Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is now a record-breaker at the worldwide box office, and this means that Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, who is already one of the wealthiest actors by net worth, will see more dollars flowing into his bank account over the next few months.
We will come to the blockbuster level that Deadpool & Wolverine touched in its first weekend in a while. But the point to note is that Reynolds doesn’t have to rely entirely on the performance of his movies for his wealth to grow. He is one of the rare few names in Hollywood history who has succeeded in earning millions of dollars from a diverse range of businesses.
Reynolds is known for his outstanding wit, which he often displays on social media and in his interactions with fans, the press and fellow actors. He was at his characteristic best even during the promotions of Deadpool & Wolverine, in which he reprised his role as the wisecracking Marvel superhero Deadpool alongside Hugh Jackman who returned as the X-Men character Wolverine after seven years. The film marks the actors’ first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as all of their previous appearances as Marvel superheroes were in movies outside of the mega franchise.
On the personal front, Reynolds has been married to actor Blake Lively since 2012. The couple have four children. Despite their fame and fortune, they maintain a low profile as far as their private life goes. Though they have a home in Los Angeles, they live in New York instead of the West Coast where most celebrities reside. In New York, they own a USD 6 million estate in Westchester County.
Ryan Reynolds’ career and net worth overview
Ryan Reynolds started his acting career when he was still in high school. His first role was that of a lead — Billy Simpson in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993). The show was aired in the US under the title Fifteen. By the end of the show, he made his big screen debut with the Canadian film Ordinary Magic (1993).
After appearances in TV shows and TV films such as The Odyssey (1993), The X-Files (1996), In Cold Blood (1996), and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), he landed the role of Michael “Berg” Bergen in Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2002) for the entirety of the show’s four-season run.
From 2002 to 2008, he appeared in several movies, including National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002), The In-Laws (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), The Amityville Horror (2005), Smokin’ Aces (2006), Definitely, Maybe (2008). Though the movies didn’t turn him into a major star, they helped Reynolds gain recognition.
How Deadpool changed Ryan Reynolds’ career
Things changed for Ryan Reynolds when he starred in the Marvel movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). His character was a katana-wielding mercenary named Wade Wilson, the alter ego of Deadpool. In the film, however, his character becomes Weapon XI — an adversary of Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. But the Wade Wilson angle is also why X-Men Origins: Wolverine is considered Reynolds’ first appearance as Deadpool.
Two years later, in 2011, Reynolds took on the mantle of DC superhero Green Lantern in the film of the same name. Though expectations were high during its release, the film failed to make a mark with both fans and critics.
Nevertheless, Reynolds moved on with animated movies such as The Croods (2013) and Turbo (2013) as well as live-action movies like The Captive (2014) and Woman in Gold (2015).
Then happened Deadpool (2016) and Reynolds became a megastar. The film was a massive commercial and critical success. Reynolds’ terrific performance established him as a bankable superstar and redefined his image as a celebrity. With Deadpool, Reynolds became the only actor to have played the lead role in both DC and Marvel movies. Deadpool 2 (2018) was an even bigger success, and there has been no looking back for Reynolds since.
Since the first Deadpool movie, Reynolds has played the lead or co-lead in a string of big-budget movies, including The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017), 6 Underground (2016), Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021), Free Guy (2021), Red Notice (2021), The Adam Project (2022) and Spirited (2022). He has also lent his voice to acclaimed animated movies such as Detective Pikachu (2019), The Croods: A New Age (2020) and IF (2024) — the last of which is one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024.
Highest-grossing movies of Ryan Reynolds
According to the data on box office revenue tracker The Numbers, eight movies in which Ryan Reynolds has credited appearances or has lent his voice earned over USD 250 million at the worldwide box office. The highest-grosser among them so far is Deadpool 2.
Deadpool 2 (2018) — USD 786,362,370
Deadpool (2016) — USD 781,947,691
The Croods (2013) — USD 573,068,425
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) — USD 444,573,565
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019) — USD 428,919,826
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) — USD 374,825,760
Free Guy (2021) — USD 323,473,792
The Proposal (2009) — USD 314,709,717
Turbo (2013) — USD 286,896,578
What is Ryan Reynolds’ net worth?
Ryan Reynolds has a net worth of USD 350 million in 2024, according to celebrity wealth tracker Celebrity Net Worth.
Much of this fortune comes from Reynolds’ profitable investments, which have led to him making windfall gains of several millions of dollars in some deals.
In that way, Reynolds would remind many of Cary Grant, one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema. Grant was known for his business interests which served him very well in his later years.
Earnings from movies and future prospects
The initial millions that Ryan Reynolds earned certainly came from his movies, especially since the success of Deadpool (2016). The film was made on a budget of only USD 58 million and ended up making more than 10 times. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Reynolds’ base pay for Deadpool was only USD 2 million — an indication of his salary until that point.
But he had a backend clause, which allowed him to take a share in revenue. Eventually, Reynolds ended up earning around USD 22 million to become one of the 15th highest-paid actors on Forbes’ list in 2017.
Estimates suggest that he has since been paid a salary of around USD 20 million per film. According to Forbes, he earned USD 48.5 million in total from Netflix movies Red Notice and 6 Underground. Particularly for the latter, he was reportedly paid USD 27 million upfront.
Adding his backend profits, Reynolds reportedly may have earned around USD 40 million for Deadpool 2. This means he will make even more with Deadpool & Wolverine as the movie has become a blockbuster at the box office in the first weekend of its release.
