Velociraptors will chase you no matter what, but that did not mean Bryce Dallas Howard was paid the same salary as Chris Pratt when they filmed the Jurassic World trilogy. In a new interview, Howard said she was paid “so much less” than Pratt, adding that the gender pay gap was much wider than previously reported. Howard brought this up with Pratt, who pushed Univeral to get her equal pay on other opportunities tied to the Jurassic Park franchise.
Pratt and Howard were the main stars for all three World movies, beginning with the first in 2015. In 2018, Variety reported that Howard’s salary for the second film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, was $8 million, $2 million less than Pratt’s. However, Howard told Insider the gap was even larger.
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“The reports were so interesting because I was paid so much less than the reports even said, so much less,” Howard said on the eve of Jurassic World Dominion‘s home video release. “When I started negotiating for Jurassic, it was 2014, and it was a different world, and I was at a great disadvantage. And, unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies, and so your deals are set.”
Howard brought up the gap with Pratt, who pushed Universal to give her equal pay when other franchise opportunities came up, like merchandising and theme park rides. “What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn’t been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me: ‘You guys don’t even have to do anything. I’m gonna do all the negotiating. We’re gonna be paid the same, and you don’t have to think about this, Bryce,’” Howard recalled. This means Howard has been paid more for appearing in video games and other Jurassic products than making the movies themselves, she said.
The Hollywood gender pay gap has become a much more public issue in recent years, and it is still an issue. Last month, Variety published a new list of star salaries, revealing that Tom Cruise could make as much as $100 million from Top Gun: Maverick, while Will Smith will make $35 million for his upcoming movie Emancipation. Margot Robbie is the highest-paid female performer on the list, earning $12.5 million for Barbie, the same as her male co-star Ryan Gosling.
In 2017, Natalie Portman revealed that Ashton Kutcher was paid three times more than she was to make No Strings Attached in 2011. In 2018, it was revealed that Michelle Williams was paid just $80 per day for the 10 days needed for All the Money in the World reshoots, but Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million in total. Wahlberg responded to the controversy by donating the entire paycheck to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. Wahlberg’s agency, WME, also donated $500,000.
