Reese Witherspoon is known for her turns in universally loved films — including Legally Blonde, Wild, and Walk the Line, which won her an Oscar — as well as her work with her production company, breaking grounds to tell female-centered stories on big and small screens.
With such an impressive, three-decade-long career, it is only natural that not every title The Morning Show star has appeared in ended up being critically acclaimed.
However, Witherspoon has earned quite a decent amount from her roles in films that weren't exactly loved by audience and critics, including the Paul Rudd-starrer How Did You Know. Let's take a look at other not-so-great movies Witherspoon has appeared in that have nonetheless contributed to her $400 million net worth.
6 Reese Witherspoon Returned As Elle Woods In Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
While Legally Blonde has earned cult classic status since it was released in 2001, its 2003 sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde was unanimously panned by fans and critics.
On movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the follow-up to the Elle Woods legal drama has a score of 36%, meaning that critics have deemed the film "rotten." But reviews from the audience are even more scathing, giving the sequel a score of just 23%.
Despite not doing great among fans and critics, the film earned Witherspoon $15 million and her first executive producer credit (via Parade).
It seems that those negative reviews have had no impact on Elle Woods as she is set to return in a third film, featuring Never Have I Ever's Mindy Kaling among its screenwriters. Witherspoon is expected to star, and we can imagine her salary will be even higher than her paycheck for Red, White & Blonde. Here's hoping reviews will be better, too.
5 Sweet Home Alabama: Reese Witherspoon Made $12.5 Million For The Southern Rom-Com
Rom-com Sweet Home Alabama sees Witherspoon in the role of Melanie Carmichael, a Southern woman who has moved to New York City and has become a renowned fashion designer. As her wealthy boyfriend proposes, Melanie returns to the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, to divorce her childhood sweetheart after seven years apart. We don't need to tell you how this one ends, right?
This comedy, also starring Grey's Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey as Melanie's fiancé and Josh Lucas as her husband, was but one in a streak of romantic films that cemented Witherspoon's rom-com queen aura in the early 2000s. While it was loved by fans when it came out in 2002, critics slammed the film as unfunny and predictable.
Still, Witherspoon made $12.5 million for it, and likely received a bonus based on her backend points, given the rom-com grossed over $130 million domestically and $53,399,006 internationally.
4 Reese Witherspoon's Four Christmases Was A Commercial Success, But Critics Hated It
The 2008 film stars Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple whose exotic holiday falls apart, leaving them with four different family get-togethers to attend on Christmas Day.
The film has a 25% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience haven't been all that much kinder with their meager 47% approval.
It may not have stuck the landing, particularly as it's painfully obvious that its two stars lack chemistry, but the film still grossed $163.7 million worldwide. As for Witherspoon, she took home $15 million for the role of Kate Kinkaid, plus an undisclosed amount in deferred compensation.
3 Spy Rom-Com This Means War Earned Reese Witherspoon $12 Million
In this 2012 film, Reese Witherspoon's Lauren Scott becomes the object of the affection of two CIA agents portrayed by Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. Unbeknownst to one another, they both start dating her, with chaos ensuing once the secret is inevitably revealed.
This Means War has a 26% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, while the audience gave the spy rom-com a higher score: 56%.
Produced by Will Smith, McG's movie earned $156.5 million against a budget of $65 million. It was not the biggest hit for Witherspoon, but certainly not a flop either.
While the film was slammed by critics for being "aggressively annoying," reviews didn't stop its leading lady from earning a whopping $12 million, while her co-star Pine earned $5 million.
2 Sofía Vergara And Reese Witherspoon's Hot Pursuit Wasn't So Hot Among Critics
We've come to one of Reese Witherspoon's lowest-scoring movies. This action comedy stars the actress as a police officer tasked with protecting the widow of a drug lord, played by Modern Family's Sofía Vergara.
Directed by Anne Fletcher, who is behind the camera of the upcoming sequel to Hocus Pocus, Hot Pursuit has a score of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Let that sink in. Slammed as a "misogynistic kidney punch," the film didn't sit well with critics and failed to captivate moviegoers, given its audience ratings of 35%.
Yet, the 2015 films marked Witherspoon's strongest debut in three years, earning $13.3 million in its first weekend but still falling behind Avengers: Age of Ultron.
While there are no official data on Witherspoon's salary for this one, it's safe to assume she earned more than her co-star Vergara, who is believed to have got home with a paycheck of $5.5 million (via Celebrity Net Worth). Hence, a good estimate for Witherspoon's salary, given her bigger star power, could be between $7 and $12 million.
1 Cruel Intentions Was Among Witherspoon's Lowest-Paid Gigs
Okay, this one isn't exactly a terrible movie. A modern adaptation of 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses from French writer Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, the 1999 film is set in present-day New York City, following the lives of a crew of wealthy teenagers, navigating dating, school and scandals.
Witherspoon stars as Annette Hargrove, a character based on Madame de Tourvel from the original novel. An ingénue, Annette is the subject of a bet that protagonist Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) makes with his stepsister Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Things take a turn for the worse when the womanizer Sebastian starts falling for Annette, enraging Kathryn.
The film got mixed reviews (currently at 54% on RT) and grossed $76 million worldwide against a budget of $10 million. At the time, Witherspoon was still relatively new in the industry, but she was on her way to global success thanks to her performances in acclaimed films such as Election and Pleasantville.
Cruel Intentions, on the other hand, didn't get as much love from critics, and earned the actress $250,000, according to Parade. A small figure compared to the actress' more recent earnings, though one that makes sense if we consider Annette didn't get as much screen time as Sebastian or Kathryn.
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