Year-end lists serve two purposes: wrap up the 12 months we just experienced, and predict what is to come in the next 12. Chances are that your news feed is populated with a smorgasbord of lists expounding about the best TV shows, movies, movies that will be awesome, movies and TV shows that sucked, actors with best houses in the southern hemisphere, TV chefs with the gnarliest facial hair, blah, blerg, derp dee derp. That’s great and all, but I want to know one thing: who’s going to be the richest come next year’s finale?
That’s right. I, like you, am obsessed with who’s got the deepest pockets. Whose films have netted the most amount of moolah? Who can I immediately place on my “sell out” list — those actors that have transcended the indie level and have sold their souls to the satanic studio structure that has claimed the spiritual embodiments and integrities of so many beloved thespians. Well, according Fandango’s survey of 1,000 moviegoers, next year I’ll have the pleasure of hating WOMEN.
Now before you deem that seemingly misogynistic statement as offensive, let me frame this properly. In 2015, the top five actors that will supposedly top the box office (again, this is according to the Fandango poll) will all be females. Here’s the breakdown of the actors and the films they’ll be starring in.
1. Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Joy)
2. Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
3. Angelina Jolie (By the Sea)
4. Melissa McCarthy (Spy)
5. Halle Berry (Kidnap)
6. Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
7. Chris Hemsworth (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea)
8. Daniel Craig (Spectre)
9. Chris Pratt (Jurassic World)
10. Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible 5)
This prediction differs from the actuality of 2014’s box office. According to the Forbes annual list of top stars, Jennifer Lawrence raked in the most dough in 2014, but only she and Scarlett Johansson cracked the top five. Out of the top ten highest grossing actors this year, six were men. The ratio of men to women predicted for next year’s highest grossing tally is split evenly, but the biggest difference is that the top five are ladies, and the bottom five are gents.
Jokes aside, these highest-lowest grossing lists/predictions have no bearing on my, or for that matter, anyone’s cinematic viewing habits. No one is going to buy a movie ticket just because they heard an actor made the most money the previous year. But, for those ladies out there that would relish in evening the testosterone-laden planes of Hollywood, 2015 will be your year.
