Slap Your Face And Scream… Did Macaulay Culkin Make The Inflation-Adjusted $500 Million From "Home Alone 2" Talkboy Sales???

When ranking the largest single-movie paydays of all time, Tom Cruise is often considered the king. He doesn't hold the absolute record, but thanks to his unique position as both producer and star, he has pocketed $100 million apiece from films like "Mission: Impossible 2" and "War of the Worlds." His contract for "Top Gun: Maverick" may ultimately push his haul north of $130 million.

Will Smith slapped his way into the $100 million single-movie-payday club with "Men in Black 3." Sandra Bullock made an astronomical $80 million from "Gravity" through a $20 million base fee and a 15% cut of the gross. Tom Hanks turned a savvy contract swap on "Forrest Gump" — trading half his $10 million salary for a 10% cut of gross earnings — into a $70 million payday, worth roughly $150 million in today's dollars.

However, the record for the largest paycheck earned from a single movie in Hollywood history belongs to… Bruce Willis. And contrary to what you might be thinking, Bruce did not earn the record from one of his many action blockbusters. He earned it from a very unlikely movie… 1999's "The Sixth Sense." Bruce agreed to do the movie with the then-unknown director, M. Night Shyamalan, for a base salary of $14 million, PLUS 17.5% of the film's profits, a cut of DVD and licensing revenue. When the movie grossed $670 million worldwide, Willis walked away with a record-setting $114 million, the equivalent of nearly $194 million in today's dollars.

But wait a second. Is there a secret under-the-radar record holder? Is it possible that the most famous child actor of the 1990s had a backend deal on a sequel that was so lucrative he earned the inflation-adjusted equivalent of more than $500 million off a single movie???

(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic)

Macaulay Culkin's Meteoric Rise (And Paydays)

Macaulay Culkin's career took off almost overnight. After small roles in the late 1980s, he broke through in John Hughes' 1989 comedy "Uncle Buck," which paid him just $40,000. A year later, Hughes tapped him to star in "Home Alone," a modestly budgeted Christmas movie that became a global phenomenon. Culkin's salary jumped to $100,000, but the film's $476 million worldwide box office instantly made him the most bankable child star in Hollywood.

By 1991, Culkin was commanding seven figures. He earned $1 million for the tearjerker "My Girl," then cemented his status as Hollywood's top child actor when he returned for "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York." His base salary soared to $4.5 million, making him the highest-paid child actor in history at the time.

Surprise Backend Deal

On a recent episode of the YouTube series "Hot Ones," Macaulay revealed some fascinating financial insights about his "Home Alone 2" payday. When asked, "What makes Home Alone 2 better than Home Alone?," Culkin replied:

"I got paid more. I think I own 5% of the net, um and also 15% of the merchandising. So if you buy a Talkboy, I'm like, 'ya I'll take 15% of that, thank you very much'…" 

The merchandise he's referring to, the Talkboy, is the voice-altering audio recording device that his character uses throughout the sequel to order hotels, pizzas, limos, etc… The implication being that he got paid 15% whenever someone bought a Talkboy.

Here's the interview, with the above point queued up:

$200 Million Talkboy Payday???!!

After that interview went live, a bunch of outlets claimed that a 15% merch cut resulted in Culkin earning $202.5 million off Talkboy sales alone. Why did these outlets claim this? What's their math based on? For some reason, these outlets are under the false impression that 45 million Talkboys were sold in the 1990s. And because Talkboys apparently retailed for $30, that would equate to $1.35 billion gross revenue. And since Macauley had a 15% cut, that equates to a $202.5 million payday.

Earning $202 million in the early 1990s is the same as earning around $450 million in today's dollars.

And don't forget his $4.5 million upfront salary and 5% net cut of the film's profits, the latter of which would likely have added roughly $16 million to his windfall. Total it all up, and without adjusting for inflation, that's $223 million supposedly earned from all sources. Aka, $518 million after adjusting for inflation. Aka, enough to give Macauley the largest acting payday record by more than $100 million without adjusting for inflation, $300+ million with inflation.

Let me stop you right there. Unfortunately, it's not true. The merchandise part at least.

Culkin's Real Home Alone 2 Payday

As far as I could tell, the claim that 45 million Talkboys were sold is not supported by any credible source and is not grounded in reality. What I do see in the Talkboy wiki is that a later version, which looked like a pen, sold 1 million units in 45 days. Do you think perhaps a writer used some poorly-reviewed AI slop that accidentally miscontrued 1 million units over 45 days into 45 million units? Uh oh…

And FYI, for comparison, even cultural toy crazes like Tickle Me Elmo or Furby only sold a few million units annually at their peak. A relatively niche, movie tie-in gadget like the Talkboy likely sold in the low millions total.

Even more importantly, Culkin's cut would never have been taken from the retail price of each unit sold. Merchandising contracts are tied to the licensing revenue the studio receives, which is a fraction of the shelf price. If a Talkboy retailed for $30, the studio might have seen $5–10 in licensing revenue, and Culkin's 15% would only apply to that portion.

So what did Culkin actually make? Here's where our math landed:

• $4.5 million base salary
• 5% of net profits resulted in an extra $16 million
• 15% of merchandising, which likely amounted to another $1 million or so

All told, Culkin's real payday from "Home Alone 2" was around $20 million. After adjusting for inflation, that's the same as around $44 million today. An absolutely jaw-dropping amount for a 12-year-old actor, but not quite as big as some headlines may have led you to believe 🙂