Chris Pine Reveals His ‘Earth-Shattering’ Salary For ‘Princess Diaries 2’

‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’ was Chris Pine’s big break, but how much did he bring in for his involvement in the film?

The actor starred alongside Anne Hathaway in the 2004 film, which is currently streaming on Disney+. The film grossed over $134 million worldwide and remains one of the biggest romantic comedy films of all time.

The actor, who is making his directorial debut with the upcoming release of his new film, ‘Poolman,’ said that ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’ was “life-changing” and “earth-shattering.”

“I was on my little Verizon tiny flip phone, my silver one, and I got a call from my agents that I booked the job,” Pine tells Willie Geist in a promo for the upcoming episode of Sunday Today. “I pulled over onto the side of the freeway and they said, ‘You’re getting paid $65,000.’ “

“It was like they had just told me I’d made $50 million,” he recalled. “It was absolutely earth-shattering.”

Considering ‘Princess Diaries 2’ was Chris Pine’s big break, he knew his “life had changed,” although the money  “lasted no time at all” because he “owed [his] parents rent money.”

“I just remember distinctly knowing in that moment that my life had changed somehow, even though [$65,000] at the end of the day turned out to be about $15,000,” Pine said while laughing.

With the success of both ‘The Princess Diaries’ and ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,’ fans have been asking for a third installment of the franchise, something Chris Pine says he is on board for.

Last year, Chris Pine spoke to Entertainment Tonight, revealing he would happily appear in a future ‘Princess Diaries’ movie.

“Yeah, I’m here! I’m here for it,” he told the outlet when asked about recent reports of a third movie in the works. “Give me — give me a phone call or an email.”

‘The Princess Diaries’ hit theaters in 2001, marking Anne Hathaway’s acting debut at 18. The Disney movie revolves around Mia Thermopolis (played by Hathaway), a teenage resident of New York City who unexpectedly learns she’s the heir to the throne of Genovia.

Mia, a regular high schooler grappling with typical adolescent struggles, finds her world turned upside down when her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (portrayed by Julie Andrews), unveils her royal lineage.

The second film continues Mia’s story as she adjusts to her new life as a princess. She soon learns she cannot become queen unless married within 30 days. Among her suitors is Nicholas Devereaux (played by Chris Pine), who is more interested in the crown than Mia.

However, Nicholas soon realizes he loves Mia but decides not to pursue her.

Although two decades have passed since ‘The Princess Diaries 2’ debuted, fans remain hopeful for another film. Fortunately, Disney announced in 2022 that ‘The Princess Diaries 3’ was underway with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Disney has yet to confirm who will star in the film, but the outlet reported, “The hope is she would return should the potential new film move forward beyond the script stage.”

Shortly after Disney confirmed the third film, Hathaway spoke on the upcoming project, telling Variety, “We’re in a good place. That’s all I can say. There’s nothing to announce yet. But we’re in a good place.”

Unfortunately, it looks like Julie Andrews won’t be part of the upcoming movie, but Hathaway wants to try and make it happen. “If there’s any way to get Julie Andrews involved, I think we would make it work,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.”

However, she doesn’t think a ‘Devil Wears Prada’ sequel will happen.

“Probably not,” Hathaway told the outlet. “We all love each other, and if somebody could come up with a way to do it, I think we’d all be crazy not to. But there’s a huge difference in the world now with technology, and one of the things about that particular story is it was about producing a physical object.”

She continued, “Now with so much being digital, it would just be very different. Maybe me, Stanley, Emily, Meryl, Dave Frankel, Patricia Field… we should just all do something else together. That’d be fun.”