Cate Blanchett Was Barely Paid for ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Cast Salaries Explained

The legacy of the beloved films, which cemented actors like Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen as Hollywood royalty, has also been somewhat tarnished by financial legal disputes over the years.

Rob Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider that the actors’ salaries were likely relatively low because the film was a risk for the studio and had a large cast. New Line Cinema spent $281 million to make the trilogy, according to Box Office Mojo. That’s the equivalent of $514 million today.

“For them to greenlight three Lord of the Rings movies was a huge gamble and basically all the money was going into the movies. I can also understand that it wouldn’t necessarily have had huge paydays for the actors since it’s an ensemble. movie,” he said.

Here’s what we know about who was paid what for The Lord of the Rings.