It’s been a crazy few weeks for movie fans. Not only have we had the biggest and most unexpected box office openings in history (The Avengers and Toy Story 3), but we’ve also had some pretty good surprises coming out of Hollywood. One of the biggest and most unexpected surprises was the release of The Dark Knight Rises. With a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, it smashed previous records and became the third highest grossing movie of all time, only behind The Avengers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was also the highest grossing film of 2012 and the 4th highest grossing movie of all time at the American box office.

As an actor, how much does Robert Pattinson make for his role as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Robert Pattinson’s Previous Contractual Earnings

In order to determine how much money Pattinson is actually making for The Dark Knight Rises, we need to look at his previous contractual earnings. It is a common practice for movie studios to put contracts in place that stipulate the amount of money an actor or actress can make for a certain role. These types of contracts protect the studio in case the movie bombs at the box office. If the film performs well below expectations, the contracts protect the studio by stipulating that the actor or actress will not receive any additional payment above what was originally agreed upon. In most cases, productions will make additional payments to the actor or actress once the film is above a certain threshold (usually $500,000). The Dark Knight Rises had a production budget of around $180 million, so we can assume that the script was probably close to $180 million as well. With a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, it seems like this contract was very reasonable.

How Much Does Robert Pattinson Make for Batman in The Dark Knight Rises?

So how much does Robert Pattinson make for Batman in The Dark Knight Rises? As we mentioned above, Pattinson’s previous contractual earnings entitle him to a certain amount of money for the role of Batman. In order to determine how much he actually makes for the part, we need to look at his salary and how much money his contract allows him to make. For the sake of this article, we will assume that he is being paid his contractual amount of $500,000 for the role of Batman, which seems eminently reasonable. Let’s add this to what we know about The Dark Knight Rises so far:

  • The film has a production budget of $180 million
  • It made $1 billion at the box office globally
  • It is the highest grossing film of 2012 so far
  • It is the 4th highest grossing film at the American box office of all time.
  • It was the highest grossing film of 2011 as well.
  • It’s been viewed by over 40 million people on YouTube as of April 25, 2013
  • It is the most followed YouTube film of all time with over 82.5 million people subscribing to its channel
  • The soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award
  • it is the most critically acclaimed film of all time (98% on Rotten Tomatoes)
  • the studio will pay for 25% of the cost of Pattinson’s birth child
  • it will be shown in Imax theaters
  • it will premiere in London’s West End on April 25, 2013

From the above, it’s clear that The Dark Knight Rises was a massive success and did incredibly well at the box office. While it’s impossible to predict what the future holds, it’s already clear that Batman will be generating a lot of money for Warner Bros. Pictures in the coming years.

Now that we know what role Pattinson is going to be making a lot of money from, we can look at the details of his contract and how much he actually gets paid. The contract was structured in a way that ensures that the actor will not make more than $500,000 for the film. Let’s look at how much he actually makes with some additional assumptions:

  • The film will do $500,000 at the box office which is on the low end of projections
  • The film will make the same amount of money in other markets (worldwide)
  • The film will be above the $500,000 threshold in America (where the bulk of the action takes place)
  • The film’s total budget was capped at $180 million
  • The film made $500,000 in America which is on the low end of projections
  • The film was not released in China, Japan, or Korea because of the country’s strict quota restrictions on Hollywood films
  • Pattinson is not being paid for the Imax version of the film because it was only shown in select theaters
  • Pattinson has not been paid for the post-Super Bowl trailer because it was only shown during the game

Adding all of this up, with his previous contractual earnings of $500,000 and the assumptions listed above, we can now determine that Robert Pattinson makes $600,000 for Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. While not a huge amount of money, it’s not bad for an actor who was essentially a complete unknown before the role.

What About the Future?

While The Dark Knight Rises was a huge success, the future of the franchise looks a little more uncertain now. With no direct sequel in the works and a new generation coming up behind the camera, it’s fair to wonder if this is the end for Bruce Wayne and Batman as we know it. On the other hand, the success of The Dark Knight Rises could bode well for solo Batman movies in the future. Maybe even a female superhero movie in which a young woman takes on the role of Batman. We’ll have to wait and see.