They were people who, figuratively speaking, did not lift a finger for this.< /p>
Honestly, the ratings of the highest paid people in show business for several years have ceased to fulfill their main task — show the most active musicians, filmmakers, writers, etc., whose product is in the greatest demand. Instead, we have a list of people who either sold their business (or part of it) or made money on the release of their brands' products that have little to do with the culture.
Forbes itself writes about this in the preface to its new list of the most earned people in show business for 2021, in which film director Peter Jackson is in the first place with $ 580 million due to the sale of part of his visual effects company Weta Digital. Same with the second place — Bruce Springsteen borrowed it with $435 million by selling the rights to his music to Sony Music Group. Similarly, in third place, rapper Jay-Z earned $340 million from selling his stake in Arman de Brignak champagne brand and music streaming service Tidal.
Seeing Duane in fourth place «The Rock» Johnson, his admirers can exhale noisily — they say, well, finally, a man who earned his millions by hard work on the set. But that was not the case — Movie royalties make up only a tiny fraction of his $270 million. Most of it came from Teremana tequila. Finally, Kanye West, who ended up in fifth place with $ 235 million, brought the main income from his brand Yeezy & # 8212; sneakers for Adidas, and now a jacket and hoodie for Gap.
New people on this kind of list — creators of «South Park» Trey Parker & Matt Stone — ended up in sixth place with $210 million thanks primarily to a six-year future contract with Paramount+. And Paul Simon (7th with $200 million) — by selling the rights to her legendary music hits to Sony Music Publishing.
Note that the first woman on this list, Hollywood movie star Reese Witherspoon, with $115 million, was only in 12th place, which , of course, contradicts all modern trends in terms of political correctness. However, judging by everything, where very big money begins, political correctness ends. By the way, Witherspoon also made this list thanks not so much to earnings for movie roles, but to the sale of most of her Hello Sunshine company. True, $20 million of those $115 million — her fee for the second season of the series «The Morning Show», where she not only played one of the main roles, but also was a producer.