62. Courteney Cox
Project: Friends
Proposed Salary: $1 million per episode for seasons nine and ten*
Outcome: Agreed Friends is one of the most successful sitcoms in television history. When Friends first premiered, Courteney Cox and her co-stars were paid a pittance (about $21,500 per episode), but that changed as the show grew in popularity. By the third season, she and her co-stars had started negotiating as a group to ensure that they were all paid equally. For the third season, they agreed to a pay of $75,000 per episode, and for seasons nine and ten, they agreed to a salary of $1 million per episode. This set the standard for TV performers and actresses, and the $1 million per episode salary is still remembered in television history.
62. Courteney Cox
63. Angelina Jolie
Project: Beowulf
Proposed Salary: $8 million*
Outcome: Agreed
Angelina Jolie is one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses. Though she is now focusing more on her family and advocacy, she still acts on occasion and earns a cool $20 million for each appearance on the big screen.
That wasn’t the case with Beowulf, as Jolie took a pay cut of $12 million to make the film, instead receiving a $8 million cheque. In the 2007 picture, Jolie reprised her role as Grendel’s mother, a horrific, terrible creature hell-bent on vengeance against the warrior (played by Ray Winstone). The picture grossed $195 million at the box office worldwide.
63. Angelina Jolie
