New Zealand movie maker, Peter Jackson, has cracked Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Powerful Celebrities” for the first time.
Jackson, 51, and “father” of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, is now in the Olympus of celebrities and considered more powerful than Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian, and Gordon Ramsay. He gained the 55th place in Forbes top 100 powerful celebrities list, headed by Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, and Steven Spielberg.
Sir Peter made an estimated US$50 million between June 2012 and June 2013, but while he ranks highly (30th) for press and money (37th), it seems he doesn’t get out much in Hollywood, as he is number 94 in the social rankings within the celebrity list.
It seems that the success of the first installment of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has helped put him in the limelight. In fact, Forbes commented, “When Jackson announced that The Hobbit (the slimmest of JRR Tolkien’s four Lord of the Rings books) would be three movies, fans howled in protest but Warner Bros and MGM were delighted.”
The two studios shared in the US$1 billion (A$1.08 billion) the film earned at the box office.
