Mark Wahlberg has quietly become the most bankable actor in the streaming era. At 54, he is pulling in $20–25 million per film across Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Paramount+, earning A-list money without relying on theatrical releases — a shift documented in a detailed Forbes report.
For platforms scrambling to hold viewers’ attention, Wahlberg has emerged as the closest thing to a guaranteed draw. Amazon MGM Studios’ head of film Julie Rapaport told Forbes that Wahlberg brings a “comfort and familiarity” that makes audiences click, whether the project is planned for theatres or direct-to-streaming.
That reliability is why, as Forbes reports, Amazon considered him the natural replacement when Robert Downey Jr. exited a 2023 project. It’s the same logic behind why major services continue lining up films for him — and paying top dollar in advance.
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The reign of the A-Minus list
In the streaming economy, the traditional “box office star” template has been replaced by what Forbes calls the A-Minus List: actors who may no longer drive theatrical success but still have enormous pull online.
Wahlberg sits at the top of that class. Others include Kevin Hart, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Millie Bobby Brown, Jennifer Lopez and Jake Gyllenhaal, all of whom have built careers primarily on streaming platforms in recent years.
What sets Wahlberg apart is scale. According to Forbes, Parrot Analytics estimates his films have generated $680 million in global streaming revenue since 2020 across all major services. He’s delivered back-to-back hits for nearly every major streamer:
Play Dirty (Prime Video) — Debuted at No. 1 across all streaming platforms
The Family Plan (Apple) — Apple’s most-watched movie ever
The Union (Netflix) — Just outside Netflix’s all-time top 10
Seven of the top 170 most-watched Netflix movies of 2025 feature Wahlberg
Netflix’s internal engagement report cited by Forbes says users spent 350 million+ hours watching Wahlberg’s films in the first half of 2025, which is more than Adam Sandler.
Why Wahlberg works so well on streaming
Hollywood insiders told Forbes the reason is simple: he delivers exactly the kind of mid-budget, high-entertainment films that have vanished from theatres but thrive online.
Brandon Katz of Greenlight Analytics said Wahlberg remains an “added value” for theatrical releases, but audiences increasingly associate him with streaming and reward platforms that feature him prominently.
He also works nonstop. In 2025 alone, Wahlberg released two major streaming exclusives and one smaller theatrical title, Flight Risk, which underperformed in cinemas but flourished on VOD.
Forbes estimates he earned $60 million before taxes in 2025, which is enough to place him among the world’s highest-paid actors.
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A different kind of star power
Unlike Sandler or Hart, who package their own projects, Wahlberg is a star-for-hire, a flexibility that has made him valuable to every platform entering the content arms race. Paramount’s co-chair Josh Greenstein told Forbes there is “no one like him,” citing his broad appeal across action, comedy and family films.
His career pivot began with 2020’s Spenser Confidential, which Forbes estimates paid him around $24 million. He has not looked back since.
A shift in Hollywood economics
What once signalled career decline, with people skipping cinemas and heading straight to home viewing, is now a mark of dominance. Theatres may still produce global icons, but streaming has created its own class of megastars.
And as Forbes details, Mark Wahlberg has become the most dependable of them all.
