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Salaries are being slashed now in Hollywood
The Daily Beast ^ | 4/2/2009 | Kim Masters

Posted on 04/02/2009 9:25:47 AM PDT by mikelets456

Julia Roberts is getting $15 million to make Eat, Pray, Love, but Scarlett Johansson was only offered $250,000 for Iron Man 2. Kim Masters on the tactics Hollywood is using to slash salaries.

You’re Scarlett Johansson. You’re pretty and you’re pretty famous, too. And you’ve just been offered the part of the Black Widow in Iron Man 2! That’s got to be some payday, right?

How about $250,000, which is what Marvel Studios offered Johansson and Mickey Rourke to be in the film?

The stars negotiated the number up to something over $400,000. Still, it’s not hard to imagine that even a year ago Johansson could have expected to break seven figures for a role in a big franchise film. It’s a pretty thrifty deal for such a recognizable name.

If an actor balks at the deal, the studios say they will move to another choice immediately. “They’re not fucking around,” says the talent representative. “They know exactly who that next person is. Sometimes they’ll tell you.”

But salaries are being slashed now in Hollywood and even bigger stars are not immune. “Why would anybody pay Julia Roberts $20 million to do Duplicity?” says one producer. “That won’t happen again.” Indeed, this source says Sony Pictures is ponying up $15 million for Roberts to do Eat, Pray, Love and probably already regrets having committed to pay that much.

What the revolution in technology had started, the economy has hurried right along. After years of impotent promises to choke off rich deals with talent, the studios are finally making it happen. They’re hammering on star salaries and perks like private jets, too. “They’ve wanted to go in this direction for a long time and the global

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: culturewars; hollywood; liberalmedia; salaries; slashed
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Finally good news for a change...SCUM! I have not been to the movies in over a year and only buy used Dvd's! Keep up your liberal, radical agendas and you'll be asking people on the street for spare change...
1 posted on 04/02/2009 9:25:47 AM PDT by mikelets456
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To: mikelets456

now, will wage caps come to professional sports ... ?


2 posted on 04/02/2009 9:27:43 AM PDT by silverleaf (Freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose")
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To: mikelets456

Look for more Hollywood folks to turn conservative!


3 posted on 04/02/2009 9:27:53 AM PDT by Biggirl (GO UCONN!=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: mikelets456

How about $250,000, which is what Marvel Studios offered Johansson and Mickey Rourke to be in the film?


I don’t believe this for a second. There is probably either profit sharing or “off the books” compensation involved. The Stars may be liberal, but their not stupid (at least their agents aren’t)—they don’t like paying taxes either.


4 posted on 04/02/2009 9:28:36 AM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: silverleaf

That is NEXT!


5 posted on 04/02/2009 9:29:32 AM PDT by Biggirl (GO UCONN!=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: mikelets456

Julia Roberts doesn’t have enough $$$ to pay me to be in any film I’d make.


6 posted on 04/02/2009 9:29:37 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: mikelets456
scarlett johansson Pictures, Images and Photos

Scarlett, you need a new agent...

7 posted on 04/02/2009 9:30:37 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: mikelets456

That Scarlet Johannson got a second job after “Ghost World” is proof Hollywood is doomed (Yea!).


8 posted on 04/02/2009 9:30:41 AM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Biggirl

A Conservative : someone who’s been mugged by liberalism.

Let’s just see how far this ‘shared sacrifice’ is going when we talk about the ‘artist class’.
And they thought they were special?!?!


9 posted on 04/02/2009 9:30:44 AM PDT by griswold3 (a good story is more compelling than the search for truth)
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To: mikelets456

They’ve pledged to Obama to make less money....


10 posted on 04/02/2009 9:33:33 AM PDT by Blind Eye Jones
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To: mikelets456

One of my Husband’s customers runs a hollywood stunt company (he moved his family OUT of CA and to LA..Lower Alabama:). He said there just isn’t much going on in hollywood... much like the building industry down here.


