It was a success a long time in the making, but now Jessie Buckley has made it to the top of the Hollywood heap... but it may not mean as much for her wallet as it would have in the past.
can now command up to €5million per film in the wake of her Oscar win last week, according to a leading box office analyst.
But the award won’t transform her fortunes quite as it might have in the pre-streaming age, the expert warned.
The Killarney superstar
Scott Mendelson, a California-based box office columnist for Puck News, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘She’s going to have the words “Academy Award winner” attached to her name in almost every piece of marketing for every movie she does from here on in – which is nice.’
The pundit estimated that the tag could see her fee rise to around €2.6million to €5.2million.
‘If she is part of an appealing, awards-friendly, likely-to-be-prestigious package, she’s probably worth, let’s say, $3million to $6million,’ he said.
‘As long as she is not wholly responsible for that film’s commercial success – if there’s other people alongside her, especially people that are making more money – then the axe is not going to fall on her if it underwhelms.’
Mr Mendelson said very few actors – even Oscar-winning ones – automatically draw big crowds to theatres on the back of their name alone.
Buckley would ‘absolutely’ have seen a bigger impact on her earning potential at the beginning of this century
‘Unless you’re like a Leonardo diCaprio, or a Sandra Bullock, or a Timothée Chalamet, basically, most people will not go to see you in a non-franchise, just-a-movie movie, unless there’s certain variables in your favour,’ he said.
‘Almost everyone else has an asterisk in terms of their drawing power. Even Tom Cruise – unless he’s – his films have had a ceiling of under $400million (€345million) for the last 20 years.’
The Hollywood expert said that Buckley would ‘absolutely’ have seen a bigger impact on her earning potential at the beginning of this century, ‘because she would have had the kind of films on which a leading-lady, star-specific career can be predicated upon’.
‘When you think of films that made Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts – and even to a much lesser extent, because of racism, Angela Bassett – we don’t get Waiting To Exhale [starring Bassett] anymore.
We don’t get While You Were Sleeping [Bullock], or Something To Talk About, or Sleeping With The Enemy [both Roberts].’
Films like Pretty Woman or Sleeping with the Enemy which made Julia Roberts a star, just aren't made for theatrical release anymore
‘These films don’t exist at the mainstream theatrical level. Some of that is the fault of the audience, some of that is the fault of the studios.’
Even 10 years ago, the industry expert continued, there was ‘a large segment of people that used to go to the movies just to go to the movies’, seeing both ‘event films and the regular studio pictures’, who now watch films at home instead.
Mr Mendelson, who writes under the brand The Outside Scoop on Substack, predicted Buckley will continue to ‘gravitate towards stuff that interests her’ rather than chase big-money opportunities.
‘If there is an aggressively commercial project that is appealing to her, then yeah, of course.
'But I don’t think she’s necessarily going to go, “Find me a superhero movie to do,” or “Put me in a Star Wars.”’
It is not only in her acting fees that Buckley can expect a financial boon from her Oscar win.
Whispers from inside the fashion world suggest a mega-money contract to become the face of Chanel’s Le Beige beauty range are well underway, which sources say could add a further €1.85million to €4.6million to Jessie’s annual earnings.
‘Jessie has that rare mix of high-fashion edge and girl-next-door relatability,’ one fashion watcher told the MoS.
‘She never overdoes the makeup, she’s a true natural beauty.’
, Jessie has already amassed a net worth of $3million (€2.6million).
