Zendaya and Tom Holland are one of the most successful couples in Hollywood, and for a while it’s likely that Zendaya was the one worth the most money. She reportedly makes between $8 and $10 million per movie, though she also takes on a lot of passion projects like Challengers and this year's The Drama (one of four movies the actress is starring in on the 2026 movie schedule) that pay her somewhat less. However, Holland has reportedly taken home a huge windfall for Spider-Man: Brand New Day after the movie raked in more than $2.5 billion at the box office over the summer.
A Truly Massive Payday
The two biggest movies of the year so far, box office-wise, are Brand New Day and The Odyssey. Both movies star Zendaya and Holland. It’s quite a feat, but it looks like Holland will have bragging rights at home, as he is reportedly taking home a massive $100 million total payday because the movie crossed the $2 billion mark. According to The Wrap, Holland earned $20 million upfront for his role as the friendly neighborhood crimefighter, but his backend deal will earn him an additional $80 million in bonuses based on the performance of the movie.
The “backend” of movies is where stars like Holland can really crank up their salary. The way they work is by essentially setting bonuses if movies reach certain benchmarks. According to The Wrap’s insider at Sony, Holland’s contract included a provision to pay him the massive amount if that $2 billion was reached. Brand New Day cruised past that mark in just its third week, becoming the second fastest movie ever to hit the milestone, after another Holland movie, Avengers: Endgame, in 2019.
This marks a huge raise for Holland after he made a reported $10 million for Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. I mean, it would mark a huge raise for almost anyone, even the most successful Hollywood stars. It’s also way more than Zendaya has reportedly ever made for one movie. She has earned a ton in her career, enough to satisfy almost anyone, but it’s comparatively peanuts. It’s notoriously difficult to believe what the internet says about celebrity net worths, but Zendaya is supposedly worth in the neighborhood of $40 million according to some sites. That was, before Brand New Day, more than Holland was supposedly worth (which is also hard to pinpoint). That means Holland went way over Zendaya’s number for just this one movie.
Something tells me that the two, who got married earlier this year in a low-key private ceremony, probably aren’t worried about who is worth the most between them. Even if they are, if this report is true, there isn’t much of an argument to be had. Although even if Holland’s bank account is bigger, Zendaya’s 2026 movies will combine for more at the box office, as her fourth movie of the year, Dune Part Three, is sure to crush it as well. Cheers to both of them for the year they are having. It’s pretty damn elite.
