IRON MAN 2!! How Much Is A Golden Globe Winning, Oscar Nominated Actor Worth To Marvel?? Will Another Actor Drop Out??

Merrick here...
This subject has always fascinated me: What's an actor/performer actually worth? Is it unreasonable to pay actors millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to appear in a film or TV show? Are actors/performers hideously overpaid already? At face value, I can see that 'ACTOR X' making 15 million for a movie seems indulgent and OTT in a reality where tens of thousands of jobs are lost (in The Sates alone) every week. On the other hand, I also see it as simple, understandable business: if paying 'ACTOR X' 15 million dollars brings in $25 million in ticket sales - whether by virtue of the actor's presence, or the visibility he/she brings to a project - then high salaries make sense in an investment/return sorta way. What do you guys think? PLEASE NOTE: the numbers thrown around above do not relate, in any way, to the following report. A few weeks back we learned that Samuel L. Jackson might not be reprising his Nick Fury role in IRON MAN 2 because Marvel couldn't/won't cough up the money to bag him. More details on this HERE. Around the same time, we learned that Mickey Rourke was also up for a significant role in IRON MAN 2 (details HERE). Now comes word that Marvel seems to be lowballing Rourke as well.

Then there is comeback kid Mickey Rourke, who is poised to follow his Golden Globe-winning performance in "The Wrestler" with an offer to play the main villain in "Iron Man 2" — but at a lowball opening offer of $250,000 from Marvel; Marvel’s tactics have already prompted Samuel L. Jackson to swear off playing Nick Fury because of a similarly low offer.

...says THIS WRITE-UP in Variety. Yeouch! Now I'm no agent, but common sense dictates this isn't the best time to extend lackluster offers to someone who just won a Best Actor Golden Globe for THE WRESTLER & is Oscar nominated for the same. What gives? So, does this mean we won't be seeing Mickey in IRON MAN 2 after all? Are Marvel's "money problems" really this severe? Are they just being cheap asses? Or, both? Above all, is Marvel running the risk of de-coolifying their projects with all of these funky goings ons? Stay tuned...