Mr. Bean II
Angela 3
Music Times
Cibbuano
TyronneThe Top Earning Dead Celebrities
October 26th 2006 00:01
Ever wanted to know who is earning more money than you from their graves? Forbes did, or at least they had enough spare time to fulfil the desires of those that did want that information. So they've compiled a list of the the thirteen top earning dead celebrities over the past year. Why thirteen? Because the Forbes writers want to cast an evil aura over the celebrities' graves, obviously. Or maybe the criteria for making to the list, which involves seven musicians, was that the celebrity had to make at least $7 million from their estate between October of 2005 and October of 2006. The evil aura thing still has some creedence though. The list:
($50M)2. Elvis Presley
($42M)
($35M)4. John Lennon
($24M)5. Albert Einstein
($20M)6. Andy Warhol
($19M)7. Dr. Seuss
($10M)8. Ray Charles
($10M)9. Marilyn Monroe
($8M)10. Johnny Cash
($8M)11. J.R.R. Tolkein
($7M)12. George Harrison
($7M)13. Bob Marley
($7M)The combination of their estates total to some $247 million, an impressive amount for simply lying in a wooden box - or in some cases, living it up in Jamaica. Forbes attributes Presley's ability to stay so high in the list over the years to a combination of a lasting body of work and an iconic image, though the number of times one of his countless movies fills in a timeslot on TV probably earns enough money right there.
It was a little surprise that John Lennon wasn't higher on the list, though with Yoko Ono's increasing involvement in his estate - with two lawsuits against EMI group for unpaid royalties across the next year - it wouldn't be shocking to find him at in top position next year. A personal surprise was definitely the continuing profit potential of Charles Shulz's estate - as creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip, his body of work is obviously on the larger scale, but as far as can be found, nothing truly significant has occured in the past year that would grant such profit. Maybe it was that recent Family Guy sketch involving them - I'm sure lawyers would've sued the pants off Seth McFarlane for portraying Charlie as a drug-peddler.
On the other end of the spectrum, Cobain's one-time appearance on the list is a consequence of one or two things. The first being the documentary recently released surrounding his life, entitled Kurt Cobain: About A Son. The second was the $50 million deal Courtney Love signed in handing over 25% of her stake in the Nirvana song catalog to Primary Wave Music Publishing. My bets are on the latter.
Nevertheless, as disenchanting as the list is for all of us simple folk, it is certainly enlightening that you may one day become famous, get screwed over by major record companies, earn pittance, commit suicide, and make a fortune for your ungrateful relatives and lovers to spend.
| 90 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by TonyK
AFL Central
NBL News
Comment by Jimbo