Kevin Costner’s Top Hollywood Paychecks, Ranked

Kevin Costner has been printing money for decades, on both the big screen and in boots on Yellowstone. The numbers are wild, the backstories are messier than you remember, and yes, Waterworld is in here.

The money snapshot

For 2025, Celebrity Net Worth pegs Costner at an estimated $200 million. During his divorce from Christine Baumgartner, court filings pegged him far higher at roughly $400 million. In those same proceedings, Baumgartner said he pulls in about $1.53 million a month, with family expenses north of $550,000 monthly, per Us Weekly. The cash comes from a long run of movie and TV paydays and a very healthy pile of real estate. He was TV's highest paid actor in 2023 off Yellowstone Season 5, and way back in his peak movie star run, he topped Forbes' highest-paid actors list from 1991 through 1993.

The big paydays, ranked

• 5) Waterworld (1995) - $14 million

  Costner reportedly passed on the lead in The Shawshank Redemption to reunite with director Kevin Reynolds on this famously pricey post-apocalyptic ocean adventure. He played the Mariner, a grim, gilled anti-hero sailing a flooded Earth after the ice caps melt.

  Behind the scenes, things went sideways. A 96-day shoot ballooned to around 150 days, and the budget surged from a planned $100 million to about $175 million, per Forbes. The Wall Street Journal put Costner's paycheck at $14 million. The production strained his friendship with Reynolds for years and collided with Costner's divorce from Cindy Silva, which reportedly ended with an $80 million settlement, according to People.

  At release, Waterworld was tagged a flop for Universal despite being one of 1995's top grossers, largely because that budget was so extreme, per the New York Times. Over time, home video and TV rights pushed it into profitability, per Deadline. Streaming now on Starz.

• 4) The Bodyguard (1992) - $20 million to $30 million

  Critics shrugged at the time and still do today — it sits at 38 percent with critics on Rotten Tomatoes — but audiences showed up in force. Costner's ex-Secret Service agent Frank is hired to protect Whitney Houston's superstar Rachel from a stalker, and yes, feelings get involved. Cheesy? Maybe. Profitable? Absolutely.

  The Baltimore Sun reported Costner took home somewhere between $20 million and $30 million. The movie made a huge $411 million worldwide on a $25 million budget, per The Numbers. Houston's schedule was so packed that Costner held production for a full year to make it happen, per Parade. Available to rent on Amazon and Apple TV.

• 3) Yellowstone (2018-2024) - $29.9 million

  As John Dutton, Costner became TV's highest paid actor. He started at about $500,000 per episode when the series launched in 2018, per Puck, and was up to roughly $1.3 million per episode by the start of Season 5, per Taste of Country. Across 47 episodes, that works out to about $29.9 million. He also served as an executive producer.

  Then came the fracture. Creative control became a sticking point with creator Taylor Sheridan, and Costner announced his exit in 2023 to focus on his epic Western project, Horizon. Yellowstone wrote John Dutton out in Episode 9 of Season 5, and Costner did not return for the second part of that season. In court, he said talks about a possible Season 6 fell apart after Paramount passed on his ask of $12 million for the season, per the Daily Mail. Streaming now on Peacock.

• 2) Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) - $40 million

  Costner re-teamed with Kevin Reynolds here too, reportedly walking away from a John McTiernan project to do it. The British accent got roasted, but the movie printed money.

  The Daily Mail reports Costner's haul at around $40 million, thanks largely to a rich percentage of the profits. He even received additional money in 2014 after suing over an allegedly shorted 15 percent profit share. The film cost somewhere between $48 million and $60 million and grossed $390.5 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. Available to rent on Amazon and Apple TV.

• 1) Dances with Wolves (1990) - $50 million

  This is the one that changed everything. After multiple directors passed because they did not want to change the script, Costner put his own money into the project and directed it himself. His upfront acting salary was reportedly $3 million, per the Daily Mail, but the back-end success was massive.

  Forbes named him the highest-paid actor of 1991 with earnings of $59 million, per the Tampa Bay Times, and with his Robin Hood profits still being tallied later and his JFK paycheck reportedly under $10 million, the takeaway is clear: Dances with Wolves is where he made about $50 million. The film earned $424.2 million worldwide on a $22 million budget and became the fourth-highest grosser of 1990, per Box Office Mojo. It won seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. Streaming now on HBO Max.

The bigger picture

Costner's money machine has always had two gears: giant star paychecks with savvy profit participation on films, and, later, premium TV salaries that only a handful of actors ever see. Add in the real estate plays and you get why his finances can look different depending on who is tallying them. In the early 90s, he dominated the box office and Forbes lists from 1991 to 1993. In the 2020s, he led the most-watched Western on television while quietly lining up his own multi-film Western, Horizon. Different eras, same result: enormous checks, and a career that keeps finding new ways to pay off.