Yes, Matt Damon (The Departed) lost out on a ton of money when he decided to turn down the lead role of Corporal Jake Sully in James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster Avatar – about $290 million to be exact. Damon would have not only received a hefty fee, but also a 10% profit share of the film’s box office revenue. But the Oscar-winning actor obviously didn’t expect the fantasy adventure to ultimately gross more than $2.8 billion (not including the re-release!) at the box office.
In conversation with Damon unpacked his ‘Avatar’ shame again. There he even stated that his rejection of “Avatar” is definitely “the dumbest thing an actor has ever done”!
Would ‘Avatar’ have been as successful with Matt Damon?
As Zoe Saldana, who was also present for the interview through the joint advertising partnership for the Stella Artois beer brand, rightly points out, Matt Damon’s career has been going quite well, even without “Avatar.” Today, the hero of ‘Jason Bourne’ is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars ever and not only recently delivered an outstanding performance in Ben Affleck’s ‘Air’, but also starred in Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb epic ‘Oppenheimer’.
However, Matt Damon isn’t sure if “Avatar” would have been a similar success with his involvement: “Do you know what kind of movie this would have been if I had been in it? I’ve probably made about 50 films. I’ve never been in a movie that made a billion dollars!” Matt Damon’s biggest box office success was Ridley Scott’s The Martian, which grossed $630 million worldwide. Less than the two ‘Avatar’ films in the US alone (!).
Matt Damon is not the only star who has passed up the lead role in ‘Avatar’. Another Hollywood star also turned down the offer and instead starred in an absolute flop, as you can read here: