Thursday, October 08, 2009

FILM: Forbes' Top 10 Most Profitable Actresses

Some people might judge an actress's worth by how much she gets paid or how many films she books. Forbes chose the top 10 actresses in the industry based on how much they make for the studios. After seeing the list, I'm a little shocked. I totally get the addition of McAdams and Streep, but I had no idea anyone was interested in Watts or Connelly, especially after The International and The Day the Earth Stood Still bombed. Alas, here are this year's most profitable starlets and their upcoming projects:

1. Naomi Watts
She just wrapped the Sean Penn thriller Fair Game, and soon she'll start shooting Woody Allen's next untitled romantic film with a slew of actors, including Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas, and Anthony Hopkins.
2. Jennifer Connelly
She's currently filming the rigorous drama What's Wrong with Virginia?, which is written and directed by the award-winning Dustin Lance Black (Milk). It's about "a sheriff (Ed Harris) sees his state senate bid slide out onto the ice when his daughter (Emma Roberts) begins to date the son of a charming but psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decades-long affair." With that plot and that director, it's obvious she's gunning for an Oscar. And if that doesn't do it for her, she's rumored to be attached to the upcoming drama The Ice at the Bottom of the World with Meryl Streep and Charlize Theron. It's a drama about "a retired Navy captain who returns to his home in the Chesapeake Bay, where his long-time absence has taken a huge toll on his family."
3. Rachel McAdams
You probably know by now that this Christmas she'll be in Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr.'s action adventure Sherlock Holmes. But next summer you can catch her in the comedy Morning Glory opposite Harrison Ford, Patrick Wilson, and Diane Keaton, where Ford and Keaton will play feuding high-profile anchors in a struggling morning show.
4. Natalie Portman
She's been flying under the radar for a while now, since the failure of the much-anticipated adaptation The Other Boleyn Girl. Her last hit was 2005's V for Vendetta, so I'm not really sure how she qualifies for this list. But she is booked solid for the next two years. This December she'll be at the center of a dangerous love triangle with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire in the war drama Brothers. Currently, she's filming the fantasy comedy Your Highness with Zooey Deschanel, James Franco, and Danny McBride. Soon she'll start filming Darren Aronofsky's (The Wrestler) dramatic thriller Black Swan with Mila Kunis. And then she'll gear up for the action adventure Thor.
5. Meryl Streep
As I said before, you can catch Streep in The Ice at the Bottom of the World. But before then she'll play the object of two men's affections in the romantic comedy It's Complicated with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.
6. Jennifer Anniston
I'm not sure about the movie quality of her next few films, but her co-stars are definitely noteworthy. In the upcoming action comedy The Bounty, she'll star opposite Gerard Butler, and in the romantic comedy The Baster, she'll star opposite Jason Bateman. But what'll really get people talking next year is her first forray into unchartered territory. She'll play a prisoner in the 1940s-set musical drama The Goree Girls, where she'll be singing country western tunes. Hmm, maybe dating John Mayer was just research.
7. Halle Berry
Given that she's been uber busy caring for her newborn, it's understandable that she's been off the big screen for the last two years. However, this November you can see her in the controversial drama Frankie and Alice, where she'll play a woman who has a racist alternate-personality, and in 2011, she'll get back into a bikini for the dramatic shark-attack thriller Dark Tide.
8. Cate Blanchett
After a jam-packed year of Oscar-worthy films (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and blockbusters (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), the regal actress took a break. But she'll return in full effect next year opposite Russell Crowe in Robin Hood.
9. Anne Hathaway
She's been on a hot streak ever since 2005 when she played second fiddle to one of the most epic romances of film history in Brokeback Mountain. Putting the suspense thriller Passengers and the wedding-centric comedy Bride Wars behind her, she'll star in the star-studded rom-com Valentine's Day, Tim Burton's family fantasy Alice in Wonderland, and the drama Love and Other Drugs with Jake Gyllenhaal.
10. Hilary Swank
2004's Million Dollar Baby may have reminded people that she can be incredible, but five years later she hasn't kept up the momentum. Amelia, the biopic of the legendary pilot, might rev up the Oscar whispers once again. But if that doesn't get her a gold statue, she can depend on the Betty Anne Waters biopic, about a woman who put herself through law school so she could exonerate her wrongfully imprisoned brother.

Do you think any other actresses are worth more?
Like Tina Fey, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Winslet, and Sandra Bullock.

1 comment:

  1. Can't wait for Robin Hood and Cate Blanchett should be wonderful in it!

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