Michael Flatley, is among the highest paid entertainers in the world, according to a survey in the US business magazine Forbes. Flatley will earn $54 million between 1996 and 1997, says Forbes, more than Kevin Costner, Eddie Murphy, Michael Douglas, the Spice Girls or U2.
Forbes wonders, however, if Flatley's earning power can last. He "exploits the current fashion for traditional Irish step-dancing with a gaudy, overly flamboyant clogging show," the magazine says. "But what will he do when the fad fades?"
The Forbes survey shows U2 earning $40 million in the same two years, $30 million in the current year. The magazine calls the PopMart tour mediocre and suggests the sick bag should be passed around when Bono says: "Sometimes big rock bands get scared of being eaten up by the big corporate machine. So we swallowed it before it swallowed us."
The top earner anywhere is Steven Spielberg. He gets 17.5 cents for every dollar the studio takes in from Lost World, which he directed. Lost World has already taken $500 million at the box office. The biggest earner in television is Oprah Winfrey. The highest-paid writer is Michael Crichton.