10:52AM, Nov 18, 2009
Johnny Depp is to become the (current) highest paid actor in Hollywood. He is expected to receive at least £21m to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in the fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean movie.
Johnny Depp has been guaranteed a minimum pay cheque of £21m to return for the fourth Pirates movie, currently entitled Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
The fee puts him above Hanks, Cruise and Gibson in the A-list pecking order - for now.
Depp largely has his former co-stars to thank for the the record deal. After Kiera Knightley and Orlando 
Bloom elected not to return to the franchise, Disney needed to guarantee Depp's presence in the picture.
Meanwhile, Geoffrey Rush will return as Captain Barbossa, albeit for a far smaller fee, while Penelope Cruz is being touted as the new female lead.
While £21m is the minimum Depp can expect for his efforts, the figure is likely to be boosted by ticket sales if and when the movie becomes a hit - something that's all-but guaranteed after the franchise's previous successes.
Previous records for Hollywood pay cheques include Jim Carrey, who received an initial £20m for The Cable Guy, while Harrison Ford remains the number one earner of all time for a flat fee, commanding £38m for 2008's Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
Tom Cruise, meanwhile, tends to make most of his money through contract deals linked to ticket sales. He was paid £12m for Mission: Impossible III, but would have earned far more than that during the film's run, partly because he acts as Executive Producer on the action franchise.
