Tyler Perry is laughing all the way to the bank.
The comedian-actor-producer extraordinaire has topped the Forbes list of the highest-paid men in entertainment with $130 million in earnings from May 2010 to May of this year, thanks in part to his “Madea” movie franchise.
Film isn’t his only domain — Perry also produces “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne” for TV amongst his various projects.
Perry beat out Jerry Bruckheimer for the top spot, who earned $113 million from the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, a box office hit that grossed $1 billion worldwide.
Legendary director Steven Spielberg ranked third with $107 million from producing projects, but he’s back in the director’s chair for the upcoming “War Horse” and “The Adventures of Tintin.”
Rounding out the top five are Elton John who made $100 million, while “X-Factor” creator Simon Cowell took the fifth spot with $90 million.
No. 6 on the list with $84 million is author James Patterson, who will see his famous character Alex Cross on the big screen for the first time next year. Cross will be played by none other than Perry, in a rare appearance outside his own work.
The rest of the Top 10 are: Dr. Phil McGraw ($80 million), Leonardo DiCaprio ($77 million), Howard Stern ($76 million) and Tiger Woods ($75 million).
To determine the men’s worth, Forbes spoke to agents, lawyers, producers and a number of other industry insiders to determine pretax gross, but without deducting management, agent or legal fees.