11 posted on 04/02/2009 9:34:02 AM PDT by sweet_diane (embracing Him.)
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To: mikelets456

How’s that ‘pledge’ going, Hollywood????AAAAAAAaahahahahahaha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kAw4OTlA0


12 posted on 04/02/2009 9:34:11 AM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear ("The smallest minority on earth is the 'individual'." ~ Rush Limbaugh)
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To: mikelets456
I suppose there is something to this, but I find the details in this story odd.

Salaries are going down! Down I say! Oh, by the way, Julia Roberts is making $15M for her new movie.

The first Iron Man movie made a PROFIT of $440M. So, of course, they need to economize on salaries for the remake. Can't take too many chances, you know!

I suspect that there's more to the story.

13 posted on 04/02/2009 9:35:17 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (American Revolution II -- overdue)
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To: Snickering Hound
best

lips

ever

.

14 posted on 04/02/2009 9:36:17 AM PDT by Solson (magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.)
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To: mikelets456

Oh, goody. Tell me more! Are they still wasting hundreds of millions on ihatebush movies that no one watches? Is there a bailout coming for the clowns and whores?


15 posted on 04/02/2009 9:38:37 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: mikelets456

I’m not sure it’s tech or the economy so much as the studios finally looking at the actual revenues. Of the 13 movies Roberts has made this decade 3 topped 100 million in domestic grosses, and the last one of those was in 2004. Why is anybody paying her 20 million bucks? She’s got movies that aren’t breaking even, and her salary has a lot to do with it. Scarlett Johansson has never had a movie top 100 million, while He’s Just Not That Into You has come really close (92 million) it’s an ensemble movie and it’s her first to top 50 million since 1998. Again why pay her a lot of money? I’m sure Iron Man 2 will make a ton, but I predict no more than a dozen people will watch it BECAUSE of her, and that’s really what a Hollywood pay check is all about.


16 posted on 04/02/2009 9:40:38 AM PDT by razorboy
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To: Snickering Hound

Not guilty!


17 posted on 04/02/2009 9:42:18 AM PDT by jimbo123
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To: rbg81

It’s not actually stupid for Johansson to sign for that little. Her box office track record isn’t actually that impressive, her movies don’t make much money, she doesn’t seem to have a core body of fans. Iron Man 2 will probably be viewed by more people than have seen her last half dozen movies, it’s a chance for her to win fans and actually make some big box office later. And Mickey Rourke has had a hard time getting work for a while, The Wrestler did great but he’s going to need to prove he’s no longer a problem to work with and that he has an audience, working cheap on a block buster is a good way to do that.


18 posted on 04/02/2009 9:43:53 AM PDT by razorboy
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To: mikelets456
Here's what I said on the topic of “A-lister” pay last October:

“When the stars are paid tens of millions; that also pushes other costs up — particularly marketing. (Studios have to promote the movie hard, to recoup the cost of the stars.)
The change from film to digital distribution (digital in theatres that is); will fundamentally change the economics of film making.

The cost of the 2,000 or 3,000 prints required for a “block buster” is over $10 million. That's on top of the film stock used in shooting, and the higher cost of post-production work in film, compared to digital media.

The high cost of distribution leads a studio to spend millions on “A”-list stars, who have a track record of selling tickets. That, in turn, leads to higher marketing costs, etc. etc.

The use of over-paid “A”-listers as voice actors for animated films is particularly extravagant. As the cost of producing animations drops with advances in computer animation & when full digital distribution kicks in — there won't be the perceived “need” to have big name stars on the marquee. The main advantage of the stars in an animation is the promotional work they do — appearing on the talk-show circuit to talk up the movie. When the costs of production and distribution are lowered, the need for such high-profile promotion will drop.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2109651/posts

19 posted on 04/02/2009 9:46:15 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: mikelets456

Keep up your liberal, radical agendas and you’ll be asking people on the street for spare change...

I guess that is not the kind of change these over rated, egotistical, narsacistic actors were thinking about. I wonder when they are going to start “capping” Michael Moore’s fat bank account - he thinks Obama is a super hero! Wait until he sees the “change” in his bank account.


20 posted on 04/02/2009 9:50:58 AM PDT by Bitsy
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