Jennifer Lawrence shot to fame with the Hunger Games movies.
Jennifer Lawrence shot to fame with the Hunger Games movies.
Jennifer Lawrence to earn double the fee of leading man Chris Pratt in her next film.
Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence is bridging the Hollywood pay gap by earning double what her male co-star Chris Pratt will take in her next movie.
Lawrence spoke out against gender inequality after it emerged she earned less than her male counterparts in the Oscar-nominated hit American Hustle.
But it's emerged she'll join an elite group of movie-stars that can command a US$20 million ($27 million) fee for her next movie, Passengers - double what Guardians of the Galaxy leading man Chris Pratt will reportedly receive.
Five years ago, Lawrence earned just US$3000 a week for her breakthrough role in Winter's Bone, a low-budget drama about a struggling teenager with a criminal father. But she's been catapulted to success with some high-profile performances in box-office smash hits that have turned her into Hollywood's darling, popular with audiences and critics alike.
She was reportedly paid just US$1 million for her role as Katniss Everdeen in the original Hunger Games movie, which grossed more than US$400 million.
But she got US$10 million for the sequel, Catching Fire, and US$15 million for the two-part finale, Mockingjay, the second of which is due to open in November.
She was thrust to the forefront of the equal pay debate after leaked emails between Sony executives revealed that she and Amy Adams, the female leads in American Hustle, got less than their male co-stars.
The women got 7 per cent in profit shares while director David O Russell and the three male leads, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner, got 9 per cent.
The news sparked fury among many prominent actresses, including Charlize Theron, who then demanded she be paid an equal amount to co-star Chris Hemsworth in their next film Snow White and the Huntsman.
'If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way,' Theron told Elle magazine.
Amy Adams got 7 per cent of American Hustle profits.
But now Lawrence has got the perfect revenge, negotiating the US$20 million fee for Passengers, a space travel romance, also with Sony.
It's a large proportion of a film that the studio's budgeted between US$80 million and US$95 million for, in which she plays an interstellar traveller, awoken early from deep sleep long before she is due to arrive at a new planet.
But in the wake of the stolen email scandal, Sony reportedly tried to renegotiate the deal thanks to questions over profitability because of limited scope for sequels.
But she reportedly threatened to walk out unless the fee was met, and director Morten Tyldum allegedly said he would go with her. Her management now says the deal is watertight.
Lawrence is now undoubtedly a Hollywood A-lister, joining the elite and dwindling group of actors who can command a US$20 million fee, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr and Matt Damon.
She received critical acclaim for her role alongside Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, a touching story of two people who find romance while struggling with mental health issues. She won the Best Actress Oscar for the role.
It shows the versatility of the star, whose The Hunger Games trilogy is popular with teens.
Chris Pratt, her co-star in Passengers, is an up-and-coming actor whose lead in Guardians of the Galaxy quickly made him hot Hollywood property.
