Saturday, June 6, 2009

Jolie tops Forbes celebrity 'power list'


Angelina Jolie has unseated talkshow diva Oprah Winfrey as the world's most powerful celebrity in a new survey published by Forbes magazine.

The top ranking is based on income over the past 12 months as well as web references, press clippings, broadcast mentions and major magazine covers devoted to the celebrity, Forbes said.

Oscar winner Jolie, 33, one half of the Hollywood golden couple dubbed Brangelina with Brad Pitt, earned $US27 million ($A32.89 million) between June 2008 and June 2009.

Her earnings and 'famous face,' Forbes said, were enough to dethrone media maven Winfrey, who earned $US275 million ($A335 million).

Jolie, who came in third last year, is known for balancing her movie career and work as a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency with her ever-growing six-child family with Pitt.

In third place was pop legend Madonna - absent from last year's top ten - whose tabloid antics and hit world tour Hard Candy boosted her profile and earned her $US110 million ($A134 million), the magazine said.

In fourth place was singer and actress Beyonce Knowles with earnings of $US87 million ($A105.98 million), who was lauded by Forbes for her 'multi-platform empire.'

The top male power-player Tiger Woods came in fifth with $US110 million ($A134.0 million) in earnings. Despite a year beset by injury, the star golfer remained the world's highest paid athlete.

A lucrative touring schedule was enough to catapult rock legend Bruce Springsteen to the sixth spot with $US70 million ($A85.27 million) in earnings, and bump director Steven Spielberg to seventh, whose work on the Indiana Jones sequel earned him $US150 million ($A182.73 million).

Actress Jennifer Aniston took the next spot, a cut above her former husband Pitt, with movie hits and tabloid splashes earning her the eighth spot.

With earnings of $US28 million ($A34.11 million), Pitt came in at ninth with his headline-making family life with partner Jolie and a blockbuster turn in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Rounding out the top ten was basketball wizard Kobe Bryant, whose first appearance in the upper echelons of celebrity power came thanks to big-bucks endorsement deals after the Beijing Olympics.

Anthemic, soul-searching band Coldplay were the most powerful Brits on the list this year with a debut at the 15th spot, following a sold-out world tour and a smash hit album Viva la Vida.

Also debuting, at number 49, was Barack Obama - the first head of state to hit the Forbes's Celebrity 100.

With his historic election to the US presidency in November 2008, the former Illinois senator and bestselling author became 'the most famous person in the world,' Forbes said.


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Sonam Kapoor in elite club of Indian edition of Harper’s Bazaar

The latest talked about actress of bollywood, Sonam Kapoor is coming as on cover of Harper’s Bazaar India for the month of June 2009. This photo shoot was conducted by Ace photographer Atul Kasbekar. The theme at the cover was displaying an effect of old glamour from Hollywood. By coming on the cover of the magazine she has joined elite club of Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone who earlier also appeared on the cover of Indian edition of the magazine.

Strike between producers & multiplex owners come to an end

7 week long stand off between film producers and multiplex owners on issue of sharing revenue ended on Friday morning on 5th June 2009. According to Mukesh Bhatt, noted film producer and director, “”Yes, the strike got over at 3am. All the parties agreed to our demand and we all will be releasing films soon.” He did not provide more details to the things.

Meeting started to resolve the issue started at Thursday night and ended at early Friday morning, where multiplex owners agreed to the demands of the film producers. The Multiplex which first agreed to the lines of producers was Big Cinema, soon joined by multiplex owners like Fame Cinema, Cinemax, Fun Republic, Innox and PVR, who assured verbally to end the strike. According to media reports Chief Operating Officer of BIG cinema, Tushar Dhingra told, “Yes, the strike is over.” Further on Fame Cinema and Cinemax assured verbally and soon sign on dotted line by Saturday. According to news multiplex owners agreed to 50:50 profit sharing in the first week of the film’s release, 42.5 ratio in the second week and 37.5 in the third week.

With the strike ended, the big movies Kal Kisne Dekha, Kambhakt Ishq, Kaminey, New York, Love Aaj Kal and Luck will queue up to be released