Bruce Willis Made Genius $100M Business Gamble When 1999 Movie No One Thought Would Make it Cratered Box Office With $672M Earnings
Few performers in the history of the entertainment industry have had the kind of career that Bruce Willis has. He is a renowned and accomplished actor of his generation. He will no longer be able to make movies due to his aphasia diagnosis, but thanks to his career earnings and net worth, he can certainly live his retirement with ease.
The legendary performer, Bruce Willis started in theater before breaking out in the 1980s. He made his acting debut in the 1980s with an uncredited role in The First Deadly Sin. Because of his role in Moonlighting, the actor gained widespread recognition. A Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe were among the awards for which Willis was nominated for his performance.
Being a huge success can earn you huge salaries, such as the $100 million payday from starring in The Sixth Sense. He has achieved a remarkable feat in his career because of this movie, and the genius of how he did it, is beyond comprehension.
How, then, did Bruce Willis come to earn himself such a sizable salary? Let’s take a closer look!
What Was Bruce Willis’ Salary For The Sixth Sense?
In the 1999 American thriller The Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis portrayed a child psychologist whose patient claimed to be able to see and communicate with the dead. M. Night Shyamalan served as the director of the film.
The Live Free or Die Hard actor received a $14 million fee to play the lead in the movie. But this role also netted him an astounding $100 million, with the remaining $86 million coming from a deal that gave him a share of the profits. According to Box Office Mojo, this movie made the Unbreakable star a millionaire as well as a superstar.
This was noted as the highest fee ever paid to a single actor for a film role. It was Willis’ biggest box office success and the second highest-grossing film of the year.
The movie’s box office earnings indicated that it was not only a smash success, but that the 68-year-old actor would also have made a lot of money out of it.
The Sixth Sense Ruled the Box Office
Now that Bruce Willis had received a sizable advance payment for The Sixth Sense, it was time for the movie to open in theaters and start making money. Making a movie always carries significant risk, but the studio scored a home run with this one.
A relatively small budget of $40 million was used to produce The Sixth Sense. It also means that a sizable portion of the movie’s budget was consumed by Willis’ salary for the role. However, the studio was still able to pull it off and release the movie on schedule in August 1999.
Following its release, the movie was able to earn an astounding $293 million in the US and $379 million in other markets, totaling $672 million.
Nobody could have predicted such an astounding amount, and many even believed The Sixth Sense to be one of the most memorable films of the entire decade.
This movie was also a hit for everyone involved, and thus, it proved to be terrific for everyone’s careers.
Also read: Bruce Willis’ Wife Emma Heming Seeks Help From A Specialist To Battle His Life Threatening Condition
Source- The Things; Cheat Sheet
