Rumors about the salaries of each Wicked cast member have gone viral on social media.
The supposed list surprised fans due to the huge pay gap between the lead stars, Cynthia Erivo, 37, who plays Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande, 31, who plays Glinda, the good witch
While the numbers have not been confirmed and it is not clear who shared the list first, many people are commenting on the reports and sharing their opinions.
In the alleged salary report, the musical film’s lead star, Cynthia, was paid $1 million, while supporting actress Ariana earns more than ten times the same amount.
The pop sensation will reportedly be paid $15 million for her role in the musical film adaptation, which broke records for opening weekend numbers for any Broadway film.
Meanwhile, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, who play Madame Morrible and the Wizard, respectively, will earn $2 million each.
Rumors about the salaries of each Wicked cast member have gone viral on social media, shocking fans with a huge pay gap between lead stars Ariana Grande, 31, and Cynthia Erivo, 37.
As for the rest of the main cast members, the list alleged that Jonathan Bailey, also known for playing Prince Fiyero, would be earning just under half a million.
His salary is rumored to be $450,000, while Ethan Slater, who plays Boq and met his now-girlfriend Grande while working on the film, reportedly earns $350,000.
Marissa Bode and Bowen Yang’s reported salaries are $250,000 each, according to the rumored list.
In response to the rumored leaked list, fans are sharing their thoughts and there seems to be a general consensus in reaction to the rumored list.
One particular tweet about X garnered more than 11 million views and almost 120,000 likes.
The tweet read: “Ariana getting paid over $10 million more than Cynthia doesn’t sit well with me…”
“It doesn’t make sense,” another commenter wrote.
Another person called the rumored pay gap “diabolical.” Someone else considered it “unfair.”
However, there were those who defended the rumored gap by saying that Ariana was objectively the more famous star, writing: “Actors’ salaries are not based on talent but on the people who will come to see the movie because of them.”
In response, an X user attempted to clear up the allegations with another rumored report. “So to clarify this, Ariana supposedly split her 15 million with Cynthia so that Cynthia would receive more of her 2 million pay (sic),” the X user tweeted.
While the numbers have not been confirmed and it is not clear who shared the list first, many people are commenting on the reports and sharing their opinions; in the movie photo
In the alleged salary report, the musical film’s lead star, Cynthia, was paid $1 million, while supporting actress Ariana earns more than ten times the same amount; in the movie photo
Meanwhile, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, who play Madame Morrible and the Wizard, respectively, earn $2 million each; Pictured left to right: Jeff, Jonathan Bailey, Cynthia, Ariana and Michelle in London.
As for the rest of the main cast members, the list alleged that Jonathan Bailey, also known for playing Prince Fiyero, reportedly earns just under half a million; Pictured from left to right: Ethan Slater, Jeff, Marissa Bode, Michelle, Cynthia, Ariana, Jonathan and Bronwyn James in Los Angeles.
In response to the alleged leaked list, fans share their surprise. One particular tweet about X has garnered over 11 million views and almost 120,000 likes.
“It doesn’t make sense,” another commenter wrote.
Another person described the alleged wage gap as “diabolical”
Someone else called it “unfair”
However, there were those who defended the rumored gap by saying that Ariana was objectively the more famous star.
There were also a large number of Wicked fans who shared the opinion that Grande was already expected to earn more than Erivo as she would attract more viewers with her huge fan base.
In response, an X user attempted to clear up the allegations with another rumored report.
“Plus, Jon is known for rewarding his actors and actresses if a movie does well,” they wrote, referring to director Jon M. Chu. “Therefore, it is possible that both of them will receive an extra payment depending on how big Wicked becomes.”
Meanwhile, there were also a large number of Wicked fans who shared the opinion that Grande was already expected to earn more than Erivo as she would attract more viewers with her huge fan base.
“They always kill me when they talk about this topic,” tweeted another X user. ‘Why the hell would they get the same thing??? They don’t bring the same number of people to the theater…’
The rumored salary figures come after it was revealed that Wicked grossed around $114 million at the US box office in its first weekend of release, which is the biggest debut for a musical adaptation in history.
Budget-wise, Wicked peaked at around $300 million and each of the two parts has an average budget of $150 million, according to a report from Variety.