Nice lecture Chuck. The exact question you posed was "Take Cage away from Bruckheimer and what is he worth?"
The answer is, A Best Actor Oscar.
After all, that's all that matters.
Getting back to the actual topic of the thread. Is Reese worth 29 million? Despite what I already said, after really thinking about it, there is certainly a chance. At this point in time I have little doubt that, under the right circumstances, thhe mere fact that Reese is starring in a movie could automatically boost box office by double that amount. So, it is a reasonable investment. It's possible Reese is actually the one who doesn't think she will boost the numbers that much which is why she is (reportedly) opting for more up front instead of a bigger share. If the movie hits big, she will actually end up losing money on that decision.
Exactly. What is he WORTH? This whole thread is about the financial value of an actor. I'll be the first guy to state that Chris Tucker deserves $20-25M for Rush Hour 3. I can name 50 better actors who don't deserve that money.
and your point being? Give me Meryl Streep's acting talents (who while being pretty was never a supermodel) over anyone from the cast of Baywatch.
Reese is not the most beautiful actress around, but she has something that a lot of her more pretty counterparts lack... personality and charisma. How can you not come out of Freeway or Legally Blonde just rooting for her and loving her? Even in Election, where she was the villian, you still loved and sided with her.
Reese deserves the stardom she's gotten. Unlike Cruise, Crowe, Cage, Pitt... Witherspoon actually does draw me into the theaters.
Chuck, the problem really comes down to using opinions and more solid fact interchangeably. Saying someone deserves a certain amount of pay is basically an opinion. It would probably be more suitable to say he generates the box office to earn it. After all, for years David Hasselhoff was the best selling singer on earth (just not so much here in the U.S.). He definitely generated amazing sales, but I would hardly say he deserved it, at least, not based on his talent as an singer. Of course, that is just my opinion. How much money he generated in sales is not opinion.
As far as how attractive Reese is, i think she is gorgeous, not just in the surface sense alone (I do find her extremely attractive) but in the "Whole Package" sense. Of course, I don't know her personally, so I can't base it on all that much.
I think Reese has facial expressions that almost border on cartoon-like. She over-emoted facially like crazy in one of the more recent films I saw of hers, "Just Like Heaven". Sometimes it gets distracting to watch her on the screen. I don't find her classically beautiful, more in the cute category, has a weird jawline and choppers are shaped funny as a whole set of teeth, and her eyes are strange which lend themselves to the cartoony expressions I see from her.
I keep hearing about Chris Tucker getting $20 million and how he deserves it. Chris is way too early into his career to pull the Julia Roberts/Jodie Foster disappearing acts for three/four years at a time and comes back expecting to be welcomed with open arms. He has not done ONE MOVIE since Rush Hour 2, five years ago. What's with his suddenly pickiness over scripts?
Bottom Line, good for you Reese Witherspoon. It really doesn't matter what myself or any other knuckle head on this forum say, it doesn't change the fact that Hollywood is going to pay her handsomely for her films.
For me, it was never a question of her looks. I think she is incredibly cute and sexy. She's got the girl next door thing going for her in a big way.
I just couldn't believe she hit the payday that quickly after very few films compared to her female competition. But once again, who cares what I think, I'm not in charge of her salary. I like her movies, and I think she is a very "good" and "real" person, which is more than I can say for most Actors and Actresses in Hollywood.
As for the guy that said something about going to the mall and finding 50 girls better looking than Reese. Thanks for the input, that was some deep stuff man. I can turn on Cinnemax at midnight and see plenty of hot girls, that couldn't cut it as real actresses. Still wondering what that had to do with the topic.
Let's see. 28 movies during a 14 year period. Two of the most highly praised performances of the 90s, including The Man in the Moon and Election, which a tremendous number of critics consider the best of 1999. Moving family dramas (The Man in the Moon, Wildflower, Jack the Bear), fluff romances (Sweet Home Alabama, Just Like Heaven), viciously dark comedies (American Psycho, Freeway, Election), light comedy (Legally Blonde) classic literary adaptations (Vanity Fair, The Importance of Being Earnest) and a biopic (Walk the Line), and that's only listiing about half of her work.
Yeah, Reese really hit it quick. That's a newbie if I ever saw one.
I agree, newbie my butt lol. Julia and Sandra have only been around three or four years longer than Reese has. The Man In The Moon, which got good reviews was 15 years ago. Even Freeway was a decade ago. Legally Blonde may have been the movie that really thrust her into the limelight, but LB was neither her first nor anywhere near the best she's done.
Reese has been my girl for years, I am glad she's finally become a true A-list actress, she's earned it unlike people such as Lindsey, Hilary, etc... that were media-made celebrities... Reese is a real person and she has worked long and hard to become a star, and she's gotten her just rewards. I'll be rooting for her to win tonight.
He deserves it for Rush Hour 3. I just don't see a Rush Hour film without Tucker doing anywhere near the $200+ million RH2 did. I personally don't think he warrants a paycheck in that range for anything but Rush Hour though.
By deserving, that's what I mean. No entertainer "deserves" this, fact or opinion. When I state that, I mean that Tucker brings that money in. And only to that film.
