In the entertainment industry, no one has made more money in the past year than director Peter Jackson. This has now been determined by “Forbes” magazine.
“The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson (60) was the highest paid person in the entertainment industry last year. This emerges from a new “Forbes” list. According to this, the filmmaker allegedly took in 580 million US dollars (regarding 507 million euros).
But he didn’t only earn the money through new films. Mainly it is said to come from the sale of his company, which specializes in visual effects. According to “Forbes”, Jackson was only the third filmmaker in history to become a billionaire – alongside George Lucas (77) and Steven Spielberg (75).
These are the top 10
The top ten artists in the “Forbes” list include numerous musicians, including Bruce Springsteen ($435 million) in second place and Jay-Z ($340 million) in third place. Behind Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (270 million) is rapper Kanye West (235 million) in fifth place.
TV producers and “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (210 million) follow in sixth place. Behind them were musician Paul Simon (200 million), actor Tyler Perry (165 million), music star Ryan Tedder (160 million) and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (130 million). Like Peter Jackson, many of the stars did not make most of their money from films or new music, but from other business activities such as selling song rights or company shares.
Reese Witherspoon (45) is the first woman on the list in twelfth place. She reportedly earned $115 million. The actress had sold shares in her production company “Hello Sunshine”. She is also said to have earned an estimated 20 million US dollars through the series “The Morning Show”.
