Will Liam Neeson’s $20 million ‘Taken 3’ paycheque pay off?

After seeing actor Liam Neeson’s performance as former CIA agent/angry dad Bryan Mills in two “Taken” movies, can you really fault studio executives for wanting to make sure the intense Irishman was well paid for a third outing?

According to Deadline, the 61-year-old actor is set to make $20 million -- a career high -- with “Taken 3.” That's a fee nearly equal to the total budget of the first “Taken” film ($25 million).

The modestly made 2009 original was a bit of a sleeper hit and helped redefine Neeson as a middle-aged action hero. “Taken,” which saw Neeson’s character brutally hunt down his daughter’s kidnappers, grossed $226 million globally. The film’s $45 million sequel “Taken 2” performed even better, earning nearly $400 million worldwide. The third film in the series will see Neeson once again reprise the role of Mills, a retired spook with a very particular set of skills that are particularly useful for violently rescuing his continually abducted family members.

Considering the performance of the previous “Taken” movies, Neeson’s hefty “Taken 3” pay day (which now puts him amongst the highest paid leading men in Hollywood) is a wise investment by the film’s producers. No word on whether Neeson will get a percentage of the sequel’s no doubt lucrative back end, but it's rare for a series star to not demand "points" from a film's gross in their contract.

But does ponying up big bucks to lure an action star back to a franchise always pay off?

Financially, yes. However, the real winners in such scenarios are usually the film studios and not movie audiences. Box office receipts may increase, but as star pay goes up, movie quality tends to go down.

Take "Matrix" lead Keanu Reeves. The actor was paid an impressive $10 million up front for the first "Matrix" movie and $15 million per movie for "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions," but the real money was on the back end: Reeves was guaranteed a 10 per cent cut of box office gross from "The Matrix" and 15 per cent from each sequel. With the worldwide gross of the "Matrix" trilogy somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1.6 billion, that equaled $260 million plus windfall for the actor. It's a shame the second and third "Matrix" movies were so disappointing, quality wise.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" swashbuckler Johnny Depp earned a similarly ludicrous pay day for the second, third, and fourth "Pirates" movies. The star of the upcoming "Lone Ranger" made more than $50 million up front per film, plus points on the back end that reportedly earned him more than $300 million total. As Depp's pay increased, however, the quality of the "Pirates" movies decreased. With a rumoured $95 million pay day "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" in store for Depp, we can only assume that film will be the worst movie ever made.

For the producer's sake, we really hope Liam Neeson's "Taken 3" contract includes a chunk of the back end. As the revenge franchise has clearly demonstrated, he's very good at finding people who've wronged him.