And he's not "pulling a Jodie Foster" (who is raising her children). He's become fairly dedicated to Africa, and puts LOTS of time and money towards that. I don't think he's a terribly good actor, but he's very popular in comedies, and can command that salary for such a film.
These salarie4s are usually tied to a specific genre. No way Reese gets $29M for a "serious" or indy film. Just like Carrey didn't get his usual $20M for Eternal Sunshine.
This is posted in the Box Office thread, but since this topic deals directly with the subject, I'll post it here for reference. Here are the actors and actresses who have starting asking fees of no less than $15 million...
Tim Allen $15 million Drew Barrymore $15 million Halle Berry $15 million (highest paid African-American actress) Pierce Brosnan $15 million Sandra Bullock $15 million Nicolas Cage $20 million Jim Carrey $25 million-plus Jackie Chan $15 million (highest paid Asian actor) George Clooney $15 million Sean Connery $15 million (highest paid actor over the age of 70) Kevin Costner $15 million Russell Crowe $20 million Tom Cruise $25 million-plus (counting his backend deals and producing fees, is the industry's highest paid actor) Matt Damon $20 million Robert De Niro $20 million Johnny Depp $20 million Cameron Diaz $20 million Leonardo DiCaprio $20 million Vin Diesel $15 million Michael Douglas $15 million Kirsten Dunst $15 million Will Ferrell $15 million Harrison Ford $20 million Jodie Foster $15 million Richard Gere $15 million Mel Gibson $25 million-plus Tom Hanks $25 million-plus Anthony Hopkins $15 million Hugh Jackman $15 million Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson $15 million Nicole Kidman $17.5 million Martin Lawrence $20 million Jennifer Lopez $15 million Tobey Maguire $20 million Steve Martin $15 million Eddie Murphy $20 million Mike Myers $20 million Jack Nicholson $15 million Brad Pitt $20 million Keanu Reeves $20 million Julia Roberts $20 million Meg Ryan $15 million Adam Sandler $20 million Arnold Schwartzenegger $25 million-plus Will Smith $25 million-plus (highest paid African-American actor) Sylvester Stallone $20 million Ben Stiller $20 million John Travolta $20 million Chris Tucker $20 million Vince Vaughn $20 million Denzel Washington $20 million Robin Williams $17.5 million Bruce Willis $20 million Owen Wilson $15 million Reese Witherspoon $25 million-plus (highest paid actress) Renee Zellweger $15 million
Anyone here would take the check if offered it no matter what anyone else had to say about it.
One movie to make more than most people will see in 10-100 lifetimes?
That's my kind of income.
I do understand the opening weekend argument. I am just saying no one can blame Reese herself. Someone is obviously willing to pay her the money. So, why not take it? Anyone else would.
Well, except for this one guy I read about who chose to forgo his entire inheritance worth millions to like a simple county life. He actually turned it down to stay poor. That wouldn't be an issue with me.
Reese kind of annoys me personally. She is just too soupy and appears somewhat phony to me. As if her appearance is to do nothing more but to get people in seats. it's called playing an audience. I get it. I'd do the same thing.
She's ok and I would hang around with her. But, I believe she has a nastier side to her that we just don't see.
She probably gets home with Ryan. After finding out he hasn't vacummed or washed the dishes, she gets a little fussy and demands dinner and a footrub. She's a little upset at his daily gaming habits. He objects and she proceeds to toss a heavy object at him. This proceeds to an altercation followed be the cliche apoligy and flowers afterwards.
Their gas station alteration several years ago led me to the conclusion moreso.
I seriously highly doubt though that there is a Barbra Streisand/Jennifer Lopez style bitchy ego to her though, she doesn't seem like that kind of a person. I'm sure she throws her share of fits and isn't the most pleasant person to be around 100% of the time, but frankly, who is?
I'd guess he simply isn't being offered any, or any with a salary exceeding $10mil, which he probably thinks he deserves. But his $20mil for RH2 was precisely only because it was a sequel and he was absolutely necessary. With any other as-yet-uncast role requiring a wise-cracking African-American actor, if you're going to go north of $20mil you might as well try to get Will Smith, or you could probably get Chris Rock for much less.
Since Mel owns his films, isn't his value just ungodly? I mean, I'm trying to think of the last film he was in as a star, but I know from PoTC and Apocolypto, he could make uber-dollars.
Mel Gibson's price hit ultimate A-list status ($25 mil-plus) after headlining three $100 million-plus earners in 2000 ("Chicken Run", "The Patriot", and "What Women Want"). Keanu Reeves is the only other actor to pull this off when he saw both 'Matrix' sequels and his supporting role in "Something's Gotta Give" all crack the $100 million mark in 2003. In 2002, "Signs" became Gibson's first $200 million-plus earner. After headlining in some 33 films, Gibson has seen 18 of them go on to become big hits.
Overall, only Eddie Murphy (21) and Tom Hanks (19) have more money-makers than Gibson (i.e. films that were profitable hits for their respective studios). While Murphy does earn more than $20 million per-movie, his problem is that for every "Dr. Dolittle" or 'Nutty Professor', there's an "I Spy" and "Pluto Nash".