This weekend the Sunday Times published its annual Rich List 2010, which always makes headlines over here (even though I personally find it rather nauseating). Patrick McKenna, chairman of Ingenious Media, tops the film and television list with a personal fortune estimated to have risen by £200 million since last year, mainly due to Avatar. Anyway, here are the Top 20 names most relevant to Hollywood:
1. Patrick McKenna (Media financier), £520m
2. JK Rowling (Author), £519m
3. Simon Fuller (TV entrepreneur), £350m
4. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (TV producers), £240m
5. Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud (TV exec/PR), £190m
6. Nigel and Trevor Green (Film distributors), £189m
7. Arpad Busson and Uma Thurman (Financier/actress), £180m
8. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas (Actors), £175m
9. Simon Cowell (TV producer), £165m
10. Sir Ridley and Tony Scott (Film directors), £110m
11. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne (TV celebrities), £95m
12. Kishmore Lulla and family (Film distributor), £84m
13. Lord Alli (TV producer), £80m
14. Sir Sean Connery (Actor), £80m
15. Judy Craymer (Film and theatre producer), £80m
16. Tracey Ullman and Allan McKeown (Actress/TV producer), £75m
17. Rowan Atkinson (Comedian), £70m
18. Daniel Radcliffe (Actor), £42m
19. Keira Knightley (Actress), £28m
20. Emma Watson (Actress), £22m

Maybe this is just a North American thing but is Rowan Atkinson still making money?
It all seems a bit of guesswork, to be honest. I remember when Paul McCartney’s divorce went to court they found he was worth half of what this list claimed. Fuller’s fortune has moved in rather convenient round numbers (2008: £450m 2009: £300m 2010: £350m). Cowell’s income is mainly from TV and music deals that we can’t really know about.
Annual Stupid List
10) Not going to buy another cd- get those pirated ones & download from the web.
9) Not going to the theaters- download movie from the web.
7) Not gonna buy another magazines purchases – free scanned version on the net
6) No gonna buy any newspapers – free news on the net
5) No gonna pay for any books – free scanned and pdf version on the net
4) No more paid software. – pirated version on those Russian’s site
3) No more American Idol – they sucks anyways
2) Harry Potter – on hate list now
1) Stop being an idiot, giving your money to this rich sobs so that they can live comfortably while you worry when the bank is going to repossess your home or when will it be your turn to be shown the door by the company you work for.
i live exactly this way!!! for years now! not willing to make those people richer and richer and richer…
Rowan owns one of the most successful UK television production companies (Tiger Aspect) and one of the most successful talent agencies (PBJ) so doesn’t just earn money from acting. Well done Mr Bean!