NEW YORK - Emily Blunt faces a blunt truth - despite her box-office appeal, the actress is drawing far less money than Dwayne Johnson.

Word is that she banked in only US$9 million (S$12.3 million) for her work in Disney's upcoming Jungle Cruise movie while he took home US$22 million.

This, despite her sharing credit with Johnson as co-leads, according to gossip portal TMZ.

While Johnson does pack a punch at the box office with hits such as Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017) and Furious 7 (2015), Blunt is also a proven knockout.

Her current movie Mary Poppins Returns was slated to gross US$200 million by New Year's Day, Hollywood Reporter noted.

Johnson has yet to win prestigious award nominations for acting but her Mary Poppins Returns turn has bagged Blunt a 2019 Golden Globes nod for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

She also drew critical acclaim for her portrayal of a mother under duress in spooky thriller A Quiet Place last year.

The latest news of income inequality shows how far Hollywood - roiled by campaigns last year to stamp out sexual harassment and create a more level playing field for everyone in the industry - still has to go.

Oscar winner Emma Stone said in an interview in 2017: "In my career so far, I've needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them. And that's something they do for me because they feel it is what's right and fair."

Meanwhile, Johnson has put his money into heart-warming use, posting on Instagram that he bought a new house for his mother for Christmas.

"All our lives growing up, we lived in little apartments all across the country. Lived like gypsies on the road from one state to another.

"The first home my parents ever lived in was the one I bought for them in 1999. They divorced about five years later. Since then, I always made sure my mum and dad have everything they'll ever need.

"I always say, if you got a good mama, then you got a pretty good shot at becoming a decent human being. And somehow, somewhere along the line, I became lucky to be able to make stuff like this happen," he wrote, signing off as Dwanta.