The money train
Val Kilmer’s been in about three big movies (The Doors, Willow, and Batman Forever) and failed in an attempt at his own superhero franchise (The Saint).
What do you think his net worth is?
The Journal today ($) has a squib about Kilmer’s sticking his New Mexico ranch up for sale. (Recap from the NM Independent here.)
Asking price? $30 million.
Kilmer seems to call New Mexico home; he’s even been considering a run for the governorship. So maybe he’s sunk all of his earnings over the past twenty years into it. Still, based on his oeuvre, you wouldn’t think he’d have assets like that.
Like Lenny Kravitz, he’s a reminder that even second-tier stars are making enormous amounts of money.
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Bill, that was my thought exactly- I couldn’t even think of a movie he was in that turned a $30M Profit.
A quick peek at IMDB shows that Kilmer made $7 mil for Batman Forever, $6 mil for The Saint, and $9 mil for At First Sight. Consider that he starred in, or was a supporting actor in better than two dozen movies since Willow in 1988, and it’s clear that Val had the opportunity to pull in some major cheddar through the years.
Look at the relative box office of his films, though, and he seemed to be a pretty safe bet even at $6-$8 million, at least during the ’90s. Although neither Willow ($62 mil worldwide B.O./$35 mil budget) or The Doors ($40 mil worldwide B.O./$38 mil budget) would qualify as hits, The Saint ($169 mil worldwide B.O./$70 mil budget) and Batman Forever ($336 mil worldwide B.O./$100 mil budget) were both moderately successful. He co-starred in Heat with DeNiro and Pacino, and probably made a few million there while the movie did $174 mil worldwide on a reasonable $60 mil budget.
Kilmer’s star seems to have peaked with 1999’s At First Sight, though, as his $9 mil salary ate up a large chunk of the movie’s $60 mil budget, and it only did $22 mil box office stateside and pennies, relatively, worldwide. Since ‘99 Kilmer’s roles have dwindled to mostly indie films and TV slumming.
Still, that’s all crazy money for what could be considered, at best, a second-rate talent with a brief high-profile career. Of course, one has to wonder what kind of mortgage Kilmer has been carrying on that $30 million ranch….
it’s all that money (not really) from “spartan,” which he was quite good in.
I guess the forever bounce of Kilmer’s role in Top Gun doesn’t count.