"The special issue also spotlights what the next generation of actresses is earning, by producing the top breakout performers' list. "Spider-Man 2" actress Kirsten Dunst tops the list with earnings of 8 million dollars."

"Mean Girls" actress Lindsay Lohan was second with earnings of 7.5 million dollars, followed by Jessica Alba (3 million dollars),Mandy Moore (3 million dollars) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (2 million dollars)."

This is from the article I saw from a Chinese news article of all places. I don't know if this People one says the same thing but I liked that she was described as "the next generation..". I wonder what SMG earned for "The Grudge". The movie didn't cost much to make and I wondered if she got some of the profits or not.

Firefly Flanatic | December 08, 07:35 CET

Why in the hell would mandy moore and jessica alba make more than SMG?? And lindsay lohan gets 7.5mil after ONE hit? I know a lot about the movie business (mostly box office) but that is just disgusting. I can see Kirsten Dunst getting 8mil, but the rest of the list is screwed up.

Dhoffryn | December 08, 07:38 CET

I read that Gellar got $600,000 for doing The Grudge. About her salary for doing one episode in season 7 of Buffy.

SpikeBad | December 08, 07:39 CET

SMG made 2 million on Scobby Doo 2 - I think that is where the number came from.

RavenU | December 08, 07:45 CET

Uhm yeah how did that happen? How is Jessica Alba more famous than SMG? Buffy was ten times bigger than 'Dark Angel'. Is it because she was Cameron's protege or something?

Of course all these numbers are so ridiculously high anyway. And then guys like Tom Cruise....sorry but they don't work THAT much harder than me...

EdDantes | December 08, 08:03 CET

Jessica will be in 3 films next year, at least 2 have a chance of being blockbusters. Those are "Sin City" in April, "Fantastic Four" in July and "Into The Blue" in August. Lots of Alba next summer.

[ edited by eddy on 2004-12-08 06:20 ]

eddy | December 08, 08:17 CET

And how hard is it for stars of genre shows to move on with their career afterwards? Lohan and Alba have better chances than SMG, that's for sure.

PMMJ | December 08, 08:22 CET

All of that makes sense to me except for Mandy Moore. She's made, what, four movies? Two (A Walk to Remember and Saved!) where modest hits, and the other two (How to Deal and Chasing Liberty) flopped. I'm not counting Princess Diaries because she just had a supporting role. And yes, i'm aware that I know far too much about Mandy Moore.

thekey1313 | December 08, 08:28 CET

Yes, but Lohan is in a genre herself, and we see how far many of these girls go after their teen-y, jailbait, ingenue appeal fades. Granted, i give Lohan more time than others in her genre, like Hilary Duff, but they both have the same kind of shelf-life.

I also want to add that I think SMG's asking price will have changed since the success of "The Grudge".

[ edited by syd on 2004-12-08 06:31 ]

syd | December 08, 08:30 CET

"Jessica will be in 3 films next year, at least 2 have a chance of being blockbusters. Those are "Sin City" in April, "Fantastic Four" in July and "Into The Blue" in August. Lots of Alba next summer."

Yeah but they're not out yet, and the very fact that she has all those oppurtunities is just as surprising as her high salary since she's really not bigger than SMG just looking at their track records.

"Lohan and Alba have better chances than SMG, that's for sure."

Apparently so. But again, why is that the case? I really don't get it.

EdDantes | December 08, 08:38 CET

See I don't understand why Mandy Moore is not getting the love here. To me, she is far superior to any of the ingenues out there. She's soft and subtle with her acting, and she is very resistant to the 'Hollywood' style of behavior. I cannot abide the likes of Hillary Duff, and really, that Lohan girl is mostly famous for her boyfriend and, unfortunately for our culture, her breasts. I also think that little Amanda Bynes shows promise. She's actually been funny, the few times I've seen her.

I realize it seems weird talking about this on W, but I see a lot of "pre-teen tv", because my middle child is turning 9. So I've been exposed to these kids and actually think that a few of them may have some promise for a future in the industry. A very few.

