Amber Heard Getting A Big Raise After Beating Johnny Depp In Court?

Amber Heard looks like she's in for a big raise when Aquaman 2 finally hits theaters with the actress negotiating a payday for the sequel

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Amber Heard

Amber Heard has had such a tumultuous year, in and out of court, in the crosshairs of a petition to get her fired from movies, and just in general spending likely more time than she ever bargained for in the tabloids. But for all of this rollercoaster, she just got handed some good news the other day. According to insider Daniel Richtman, it seems like Heard has gotten a big pay bump when she comes back for Aquaman 2. 

While the details of the raise aren’t readily available, it isn’t all that surprising considering all of the factors at play here for Amber Heard. For starters, while there were early rumors of her not being brought back for the sequel, those never seemed to have much in the way of legs. Even with some of her recent run through the publicity grinder, it didn’t feel all that likely Heard would be replaced in the franchise. 

Additionally, recent rumors had studio executives wanting to make the Aquaman sequel have much more of a “girl-power” theme. While no specifics were given about how to actually make that happen on-screen, it stood to reason that including Amber Heard in that push would make quite a bit of sense. After all, her Queen Mera character was popular as Arthur Curry/Aquaman’s love interest/ fighting partner in the first flick. 

Amber Heard

And finally, in terms of strict financials, getting a raise for Amber Heard was likely in the cards no matter what the scenario. The first film earned about $1.15 billion dollars on about $180 million in budget. It’s more than likely that everyone got a big time raise this time around. How could it go any other way? Considering the anticipation around the film, I suspect everyone is negotiating for a bump. 

Amber Heard has had a tumultuous year, to say the least. Over the summer, she was involved in a high-profile libel case with ex-husband Johnny Depp. The latter sued the British tabloid The Sun, claiming defamation when the publication called him a “wife-beater” in print. In order to fight the case, the tabloid had to prove the claim true and the messy details of Depp’s and Heard’s marriage were made uncomfortably public. Ultimately, Depp lost the case. 

In the fallout of the case, Johnny Depp lost roles in both a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot as well as his part in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There was even a call for Amber Heard’s employment to go the same route with online petitions topping millions of signatures. But it doesn’t look like that will be the case, and in fact, has gone the opposite direction if she’s getting a bigger payday. 

Amber Heard Aquaman

Aquaman 2 is currently in development and if this latest Amber Heard rumor is true, it means they are just working out the contract details with the talent now. It’s currently slated for a December 2022 release date. So there’s time to sort everything out. But for the timing being, it looks like Amber Heard is getting paid in a big way.