Deadpool & Wolverine has shattered several box office records. It is now the record holder for highest R-rated opening of all time, both worldwide and domestic, beating previous record holder Deadpool (2016). At its pace, it can be expected to break the record of the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Its other achievements include the biggest global opening since Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), the biggest domestic opening ever for Reynolds, again beating Deadpool, and making MCU the highest-grossing film franchise of all time with a worldwide gross total of USD 30 billion across 34 films.
With one of the biggest movies of 2024, Reynolds is now sure to feature among the highest-paid actors in the rich lists of 2025. And soon enough, he will possibly be even richer. He is set to appear in part-animated Animal Friends with Jason Momoa, Vince Vaughn and Aubrey Plaza as well as the action-adventure film Mayday alongside Kenneth Branagh and Maria Bakalova.
Businesses and investments of Ryan Reynolds
What separates Ryan Reynolds from most other A-listers in Hollywood are his investments — particularly the brands Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile.
Aviation Gin
Ryan Reynolds bought a stake in the liquor brand Aviation Gin in 2018. Interestingly, Lively, too, owns two similar businesses: canned sparkling cocktail brand Betty Booze and nonalcoholic mixers brand Betty Buzz.
Some reports suggest that Reynolds’ stake in Aviation Gin was around 20 per cent. He then became the creative director and board member of the brand. His creative vision led to iconic ads for the brand, including the one named Peloton Girl. The brand witnessed a rise in sales over the next two years and soon became the second-largest super-premium Gin brand in the US.
In 2020, European beverage company Diageo LLC acquired Aviation Gin in a deal reportedly worth around USD 610 million. It included an upfront cash payment of USD 335 million, with the rest set up as performance milestones over 10 years.
Based on his stake, Reynolds is believed to have earned around USD 67 million from the cash part of the deal and might make USD 55 million more from the milestones. He continues to appear in the brand’s commercials and is the face of the company.
Mint Mobile
Ryan Reynolds became a minority stakeholder in low-cost pre-paid mobile phone services company Mint Mobile in 2019. He subsequently appeared in a series of advertisement campaigns for Mint Mobile.
Four years later, in March 2023, T-Mobile announced it was acquiring Mint Mobile in a USD 1.35 billion cash and stock deal. Reports suggest that Reynolds held 25 per cent of Mint Mobile, which means that his total earnings from the deal was more than USD 335 million in cash and stocks. The cash part, according to some reports, was around USD 131 million.
Wrexham AFC
Wrexham AFC is a Welsh football club which plays in the EFL League One — the third level of the English football league system. Reynolds bought the club with actor Rob McElhenney in 2020. At the time, it was playing in the fifth division of the English league system.
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The acquisition by Reynolds and a follow-up docuseries, Welcome to Wrexham (2022), led to the club receiving global attention despite its rather low ranking in the football world. But the acquisition proved to be a boon for the club, as it got promoted to League Two and won the National League championship in 2023. It was also included in the video game FIFA 22, becoming the first non-league team to be featured in the history of the acclaimed game franchise.
Maximum Effort Productions
Maximum Effort is the name of the production company and marketing agency which Reynolds co-founded in 2018 with digital marketing veteran George Dewey. The agency created viral ads for brands such as Mint Mobile and Match.
Later, in 2021, the marketing portion of the company, Maximum Effort Marketing, was bought by advertising software company MNTN (pronounced ‘Mountain’). But the company has remained independent. In 2022, it signed a multi-year first-look deal for unscripted content with streamer FuboTV. Citing regulatory filings from the time, reports said that FuboTV was to issue Maximum Effort USD 10 million worth of shares of common stock in the company, “as part of the overall consideration for Maximum Effort’s participation in the collaboration.”
Other investments
Ryan Reynolds has made a series of investments in billion-dollar companies, which boosted his net worth. Chief of these is Canadian password management software company 1Password, which was valued at USD 6.8 billion in 2022. The actor is also the face of the company.
Welcome @1Password to the @Wrexham_AFC family. Full-time cybersecurity service, occasional dermatological advisor. pic.twitter.com/ZCjEyoYjhn
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 24, 2022
Another billion-dollar business in which Reynolds has a stake is the online Canadian wealth management service Wealthsimple. It was valued at USD 5 billion in 2021 but has since seen a decline to USD 2 billion by the end of 2023.
Reynolds also has a stake in Canadian fintech company Nuvei. He is also one of the investors who backed the Formula One racing team, Alpine, in a deal worth around USD 218 million for a 24 per cent stake in June 2023.
(Hero and Featured images: Ryan Reynolds/@VancityReynolds/X)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Ryan Reynolds earned around USD 22 million for 'Deadpool', though his actual base pay was just USD 2 million.
Ryan Reynolds became quite popular with DC movie 'Green Lantern'. But he became a global star with 'Deadpool'.
The two 'Deadpool' movies, 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', 'The Proposal' and 'Free Guy' are some of the highest-grossing movies of Ryan Reynolds.
Yes, Reynolds has won a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program for 'Welcome to Wrexham'.
Yes, Ryan Reynolds will be seen in the movies 'Animal Friends' and 'Mayday' after 'Deadpool & Wolverine'.
Ryan Reynolds is paid around USD 20 million per movie, but he earns more based on backend deals.
It is not clear how much the streaming giant paid Ryan Reynolds, but reports suggest that he earned a total of around USD 48 million for the Netflix movies 'Red Notice' and '6 Underground'.
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Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
