Star Salaries

'If anyone is going to be foolish enough to offer me one million dollars to do a movie, I'm not going to be foolish enough to turn it down', remarked Elizabeth Taylor back in the 1970s. Today, $1m would just about get you a reasonable TV name, but at the time it was an astronomical sum that shocked the world.

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Elizabeth Taylor was paid a million dollars because the studios felt she was worth it. She and husband Richard Burton had become the world's first mega-celebrities, and having her name in lights would generate enough column inches around the world that would turn Cleopatra, the film in question, into a worldwide hit. After all, Hollywood was and is a business, acutely aware of market forces. In economic terms, one million dollars was a sum they felt 'the market could bear'.

The principles are the same today, with one important exception. The agents that represent Hollywood stars have clubbed together and formed companies responsible to their shareholders. These agencies understand the celebrity culture the world has created and that their stars have become the most important ingredient of any film. Therefore, they can demand large slices of profits. Filmmakers argue that star salaries are inflated by these powerful companies who can deny access to other stars unless the producers play ball. The agents, on the other hand, argue that the system would not support these salaries if the studios were losing money.

Next: find out what today's stars earn