Aurora Starchild
Meryl Streep is by far one of the best actresses to ever grace our TV screens. She’s also been one of the highest paid, thanks to her popularity. In 2018, Streep was paid an astronomical $3 million for 5 minutes of film time in the Mamma Mia! sequel.
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Meryl Streep Doesn’t Usually Do Sequels, But Mamma Mia! Was An Exception
Because she’s been so successful and sets the bar high for both her and the projects she’s in, Meryl Streep doesn’t like to do sequels. But the first Mamma Mia! movie was a smash hit. Based on the musical of the same name, the ABBA song-filled film made over $611 million at the box office when it came out in 2008. That’s over $842 million by today’s standards. So, although she didn’t anticipate making a sequel, producer Judy Craymer was eventually set on a second movie.
Craymer told Indie Wire that Streep is “the most lauded actress and the most extraordinary actress in the world so she doesn’t do sequels, so to speak.” She added, “I think it was like, what would she be doing in there? And it had to be something really interesting.”
The sequel, Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again mostly takes place before the first Mamma Mia! story. It tells the story of Donna, Streep’s character, at a younger age. So, Donna is played by actress Lily James for much of the movie. Streep comes in for two songs only.
“She gave 295% of her energy on the last film and I don’t think she wanted to be running around cliff tops singing a bunch of ABBA songs,” Craymer told Indie Wire. “I think she probably felt she’d sung the best ones already.”
But, as they say, money talks. Meryl Streep was brought in to sing two measly songs. In return, she made $3 million. It turns out, she does do sequels after all….
Streep Is Worth a Staggering $160 Million
While Meryl Streep didn’t make the top 10 highest-paid actresses in 2022, she held a spot on the list for many years. Streep was the 5th highest paid actress in 2020, earning $24 million from her films like Let Them All Talk and The Prom. Her net worth is an estimated $160 million.
For Streep, being lowballed is insulting. And it makes sense because her presence offers considerable star power as well as pure talent. She once told Time that she felt “insulted” at the salary initially offered to her for The Devil Wears Prada.
“The offer was to my mind slightly, if not insulting, not perhaps reflective of my actual value to the project,” she said. However, she did negotiate a better salary.
“There was my ‘goodbye moment,’ and then they doubled the offer,” she said. “I had just learned, at a very late date, how to deal on my own behalf.”
The Devil Wears Prada also scored her another Oscar nomination and the movie itself made $300 million at the box office.
Streep Makes Millions Even From “Flops”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Streep made $5 million from Ricki and the Flash? even thought that film was a “flop.”
And while TV shows generally pay actors an average of about $98,000 per episode, topping at about $500,000, Streep may be an exception. A few years ago, there was talk about a TV adaptation of Nathan Hill’s THE NIX. It’s unclear if or when that will be completed, but Streep was supposed to produce and star in the show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Streep was asking for $825,000 per episode.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Streep gets about $20 million per movie these days. That’s up from about $4 million per movie in the 80s. When she accepted lower salaries, it was usually because she also would receive backend deals.
When you consider that most movies are about 90 minutes, the $3 million salary for 5 minutes, or 2 songs, in Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again is pretty decent. Most of us can only dream of such an offer.
She’s Won More Awards Than We Can Keep Track Of
Meryl Streep has been in 96 films and TV shows since 1976, many of which feature her impeccable singing voice. Streep has won 3 Oscars and 176 other awards out of 375 nominations — altogether a staggeringly impressive history.
Streep won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1982 role in the Holocaust film, Sophie’s Choice. She’s won 3 Primetime Emmy Awards, 8 Golden Globes, a Cecille B. DeMille Award, and 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
She also has an impressive discography. Streep has been on 8 albums, including soundtracks and the hit radio show Prairie Home Companion. For her music, she’s received 6 Grammy Award nominations.
