He's just brought in $306,710,574 (taken from Box Office Mojo) for Fox starring in The Wolverine, and has already started shooting X-Men: Days of Future Past, but Australian musical beefcake Hugh Jackman has reportedly been offered a $100 Million to carry on playing Wolvie well into the future.
Huge Actorman has been playing the claw wielding immortal mutant since 2000's 'X-Men', and has since entered the record books by reprising the role a further 6 times (including the upcoming Days of Future Past). Having done a Wolverine movie every 2 years for almost a decade and a half, you might think he'd be about ready to turn in the bouffant and beard, but Fox are trying to dissuade that action by offering a payday so handsome it's starting to resemble Ryan Gosling made of cash.
The offer is $100 million for four more movies. Movies in which he will star as Wolverine, rather than movies in which he will appear as Wolverine, like he did for 20 odd seconds in X-Men: First Class. The Wolverine is doing pretty well, landing the Number One spot on the American charts and holding it until Smurfs 2 showed up, but it has yet to make back it's $120 Million budget in the states (the $306,710,574 is Worldwide box office) and is currently the lowest grossing film in the X-Men franchise. Behind 'Last Stand' and 'Wolverine Origins'!
Huge hasn't made his decision yet, and at 44 he might be thinking about when this is all going to end. If he's locked in to a 4 picture deal then Jackman is gonna be stuck playing a rippling tough-nut into his mid-50's. Robert Downey Jr already pulled the trigger on his role as Iron Man due to age, and all his fight scenes are done fully clothed in metal armour.
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| Taking on some fish |
If he doesn't take the deal then Fox are landed with having to recast, and it was so hard to find a suitable Wolverine the first time around and that was when we'd never seen one before. With 7 movies under his belt, Huge Jacked-man is everyone's Wolverine, so finding anyone to replace him is gonna very difficult.
Considering that Days of Future Past is going to tie in both the Bryan Singer movies and the newer Matthew Vaughn universe, having to wheel in some new guy and say "this is Logan" probably isn't that appealing an idea. Hence the money canon.
Words by Gazz Wood
Gazz Wood is a writer from The Northern Film School at Leeds Met University. As well as writing for Wireless he can also be heard on the monthly podcast Possibly of Interest with TV Producer Howard Cohen and special guests from the world of British TV and Cinema, plus his own weekly show Gazz Wood Has A Podcast. He can also be followed on Twitter @GazzPH90
