Tyler Perry Tops List of Highest Paid Men in Entertainment

3:23 PM PDT 9/12/2011 by Paul Bond

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The movie and TV mogul behind Madea and other hit properties earned $130 million in a year, besting Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg.

Playing an argumentative, plus-sized woman has been a lucrative endeavor for Tyler Perry, who Forbes magazine on Monday named “entertainment’s highest paid man.”

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Perry raked in $130 million in 12 months starting May 1, 2010, according to Forbes, not only from royalties associated with his Madea movie franchise but also through TV shows Meet the Browns and House of Payne and various other projects.

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Second to Perry on the Forbes list of 10 is Jerry Bruckheimer, who earned $113 million as the fourth installment of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise topped $1 billion at the box office worldwide.

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Forbes said it spoke to agents, lawyers, producers and a host of other insiders to determine pretax gross incomes for Hollywood's heavyweights and it did not deduct management, agent or legal fees.

It’s list of entertainment’s highest paid women is forthcoming.

Among men, Steven Spielberg ranks third with $107 million and Elton John and Simon Cowell round out the Top 5, having earned $100 million and $90 million, respectively.

Author James Patterson is No. 6 with $84 million. Perry, in fact, will star as Alex Cross, one of Patterson’s popular protagonists, in a Summit Entertainment film due next year.

Leonardo Di Caprio is the lone actor on the list and Tiger Woods the only athlete.

The full list is here.