Truth be told? I don't really like knowing anything about this. Am much more interested in my own fan stuff, but hey, osmosis I guess.

ETA
Ed! I guess we were posting at the same time, but I don't see what all the hoo-hah about Alba is either. Why is she popular? She's a slip of a girl with a bad complexion whose series was cancelled suddenly and flatly. She looks to me like any chick you'd see strolling down the street. What's so hot? I can't see anything exceptional in this young woman that would warrant a big payday. She's NOT a good actress. So WHY?

[ edited by Willowy on 2004-12-08 06:55 ]

Willowy | December 08, 08:45 CET

What's so hot? I can't see anything exceptional in this young woman that would warrant a big payday. She's NOT a good actress. So WHY?

ITA. In fact, I always felt her to be a cheap Eliza Dushku knockoff.

syd | December 08, 09:10 CET

Willowy, I too think Mandy Moore has a better shot at a lasting career than say, Lohan and Duff, I was just pointing out that her movies haven't been great successes, even though I did enjoy How to Deal and Saved and thought that Chasing Liberty had it's moments. If she can choose better movies and prove to people that she CAN act, as she did with Saved, then hopefully she'll get more love.

And Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman? Give me a break. Is Marvel TRYING to mess up their winning streak?

thekey1313 | December 08, 10:59 CET

"Ed! I guess we were posting at the same time, but I don't see what all the hoo-hah about Alba is either. Why is she popular? She's a slip of a girl with a bad complexion whose series was cancelled suddenly and flatly. She looks to me like any chick you'd see strolling down the street. What's so hot?"

Well I guess she's hot. I'll give her that. But that's about all I give her. And really there's about a million other 'hot' girls. So yeah, why her? Why? She's really not a good actress from what I've seen. I swear James Cameron is her sugar daddy or something.... SMG's career is not the most important thing in my head. I hope she does well. Sure. But I'm not sitting up nights wondering what her 'next move' would be. But yeah....she should be doing better than some of these chicks.

"And Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman? Give me a break. Is Marvel TRYING to mess up their winning streak?"

I think they really are. To just make Sue Storm a young glamorous babe that looks like a pornstar is really not a good choice. But then they're getting the guy who did Barber Shop to make this, so my esteem for their sense of judgement is not really up there anymore.

Now no need for fans of those movies to get mad, I'm just saying that having made Barber Shop does NOT make you the first candidate in my book to make one of Marvel's most anticipated Science Fiction-Superhero epics. The Fantastic Four needs style, grandeur, that mythological quality. And that old fashioned 'explorers as heroes' feel.

Hey maybe he can do it. But really there's no reason whatsoever to think so by his resume. It's like saying having directed 'Dude where's my car' makes you the perfect candidate to direct 'Lord of the Rings'.

He must be cheap or something.

EdDantes | December 08, 11:34 CET

I heard that SMG got $2M base pay for Scooby Doo but then got a small percentage on top of that and because it did so well her actual take home was closer to $8M. And I'm willing to bet that her pay went up after The Grudge. At least for commercial films.

dshea | December 08, 11:53 CET

'Entertainment Weekly' quoted that SMG was paid $600,000 for 'The Grudge'. The $2M quoted in this article was for 'Scooby Doo 2'. And yes, I suspect the success of Grudge will push her higher up the pay scale in future films.

I still haven't been able to find how much she was making per episode of BtVS, but I don't think it was nearly as high as $600,000. This show only had a budget of $2.4M an episode, there's just no way they could pay the actors such salaries. To give you an example, William Petersen from CSI is being payed $500,000 per episode. However, this show has a much higher budget and its operating in the black meaning it makes more revenue than it costs. The producers can afford to keep the stars happy. I don't think Joss ever had that choice with BtVS on UPN.

Madhatter | December 08, 12:38 CET

If percentages are not included its a comparison of apples and oranges, also very dependent on the timing ( are we talking pre or post The Grudge ? ).

If SMG wanted to maximize her paypacket she could have continued with Scooby 3,4 etc. instead she seems to go for roles in smaller films allowing her to try out different things but with less pay.

