Even though the hefty paydays of the 1990s are gone, Variety Magazine reported on Monday that some Hollywood stars are still commanding large salaries.

Daniel Craig led the pack with a payday of 25 million US dollars for the next “James Bond” movie, followed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s 22 million US dollars (1 million of which comes from posting about the film on his social media accounts) for the upcoming “Red Notice,” and then Vin Diesel’s 20 million US dollars for last year’s “The Fate of the Furious.” 

But now that China is ruling as box office king, will stars in the Middle Kingdom see big paydays?  

As it stands, China’s box office leaders are earning paydays that are not as big as their Hollywood counterparts.

According to a list on Chinese WeChat, from the social media account Yiqipaidianying, which focuses on film industry news, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau top the list of Chinese film stars earning big bucks.  

Chan was ranked number one on the list with an average of 80 million yuan (about 12.3 million US dollars) per film. He is shattering box office earnings over the last few years, with movies like “Skip Trace” (133 million US dollars in 2016), “Kung Fu Yoga” (254 million US dollars in 2017), and “The Foreigner” (145 million US dollars) this year.  According to movie business website The-Numbers.com, his overall global box office earnings are 2.6 billion US dollars, making his payday money well spent.

 A Chinese entertainment industry insider that CGTN Digital spoke with said that talent is key in China’s industry. Declining to be named, he told us that the “industry is all talent driven… If you can get XX talent … You can get XX money so you can do a big project plus marketing and you can usually make your money.”

While the James Bond film franchise is a big box office draw around the world, CGTN Digital decided to examine whether or not Craig’s huge payday is worth the investment.

He's earned 3.7 billion US dollars as a lead actor, which is only slightly ahead of Chan's 2.63 billion US dollars for films that are not always seen outside of China.  We broke down Craig's Bond films by the individual box office to get a clearer picture of why he's become the "25-million-dollar" man.  

In "Spectre" released in 2015, the film cost 245 million US dollars to make and went on to make 880.6 billion worldwide. It cost 200 million US dollars to make 2013's "Skyfall" which earned a whopping 1.1 billion dollars around the world.  With numbers like these, Craig has demonstrated his ability to strike box office gold.

When it comes to female stars on the silver screen, China’s stars outshine their Hollywood counterparts. 

Fan Bingbing is one of the world’s highest paid actresses, taking in at least 17 million US dollars per film for roles in films that screen almost exclusively in China.

The leading female actors on the Variety list are Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence tying for fourth place alongside Seth Rogen and a 15-million-US-dollar payday. 

Although Fan commands a substantial payday, her box office performance is outshone by her Hollywood counterparts.

Fan is mostly featured in supporting roles, six of which has earned her nearly 923 million US dollars at the box office compared to Hathaway’s 2.7-billion-dollar box office draw and Lawrence’s  9.9 million dollars.  However, when it comes to lead ensemble roles Hathaway’s 1 billion US dollar earnings dwarf Lawrence’s box office haul of nearly 258 million dollars and Fan’s 43.3 million dollars.

Chinese movie star salaries have been skyrocketing lately as the country now reigns supreme as box office royalty. With this new leading role, many actors have seen their salaries double from one picture to the next, and some, like martial arts star Jacky Wu, have even enjoyed ten-fold increases for their latest films.

Only a few years ago, it was the rare film that cost more than 3 or 4 million US dollars to make; now some stars are paid more than that to act in films in China.

Industry analysts say because the supply of new, bankable stars has not kept pace with demand, actors and actresses who can successfully open a picture have leveraged their box office value into steady increases in their per-film salary. 

For the most part, actor paydays big or small are proving they are worth every dollar spent in China and Hollywood. But as China's film industry continues to grow, actors in the Middle Kingdom could start to command salaries far surpassing their Hollywood counterparts.  

(With inputs from news agencies)

(Cover photo: Fan Bingbing, Daniel Craig, and Jackie Chan – three of the world's highest paid actors /Reuters)