Cast of THE HANGOVER officially signs on for sequel

THE HANGOVER 2 has been a sure thing for a very long time now, but technically the cast wasn’t. When the first film was made, there was no expectation that it would reach the ridiculous success it ultimately did, so franchise deals for the main cast weren’t established. Of course, no one doubted they would come back for the second film, and now it is a sure thing as the cast have officially signed deals.

The most interesting thing about all this is exactly how much bank these guys are going to be bringing in. For the first film, the main cast were paid $300,000, plus a $1 million bonus after the film was a hit. For the sequel though, each will be making in “the vicinity of $5 million against 4% of first dollar gross.” That is a fancy pay upgrade, especially if the film goes on to make as much van-dough as the original did.

Even fancier is the deal that was given to director Todd Phillips. For the first film, he gave up his up front fee and instead took 15% of the gross as a way to convince Warner Bros to go with his cast. Warners wasn’t behind the cast Phillips wanted, and had no expectation of THE HANGOVER blowing up, so in most cases this would have been a pay-cut. Funny how that turned out though. Phillips upgrade went from 15% of the gross, to $10 million against 10% gross.

WB is putting a lot of money into this flick, and these deals alone almost make up the budget of the first film. Not to mention that they are putting over 20% of the gross in these deals, so it’s quite obvious that the second film will be budgeted much higher than the original. Then again, it will most likely be a surefire hit, or at least have a ridiculous opening weekend.

Are you guys still excited about THE HANGOVER 2? Do you think they will be able to recapture the magic of the first film?

Source: Deadline, via Cinemablend