Top 25 Hollywood Moneymakers


and BE 100S advertising agencies as well as industry sources such as TNS Media Intelligence, Baseline Studio Systems, Variety.com, and The Hollywood Reporter.

METHODOLOGY
In determining the Top 25 Moneymakers in Hollywood,
BLACK ENTERPRISE combined domestic and international box office totals, along with DVD sales for each project released in 2006 and 2007. For television personalities, we substituted advertising revenues for box office receipts. That sum was then divided by 1 million to bring the number down to a reasonable scale. This figure represents 40% of the total weighting of the index. The person’s estimated earnings (30% of the index) was also divided by 1 million and added to the mix. Then we factored in name recognition by coming up with a Q score (15% of the index) for each of the entrants. This was a scale of 10 to 50 and decided by BE editors. The awards category (15% of the index) was generated by evaluating the number of Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe award wins and nominations throughout the career of each person. The sum of these became each entrant’s total score. The index is the comparison of an individual’s total score to the average score of the 25 entrants.

Other criteria included:
For an actor to receive box office credit for a film, he or she must have been in a leading role.
Films in which the actor or actress was part of an ensemble or played a minor role were excluded.
Voice-over work for animated films was excluded.

TYLER PERRY: forget triple threat, Tyler Perry is a creative force without limit. He’s a playwright, screenwriter, director, film/TV producer, actor, author, and don’t forget media mogul. Perry runs a multimillion-dollar empire that’s expected to top $1 billion in revenues within three years. He has a schedule chock-full of plays, films, and TV shows through 2010. And he recently launched a 24-hour online TV channel to showcase his own content, including a talk show that bears his name.

Perry’s biggest moneymakers are the film adaptations of his plays. His triumvirate-Madea’s Family Reunion, Daddy’s Little Girls, and Why Did I Get Married?-grossed nearly $150 million at the box office in 2006 and 2007. Since 1998, Perry’s 11 touring stage plays have earned more than $150 million. DVDs of the movies and plays have generated revenues of more than $175 million. His first book, Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea’s Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life (Penguin Group; $12.95), remained at the top of the The New York Times bestseller’s list for 12 weeks in 2006 and earned a Quill Award.

Perry is a power broker who has unprecedented production and distribution deals. Lionsgate has acquired the rights to his next four films. Last year, he structured a 100-episode deal with TBS for a half-hour sitcom, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which will generate more than $250 million in revenues over the next five years. When House of Payne debuted last summer, it drew the largest sitcom audience in basic cable television history.

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