Saturday, December 01, 2007

FILM: Top 10 Highest Paid Actresses



Last year Nicole Kidman was the highest paid actress in Hollywood and Reese Witherspoon was nipping at her heels at #2. This year Witherspoon stole Kidman's diamond-encrusted crown and increased her salary by $5 mil to a whopping $20 mil per film.

Three contenders from last year (Charlize Theron, Kirsten Dunst, and Jennifer Aniston) have since dropped off the top 10 list. Sticking to low-paying indies like Theron (In the Valley of Elah and Battle in Seattle), only doing one film like Dunst (Spiderman 3), or not one at all like Aniston will guarantee slippage.


Replacing them are: Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, and Jodie Foster. Slowly building up her leading-lady career, Bullock managed to increase her appeal as a dramatic actress (The Lake House and Premonition) and subsequently her paycheck. There was a time when Roberts was the highest-paid actress and since having her twins she's slowly climbed back up that ladder with voice-work in animated films (The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web). But soon she'll be back into the full-swing of things. And even though Foster's films (Flightplan and The Brave One) do very well at the box office, even she can attest to being no beauty or fodder for the gossip pages, so it's hard to demand more. But she's getting there.


The actresses whose salaries decreased are: Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Drew Barrymore, and Halle Berry. The decreases can be attributed to them not working very often, like Zellweger, settling for indie paychecks, or to their films bombing, like Kidman's Invasion, Barrymore's Lucky You, and Berry's Things We lost in the Fire and Perfect Stranger.


The actresses whose salaries increased are: Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, and Anjelina Jolie. Having critical acclaim has guaranteed that even though Witherspoon's Rendition bombed in theaters, she'll still be able to tote around that salary demand. Diaz lucked out with Shrek being the most popular animated character in cartoon history since Mickey Mouse or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as long as she has that paycheck flowing she'll stay on the list. As for Jolie, increasing her public appeal and amping her Oscar-cred with A Might Heart, gives her the option to have a pretty high asking price.



Here are their salaries:
1. Reese Witherspoon — $15 million-$20 million

2. Angelina Jolie — $15 million-$20 million
3. Cameron Diaz — $15+ million
4. Nicole Kidman — $10 million-$15 million
5. Renee Zellweger — $10 million-$15 million
6. Sandra Bullock — $10 million-$15 million
7. Julia Roberts — $10 million-$15 million
8. Drew Barrymore — $10 million-$12 million
9. Jodie Foster — $10 million-$12 million
10. Halle Berry — $10 million

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