That's Not Funny, Jim Carrey

"I can make THIS much money!!!!"

Now see, Jim Carrey's a legend, so I"m not going to get in his face about anything, but what he just did was pretty dumb. Jim Carrey signed on to star in the coming-of-age comedy 'Yes Man', where he'll play a man enthralled by the idea that his life can make a turn-around if he just says yes to anything and everything that comes his way in life. Hilarity ensues - i'm sure, really. But what might not be as hilarious is his salary once the film comes out.

In an unprecedented move, Carrey signed on with no upfront salary, and no back-end gross benefits. What this means is, generally, when big stars sign onto movies nowadays, they take a smaller paycheck than they normally would upfront, (say - a $20 million actor like Denzel Washington, might take $5 million), in exchange for a percentage of the overall gross of the film. This is a smarter tactic for actors, because they know they bring in the money at the turnstyles. However, Jim Carrey by-passed this completely by agreeing to get no upfront money or gross-participation, in exchange for 36.2% of the PROFITS of the film. Now, at first glance this seems highly lucrative. Jim Carrey comedies have a pretty high success rate at the box office, and without a huge payout for the star, the budget could be kept relatively tame. But studios shell out a shitload of money on marketing, distribution, prints, etc. on TOP of just the films budget.

This puts Carrey in a vulnerable position. Hypothetically, say the movie costs $30 million to make (and thats being stingy). Add on an additional $50-100 million in marketing worldwide (depending on how generous the studio wants to be in terms of awareness, and in terms of screwing Carrey over), plus anywhere from $15-50 million in prints, distribution, DVD marketing etc. That means the movie has to recoup all of this cash, THEN start MAKING its money in order for Carrey just to grab a little more than a third of that share.

By all means, Carrey's a star talent, and a seasoned celebrity. He knows this genre and knows how to sell it. But its one helluva risk to go into a full-on production, go through months of exhausting shooting, to potentially come up with nothing, especially when you could have strong-holded $5 million...even $2 million upfront, for a smaller percentage take. At this point, its anyone's guess because the movie hasn't even been fucking made yet. In any case, let's hope it turns out fucking incredible.

I can see Britney Spears reading this with lightbulbs flashing off in her head. "Oh ma god, Jim Carrey is brillllient! I should give up ma recordin contract and take a pie slice o ma sales!" Go get 'em girl.