Sometime in 2018, it became public knowledge that Bryce Dallas Howard earned much less than Chris Pratt for her work on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The women’s wage discrepancy in the business is further illuminated by the fact that Pratt brought home $10 million while Howard allegedly received $8 million. While she found the stories “interesting,” Howard told Insider that she was really paid “so much less than the rumours ever indicated, so much less,” and she gave credit to her co-star for working to fix the problem. In 2014, Pratt and Howard agreed to star in a new Jurassic World trilogy, the third instalment of which, Jurassic World: Dominion, broke box office records this year.
The actor for the Guardians of the Galaxy, upon learning of the wage gap, took it upon himself to rectify the problem and ensure that Howard received equal compensation for his work on other Jurassic World assets, such as spin-off video games and theme park attractions. According to the actor, she was “at a big disadvantage” since “it was a different world” when she first bargained for the franchise. And, he said, “Unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies, and so your bargains are fixed.”
However, she brought up the compensation disparity with her co-star, and he offered to negotiate on her behalf for the matching assets from their trilogy. As she elaborated, What I would say is that Chris and I have talked about it, and he has told me, “You guys don’t even have to do anything,” anytime there was a chance to change anything that hadn’t previously been arranged, like a game or a ride. I will be the one to do all the talking and bargaining. We’re both getting the same amount of money, so there’s no need for you to worry about it, Bryce. Gender wage disparities in the entertainment industry have gained attention in recent years.
Among the many women in the industry who have spoken up to bring this problem to light, Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo claimed last year that she was almost forced to leave the programme because of the salary gap between herself and co-star Patrick Dempsey. Michelle Williams, star of All the Money in the World, said that same year that she felt “futile” after it was revealed that co-star Mark Wahlberg paid $1.5 million for reshoots while she earned only $1,000. But Howard applauded Pratt for making things right, saying, “I adore him so much for doing that. I do because I’ve made more money doing those things than I did on the movie itself. The Blu-ray and DVD releases of Jurassic World: Dominion is scheduled for August 16.