resinrats

With stars' paychecks for movies reaching $20,000,000+ now, which stars are truely desrving of it? Which stars constantly put people in seats and have huge box office returns? It doesn't matter if you like them or not, if they are in a movie, it stands a pretty good chance of turning a profit just because their name is attatched to it. Each has had a couple low points but far outweighed by hits.

My list of most bankable stars:
Tom Hanks
Julia Roberts
Reese Witherspoon
Mel Gibson
Meg Ryan
Stephen Spielburg - probably the most bankable director


Some stars get big salaries because of one big hit but don't seem to star in more huge hits. Leo Decaprio is a good example of this. Because of Titanic, he gets $20M a movie. People said teenage girls boosted Titanic's BO because they saw it 10 times to see Leo. However, since then, 'Leo Decaprio' movies haven't done that well. Shouldn't the girls be seeing these movies 10 times?

Arnold Swartzanegger used to be very bankable but his recent movies haven't been huge hits...

Patrick G

You left out the most bankable of all - Tom Cruise.

Alien Redrum

Soddenberg is becoming a pretty bankable director.

Deftones

His last two films tanked. Full Frontal and Solaris were major box office disappointments.

Heat

Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Mel Gibson, definately.

Also Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage.

An up and coming bankable star? Ewan McGregor

wendersfan

You might be right, but I don't think they were intended to do well at the box office. I doubt if anyone would have complained if they had made a lot of money, but that's not why they were made. Given Soderbergh's current stature, I'm guessing he will continue to alternate between making high-quality "fluff" (Erin Brockovich, Ocean's 11) that is intended to make lots of money, and more arty films (Full Frontal, Solaris) that aren't. Seems like the perfect position for a director to be in.

FWIW, I'd say Julia Roberts is pretty bankable, Full Frontal notwithstanding... :-)

Rypro 525

vin desal is reportingly getting 20 million dollars for xXx 2,

Kal-El

I'd love to see the 2 Tom's in ONE movie.

shanester

[QUOTE]Originally posted by resinrats
[B]With stars' paychecks for movies reaching $20,000,000+ now, which stars are truely desrving of it? Which stars constantly put people in seats and have huge box office returns? It doesn't matter if you like them or not, if they are in a movie, it stands a pretty good chance of turning a profit just because their name is attatched to it. Each has had a couple low points but far outweighed by hits.

Stephen Spielburg - probably the most bankable director


FYI,

It's STEVEN SPIELBERG

Frank TJ Mackey

I would say Tom Cruise except that he's alienating his popcorn audience by taking on riskier pictures of late.

I'd like to see Tom Hanks do a little something crazy for a change. Hell, I'm convinced that Joe and Josephine Six-Pack would go see him in anything.

Deftones

You don't think they were intended to do well at the box office?

Making movies is like any other business. What is the # 1 goal? Make money, bottom line. Sure, the stars, the director may be making movies because of their love of creating or the their love of acting, but the studios make the movies to make money.

Charlie Goose

Popcorn audience?

Joe and Josephine Six-Pack?

Can you throw in any more elitist catchphrases? Really, it won't sound too snotty.

Honk!

wendersfan

Full Frontal cost $2 million to make. So far it's made between $2.5 and 3 million. It was a vanity project that didn't lose money, and actually turned a small profit. Basically, if a studio makes a deal with Soderbergh where they bankroll a $2 million vanity project and he agrees to pull out the stops for something like Traffic, then everybody gets what they want.

Solaris cost $47 million. So either it was a really expensive vanity project, or somebody somewhere thought it would turn a profit. It still might - who knows?

Frank TJ Mackey

I apologize if I offended you or something.

Alien Redrum

True, but Spielberg had his bombs too.

I'm not saying Sodenberg is as good as Spielberg, but I imagine he will get there.

C.H.U.D.

Worst spelling ever by the original poster.

It's Steven Spielberg & Arnold Schwarzenegger, yeesh.

Kal-El

It's also Soderbergh while we're at it.

The Antipodean

Tom Hanks is probably most dependable of those named.

jetflair

I think Russell Crowe has been pretty dependable $$$ wise ever since his US acting career took off.

Aaron Amos

CGI they have no salories to pay!

conscience

Not including K-19 and the horrid Random Hearts, Harrison Ford is considered the most bankable star.

At least, that is what I read somewhere.

Da Thrilla

Tom Hanks!

Groucho

I saw a breakdown one time that added up the take of all the films stars had been in and totaled them up. The stars with the best box office take were (seriously) Jeff Goldblum and Carrie Fisher.

DeadLamb

For a while there Adam Sandler was pure bank..

At least along the lines of making a film for less $$$ and turning a profit off. No make that a HUGE profit... Sure he is not up to the level of actor as some of the others on the list but still the cash flow based more or less just off his name to attached to a film is pretty high.

numbers all off imdb

Happy Gilmore - 1996
cost 10mil - takes 30mil plus
Wedding Singer 1998
80+ box office
WaterBoy 1998
cost 23m - take 160+ just in the usa (doh)
Big Daddy 1999
cost 32m - take 90
Little Nicky 2000
errr ok that tanked
Mr. Deeds 2001
cost 50 - take - 125usa - 35+ outside usa

as you can see that is a huge profit for just about any film with him attached to it and for the most part that is ALL those films had going for them in the first place. Granted he has branched out some more as of late so those might not make as much $$$ (punch drunk love)

Still, I would be willing to bet that if he returned to his normal fratboy like sort of film roots it would pull big profit and that is just off his name on attached to the film.

flabio

It seems Tom Hanks can star in a movie about paint drying and it'll still make $100 million - and I'll probably be there, too... Pretty impressive for the star of Money Pit and Bonfire of the Vanities.