Is Mark Wahlberg only in Transformers 4+5 to pad his box office numbers?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Box Office
Denny_the_Dinosaur — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 05:00 PM)
I still find it strange that an established star still at his peak would join a franchise where the selling point is CGI robots and not any of the actors.
At least with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson joining the Fast and Furious franchise, he helped boost the box office of the series. Whereas Wahlberg's presence in the Transformers series likely doesn't have an effect on the box office.
So I have a theory he only did these films so he can tell movie execs he starred in two 'billion' dollar films at the box office (and of course, the paycheck doesn't hurt).
Thoughts?
I already have enough weird friends as it is. -
L0GAN5 — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 05:16 PM)
I don't know, he's got a quite a patchy box-office record. A few hits, no bad flops, but mostly modest successes and quite a few underperformers. Transformers doesn't really need a draw but it needs a proper lead to carry the film, and Wahlberg struggles to sell films but can easily carry them so if he's in the market for a regular franchise role then Transformers is probably a good fit.
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TrevorAclea — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 05:44 PM)
It's possible that he's aware he really, really needs to improve his overseas visibility and numbers now his films are becoming ridiculously expensive and can no longer break even on their domestic grosses (outside of the two Teds and Transformers, his only leading role to gross over $100m OS was Planet of the Apes). Jumping into a ready made successful franchise that does most of its business overseas is a strong step in that direction even though it's doubtful they sold a single ticket on his name alone.
"Security - release the badgers." -
cornnetto — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 05:49 PM)
That:
Wahlberg received $15M for Transformers, but has options in place for 2 sequels, at $19M and $20M respectively. Sounds like maybe this film and the first optional picture were averaged to come up with the $17M. Sounds like there may have been a $1M hold, but the assumption is that it was applicable.
Because of all the players (Hasbro, Lorenzo, Bay, Spielberg, etc) and a 25 point first dollar cap, Wahlberg received 4%GP starting at $225M ww AGR, then escalated to 5% @ $425M ww AGR, 6% @ $725M ww AGR, and 7.5% @ $825M ww AGR.
Seem more than enough of a reason, but not only he is paid a fortune and has the chance to work with Bay, apparently they are in sync and impressive together on a set (and made a movie outside the Transformer franchise together, the excellent pain and gain).
Whereas Wahlberg's presence in the Transformers series likely doesn't have an effect on the box office.
I guess the studio disagree with that, why pay someone that much (way over 20 million) if it does not help the box office ? -
Denny_the_Dinosaur — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 06:08 PM)
Seem more than enough of a reason, but not only he is paid a fortune and has the chance to work with Bay, apparently they are in sync and impressive together on a set (and made a movie outside the Transformer franchise together, the excellent pain and gain).
Yes, I can imagine the two of them enjoying working with each other.
I guess the studio disagree with that, why pay someone that much (way over 20 million) if it does not help the box office ?
Well, the 4th Transformers film made the least out of the series domestically and more worldwide (which would have always been a given because of China). But since Wahlberg is not really a draw overseas, can we really attribute its success to him though?
I also think the studio paid him that much money because he's a fairly big star who can command that type of salary. But I personally think if you replaced him with let's say, Jon Hamm, I doubt it would have made a difference. I can't imagine his presence alone would get people to see Age of Extinction or The Last Knight who otherwise wouldn't see a Transformers movie.
I already have enough weird friends as it is. -
TrevorAclea — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 06:13 PM)
I think from the studio's point of view, they're aware he's worth nothing overseas but they are trying to turn around the series decline Stateside: as impressive as those Chinese grosses are, with only 25% coming back to the studio - and the money split with DreamWorks - casting a star with a US-centric audience (and one who isn't as obnoxiously self-destructive as the previous lead, or at least when he's not claiming he could have stopped 9/11 singlehanded) probably seemed a good way to improve their bottom line. It didn't pay off, but the trouble is that with the films grossing a billion each time out of the gate, it's pretty difficult not to end up paying big money to whoever headlines them.
"Security - release the badgers." -
McQueen1980 — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 06:42 PM)
nonsense trevor know it all aclea which is dublin ireland clearly
they cast mark wahlberg in the last transformers movie becoz of the huge success of Ted in the States and overseas where it made even more money.
they needed a likeable centric actor amongst the robots just like a likeable centric actor to play off a puppet called ted
it wasnt a good movie(transformers 2014) but it made big money and wahlberg is back again for a second helping -
SophieSlut — 9 years ago(September 29, 2016 12:28 AM)
The characters and actors have always been the centerpoint of the F&F series (Tokyo Drift aside). Probably a better connection would be Jurassic Park.
He probably does it for the money and to get himself out their to a wider audience. Think of how popular Transformers is in China. What actor wouldn't want to have the opportunity to maybe gain a Chinese following?
It will at least get your name into more people's mouths. Like, Shia LeBuff was never a draw, but he at least became pretty well known after doing the Transformers movies. Same as Megan Fox.
I don't think anyone cares about random stats like 2 billion dollar movies other than box office people like us. -
cornnetto — 9 years ago(September 29, 2016 11:31 AM)
I don't think anyone cares about random stats like 2 billion dollar movies other than box office people like us.
This is probably true, we refer to an actor box office historic because you don't have any other metric, to grossly evaluate how well known they are and so on.
But studio exec have constantly updated audience pool of most market about that, and know close enough how well known and liked an actor is, they don't need to guesstimate stuff like that or use rule of thumb like the number of billion dollar movies.
A large number of people in the Lords of the rings/Hobbit franchise or Potter's has those kind of giant track record of long list of multiple over 800 million WW movies, they cannot greenlight the movie they want with that. -
Fusion72 — 9 years ago(October 09, 2016 02:06 PM)
Maybe he wants to self-fund his return to music?
I one hundred percent agree with your theory; he's boosting his box-office total to get more of those high-end, big box-office roles. After all, when was the last time Wahlberg was in a tentpole movie (with exception to the recent Transformers, of course)? -
TheBayHarborButcher — 9 years ago(October 09, 2016 05:34 PM)
I think he's mainly apart of Transformers for the pay check. He also supposedly became good friends with Michael Bay while shooting Pain and Gain. I think he was the main person who convinced Wahlberg to direct T4. I also think that Wahlberg is the reason why Bay chose to return to direct T5. Padding his box office numbers probably plays a role in his reasons for joining the franchise too.
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jakesully2016-229-999272 — 9 years ago(October 12, 2016 01:36 PM)
Haven't read the entire thread/other responses but Marky Mark has had a great working relationship with Bay even before filming Transformers for him. They did Pain & Gain together in 2013 (which was surprisingly entertaining).