubt that Tom Hanks is a huge name in Hollywood. He's been acting for more than fourty years and is still starring in popular movies at 65 years old. He started out with smaller roles in TV shows in the early 1980's. Four years after he started acting, he got his breakthrough and made his feature film debut with the romance-comedy movie, Splash. The movie is about his character, Allen, falling in love with a mermaid and Tom definitely showed his comedic talent with his role.
Ever since then, he has gotten tons of lead roles in movies, including timeless classics such as his Oscar-winning role in Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Sleepless in Seattle, and the Toy Story franchise. And he got five lead roles in the popular Christmas movie, The Polar Express. It was the first time he played multiple main characters in a feature film and he got big bucks for it. Let's take a look at exactly how much Tom Hanks was paid for this iconic movie and what he did to earn that money.
6 Tom Hanks Made More Than $100 Million For ‘The Polar Express’
The Polar Express gave Tom Hanks one of the biggest paychecks he’s ever earned. “When Hanks and Zemeckis took Polar Express to Universal Pictures, where there was a deal with Castle Rock Entertainment, the film’s producers, the studio was unenthusiastic about making a movie for which the two men would get not only $40 million in salary but 35% of the first-dollar gross—20% to Hanks, 15% to Zemeckis,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The movie made about $314.1 million at the box office, so Tom earned around $62.8 million on top of his $40 million salary. That means he received more than $100 million for a single movie.
5 ‘The Polar Express’ Was The First Movie Completely Created With Motion-Capture Animation
Besides being an awesome Christmas movie, The Polar Express is the first movie that was completely created with motion-capture animation. “Motion capture—the process by which filmmakers animate characters using recordings of live-action movements—was still a relatively new technique in 2004. When making The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis decided to use the technology to its full extent by animating every character this way,” according to Mental Floss. Robert Zemeckis’ groundbreaking motion-capture animation is one of the main reasons why the movie caught so many people’s attention and earned millions at the box office.
4 Tom Hanks Played Five Characters
Since the movie was created completely with motion-capture animated characters, the actors could play a few different roles and the director chose Tom Hanks to play most of the main characters. Along with playing some of hero boy’s parts and his dad, Tom also played the conductor, the hobo, and Santa. “Because the movie was made using motion capture, Hanks had to act out each part on a soundstage as well as speak the lines. In cases where two of his characters would share the screen, Hanks would have to act opposite a stand-in before switching to his second role to film the rest of the scene,” according to Mental Floss. It was a lot of work for Tom, but it definitely paid off in the end when he got his huge paycheck.
3 An Investor Helped Make The Movie Possible
Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks had a hard time getting the funding they needed from Universal, so they had to figure out a different way to create the movie. They ended up signing a deal with Warner Bros. and they found someone to help make the movie possible. “Warners eventually found a partner in Steve Bing, a real estate heir who is one of the many well-heeled outsiders who have been investing in movies in recent years, often to the detriment of their bank accounts… Bing put up about $85 million of his own money to co-finance the film, which barely made $30 million its first five days of release, far short of anyone’s expectations,” according to the Los Angeles Times. It took a while, but Steve Bing’s investment became one of the best decisions he ever made and he left behind an amazing movie that people will never forget. Over time, the film earned more than $300 million and is still one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time.
2 His Earnings From The Movie Make Up A Quarter Of His Net Worth
Tom’s paycheck for The Polar Express was so big that it makes up most of his net worth. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Tom Hanks’ net worth is around $400 million. From the beginning of his career to 2010, he earned about $300 million from his movie salaries and that’s not including bonuses or what he earned from directing and producing movies. He has earned another $100 million since then. The Polar Express alone earned him more than $100 million in 2004, which is about a quarter of his entire net worth.
1 He Made More Money From ‘The Polar Express’ Than Any Of His Other Films
Even though it came out almost 20 years ago, The Polar Express is still Tom Hanks’ biggest paycheck. Tom earned the same $40 million salary for Forrest Gump, but he didn’t have 20% of the movie’s earnings like he did for The Polar Express. He also made about $20 million for his other popular movies, including You’ve Got Mail, The Green Mile, and Cast Away. Most people remember Tom Hanks from Forrest Gump or Cast Away, but The Polar Express will always be one of his biggest achievements. It’s the only movie where he played almost every single main character and he might not ever get that chance again.