Did you know?
David Bowie sold bonds backed by his future music royalties for $55 million in 1997.
Did you know?
David Bowie sold bonds backed by his future music royalties for $55 million in 1997.
$0
Made over $150 million acting. Spent it on a dinosaur skull, two European castles, a pet octopus, and a tomb shaped like a pyramid.
Where the Money Comes From
Estimated Total
$175M
Current Net Worth
$25M
What They Kept
14%
Why $25M is cautionary tale
Nicolas Cage is the most fascinating cautionary tale in Hollywood. At his peak, he was earning $20 million per film and had a net worth approaching $150 million. Then he went on what can only be described as the most unhinged shopping spree in entertainment history.
The shopping list reads like a fever dream: a $276,000 dinosaur skull (a T. Rex head that turned out to be stolen and had to be returned to Mongolia), two European castles (one in Germany, one in England — combined cost around $10M), a $150,000 pet octopus (he claimed it helped his acting), nine Rolls Royces, a private island in the Bahamas, shrunken pygmy heads, the first Superman comic for $150,000, and — the pièce de résistance — a pyramid-shaped tomb in a New Orleans cemetery where he plans to be buried.
The IRS came calling with a $14 million tax bill. Properties went into foreclosure. The castles were sold at a loss. Cage's response? He started saying yes to every movie offered, cranking out 3-5 films per year to pay off debts. That's why you've seen him in roughly 47 direct-to-video action movies since 2010. At $25M, he's clawed his way back from near-zero, but he burned through more money than most A-listers will ever earn.
How Does Cage Compare?
$25M
Net Worth Breakdown
Fame ≠ Fortune
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