Why Angelina Jolie & Reese Witherspoon Should be the Top Paid Stars

Nicole Kidman earns as much as $17 million per film and the Aussie beauty, tops the fifth annual list of highest-paid actresses released Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter.  While Reese Witherspoon is close behind in second place, box office draw Angelina Jolie is down the list at number eight.

Angelina Jolie & Reese Witherspoon Should be the Top Paid Actresses

Hollywood insider Nikki Finke takes the numbers to task a bit, speculating that Jolie and America's sweetheart Reese Witherspoon should both command $25 million per film.
The list closes this way.

In second place, with $15 million a movie, is Reese Witherspoon. Renee Zell- weger, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively. They also get $15 million for each film.

Rounding out the top 10 are Halle Berry ($14 million), Charlize Theron ($10 million), Angelina Jolie ($10 million), Kirsten Dunst ($8 million to $10 million) and Jennifer Aniston ($8 million).

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily first calls Kidman box office poison and the female equivalent of Sean Penn.  She gives snippets of each of the top ten actresses and concludes that Ang and Reese should be raking the big bucks in.

A taste:

2) Reese Witherspoon, $15 mil.

What she should be earning: $25 mil. Reese can do no wrong. Women love her, men love her, the camera loves her. And she's smart: when she was looking for a new agency, she lamented not owning her Legally Blonde character because it'll be Broadway bound. Which doesn't mean all her films are great, but she's always great in them. She opens a movie. 'Nuff said.

8) Angelina Jolie, $10 mil.

What she should be asking: $25 mil. There's no one hotter right now than Angelina on screen and off. Just ask the stalkarazzi. Unless she starts auditioning for sainthood by making too many message movies. Hopefully, she's too bad-ass for that.

The full roster and notes from Nikki are here.