Peter Jackson isthe director of Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit franchises
Highlights
- Forbes has released a list of 25 highest-paid entertainers
- Peter Jackson stands over Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, The Rock and Kanye West
- Reese Witherspoon is the highest-paid female entertainer and comes in at 12th spot
Famed filmmaker Peter Jackson, known for making the most commercially successful movie franchises of all times-- The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit, has topped Forbes' 2022 list of highest-paid entertainers. Jackson had become a billionaire after selling part of his visual effects firm Weta Digital to Unity Software for USD 1.6 billion (roughly Rs 11,995 crore) in November last year. This deal had made him only the third person in history to become a billionaire (after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas) by making movies.
And now, courtesy of this deal, Jackson has topped Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers, leaving behind musicians Bruce Springsteen Jay-Z, actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Kanye West, who grabbed 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th spot respectively in the list.
Jackson's worth as estimated by Forbes comes to USD 580 million (roughly Rs 4,347 crore). The celebrity list of 25 names is dominated by musicians, but most of their enormous earnings came from other business ventures or the sale of the song catalogues, rather than recordings or touring, reports Daily Mail.
Actress Reese Witherspoon emerged as the highest-paid female celebrity with earnings of USD 115 million (roughly Rs 861 crore). Forbes said that the Big Little Lies star sold her female-focused production company Hello Sunshine to private equity firm Blackstone at a USD 900 million (roughly Rs 6,746 crore) valuation in August. She still has a stake in the production company. The actress also got a reported USD 20 million (roughly Rs 149 crore) collected from 10 episodes of The Morning Show’s second season.
Singer and songwriter Taylor Swift bagged the 25th spot in the listing with earnings of USD 52 million (Rs 389 crore). Forbes said she made profits by remaking and releasing recordings sold by Scooter Braun without her consent in 2020. Ahe also brought in earnings thanks to lucrative Peloton and Starbucks endorsement deals.
