Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood reveals shock salary for billion-dollar franchise

By ASHLEIGH GRAY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 04:23 BST, 4 April 2025 | Updated: 04:23 BST, 4 April 2025

Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings fame, has hinted at how little he was paid for his role in the billion-dollar franchise.

The 44-year-old actor — who confirmed his marriage in January — played Frodo Baggins in the trilogy.

He touched on the subject of his salary at the 2025 Texas Film Awards, revealing that the movies were shot under a single contract.

‘Because we weren’t making one movie and then renegotiating a contract for the next, it wasn’t the sort of lucrative scenario that you could sort of rest easy for the rest of your life,’ he said, per an account from Business Insider.

He added that director Peter Jackson took ‘a real gamble’ with the decision to film the movies at once, rather than breaking up the process. 

Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings fame, has hinted at how little he was paid for his role in the billion-dollar franchise; pictured in January

The trio of Lord of the Rings films went on to earn a whopping $2.9 billion worldwide, off a $281 million budget, cementing it as one of the biggest cinematic successes ever.

Wood noted that regardless of the ‘not massive salaries, the benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever.’

His co-stars Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom previously divulged that they earned around $250,000 and $175,000 respectively for all three movies.

Asked by Business Insider what exactly he was compensated for his part, Elijah said the sum was not accurate and ‘doesn’t matter.’

He gushed, ‘It’s such an honor to have been a part of those films, and they represent some of the best experiences of my life.’

Last year it was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that a new installment in the franchise, Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, is in the works.

It came as Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO, David Zaslav, made the announcement during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call in May.

He stated that several spinoff projects were ‘now in the early stages of script development,’ and that the new entry in the series was being eyed for a 2026 release.

The 44-year-old actor played Frodo Baggins in the trilogy

Elijah is pictured left, joined by co-star Sean Astin in 2001

Earlier this year Elijah shared that he wed longtime love Mette-Marie Kongsved.

While appearing on the podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, he referred to the film producer as his ‘wife.’

He added that he felt ‘beyond grateful’ for her as well as his ‘family and kids.’

The remarks came after sources dished to TMZ that the pair ‘got married in Sweden on New Year’s Eve in what was described as an intimate ceremony with about 80 friends and family members.’

The lovebirds, who have been romantically linked since 2018, welcomed their first child, a son, in 2019, followed by a daughter in 2021.

They have not publicly shared the names of their children.

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Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood reveals shock salary for billion-dollar franchise

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