Not that I think she would turn down a role in a blockbuster film, but for those roles she does have the 'disadvantage' of carrying around the face of the iconic Buffy character.

On other sites the number of $350,000 per episode have been mentioned and that seems more likely, I still dont know if the actors actually get percentages/residuals from DVD's and repeats on long running TV series, anyone know ?

jpr | December 08, 13:48 CET

All sorts of weird and wonderful figures have been quoted over the years regarding SMG's salary per episode for BtVS. Nobody really knows because the figures have never been published, but around $30,000 per episode in the early seasons is probably a reasonable estimate. That's $660,000 per season. The Scooby Doo films to one side, SMG is not a big earner. I'm always inclined to take the figures quoted in newspapers and magazines (and the like) with a pinch of salt.

alien lanes | December 08, 13:49 CET

JPR wrote -"I still dont know if the actors actually get percentages/residuals from DVD's and repeats on long running TV series, anyone know ?"

The simple answer is no unless they made producer status or negosiated it in their contract, whuch actually was not a concideration for most actors on TV to do. SAG never even brought up the notion of payment for commentaries and such until this year when they started negosiations with the producers union. Up until rescently most TV actors did commentaries and interviews for free (cause they get nothing on the actual episodes themselves after work is complete). Only lately have actors been working DVD deals into their contracts. Case in point Seinfeld the series almost wasn't released to DVD, cause Jerry wanted commentary from the entire cast and they all refused to do it unless they were paid or got a cut of DVD sales. It was a pretty big deal about a year ago and I think it openned some eyes in Hollywood to just how much money is made from the series on DVD market.

RavenU | December 08, 17:08 CET

jpr: It's unlikely that the Buffy cast would get percentages/residuals from repeats and DVDs. For one thing, that's a rare thing to have in your contract in the first place with only the most successful of shows giving their main stars that. Buffy was popular and was a success, however I'm not sure its ratings ever reached that level. For another thing, I think studios are trying to move away from doing this, largely because shows that are popular are going to get repeated a lot. I seem to remember NBC paying Ted Danson a one-lump sum to get him out of that part of his contract five years ago or so, simply because they were having to pay him so much money every month because of Cheers re-runs in just about every country in the world.

As for the list of actresses, I'd take Natalie Portman over any of the supposed "next generation". It's unfortunate that so many people only know her for her admittedly poor Star Wars performances, but give her a decent script and an actor who isn't George Lucas, and she delivers gold each and every time.

[ edited by Gonnas on 2004-12-08 15:18 ]

Gonnas | December 08, 17:17 CET

Thanks for the information, RavenU and Gonnas.

jpr | December 08, 17:27 CET

I don't get the Alba thing either - I do think she's hot, but I haven't seen her do any acting reaching above low mediocre. Well, maybe I'll be surprised.

sasja | December 08, 17:50 CET

SMG's salary for her final year of Buffy was reported to be $360,000 per episode, which sounds about right. Alyson Hannigan reportedly made $250,000 per episode as well for that year. Certainly, had the program gone on longer, some changes would have to have been made, since those salaries were rising while the overall cost per episodes were not rising at the same rate. As for SMG, reports about the 2 Scooby-Do movies report her salary for 1 at around $2 million and for 2 at $4 million. The $600,000 she got for The Grudge is very likely a base; I am sure she has something worked into her contract that will pay her a percentage when all is said and done. You do not get to her level in Hollywood without very good agents negotiating for you. Recent estimates about her earnings for 7 years of Buffy put the figure at between $15-17 million en toto.

Dana5140 | December 08, 17:51 CET

One of the reasons I gave up on Dark Angel after a couple episodes was due to Jessica Alba's poor performance. I didn't buy her for one minute as a kick butt heroine. Actresses like Sarah and Jennifer Garner are the ones that deserve to be landing those roles.

As for "the next generation" of stars, I'm more than tired of all these girls who insist on releasing albums AND starring in films. Most aren't talented enough to sing or act, and yet they're doing both.

MindPieces | December 08, 22:58 CET