14 DAY TRIAL // Jennifer Lawrence has had one heck of a year. After the controversy that she and Amy Adams were paid less than their male co-stars in “American Hustle,” it must come as great relief to see that she’s the highest paid actress in Hollywood for this year.
Forbes has released its annual list of highest paid actors and actresses, comprising data from June 2014 to June 2015. Based on these figures and industry insiders, she made an estimated $52 million (€46 million) in a year, which easily put her at the top of her class.
Jennifer Lawrence rules Hollywood
A few years ago, when she was campaigning for her Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Jennifer joked that she’d love it if she could just take a few months off work and go chill with her friends, and do nothing out of the ordinary.
However, at the time, she was working on movies back to back, which still holds true to this day. She is one of the most in-demand actresses of the moment, from her role in the rebooted “X-Men” franchise to her “Hunger Games” leading part and the many indie dramas she does.
Jennifer works hard and almost doesn’t play at all - and it’s obvious in her paycheck.
She made the bulk of her cash thanks to a smartly negotiated salary on the “Hunger Games” franchise, but she’s also getting paid through endorsements and smaller roles. Being such a hard worker and being pretty much everywhere all the time does have its benefits, it turns out.
The rest of the high earners
Embedded below is a video from Forbes with the other 4 women in the top 5. Many of the entries are very surprising, including the mention of an international actress, Fan Bingbing at number 4.
Scarlett Johansson is second in the list, with $35.5 million (€31.4 million), followed by Melissa McCarthy ($23 million / €20.3 million), Bingbing with $21 million (€18.6 million) and Jennifer Aniston with $16.5 million (€14.6 million).
Aniston is the most surprising entry here because her movies haven’t been performing that well at the box office. However, she’s got 3 major endorsement deals that make up for what she’s not making with her acting.
The rest of the top 10 list includes Julia Roberts ($16 million / €14.1 million), Angelina Jolie ($15 million / €13.2 million), Reese Witherspoon ($15 million / €13.2 million), Anne Hathaway ($12 million / €10.6 million) and Kristen Stewart ($12 million / €10.6 million).
With the men, Robert Downey Jr. is at number 1 with $80 million (€70.8 million), if you want to see how the pay gap in Hollywood translates into figures. Perhaps even more infuriating is the fact that Adam Sandler is at number 4 with $41 million (€36.2 million), which means he makes about 5 times more money than the number 13 on the women’s list, Meryl Streep.
That would be the same Adam Sandler who hasn’t had a good movie in years, whose box office record is a mess in recent years and of whom even studio bosses say is a terrible actor.
