Let’s all take a moment to shed a tear for poor, poor Jennifer Lawrence — the Hollywood actress only pulled in $52 million over the past 12 months.
Forget that Lawrence is the top-paid female actress in the world. Forget that she is the second-highest-paid actor overall. Forget that she makes approximately 2000 times the median U.S. salary.
No, MSNBC wants us all to focus on the travesty that she made $30 million less than the highest-paid actor in the world: Robert Downey Jr.
In the past 12 months (I’m actually going back further to include all of 2014), Lawrence has starred in three movies: “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Serena” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.” Downey has starred in three as well: “Chef,” “The Judge” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
The combined box office income for Lawrence’s movies was $571,195,164. The total for Downey’s movies was $535,520,530.
Now before anyone starts pointing out that Lawrence’s movies brought in $36 million more than Downey’s, remember that Downey was the star of the “Avengers,” which brought in more than $450 million, and the star of “The Judge” which brought in more than $47 million (he was also listed as executive producer on that film). He was not the star of “Chef,” which brought in more than $31 million. Lawrence was the star of only “The Hunger Games,” which brought in more than $337 million (three-fourths of the “Avengers”). Although “X-Men” was a high-grossing film, and Lawrence had a major role, the star of that film was Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
But that doesn’t even give the whole picture of why the 25-year-old Jennifer Lawrence might be making less than the 50-year-old Downey.
Downey has been working in Hollywood since 1970. That’s 20 years before Lawrence was even born. She had her first role on an episode of “Monk” in 2006, when Downey was already a household name (most notably for his comeback after battling drug addiction).
Lawrence is certainly one of the biggest stars on the planet right now, thanks not only to her talent as an actress but also for her endearing personality off-camera. She’s done incredible work and more than deserves the $52 million she made.
But Downey has been in Hollywood for 45 years. He’s had a role in 82 movies and TV shows, compared to Lawrence’s 28 roles. I’ll weep for her when her career is perfectly in line with Downey’s and if at that time she’s still earning less.
Until then, pick your battles, MSNBC.
