“Jerry Bruckheimer has crashed more cars, saved more planets and blown up more airplanes than any man alive,” says one magazine article.

Jerry Bruckheimer is the great producer behind muscle blockbusters like Armageddon, The Rock, and Pirates of the Carribean. TV hits include CSI and Amazing Race.

He came from a poor, Jewish immigrant family. His parents would bring them to the matinee every weekend, and the films became his escape from his meager childhood.

No wonder he described Hollywood like this: “We are in the transport business. We transport audiences from one place to another.”

One of Hollywood’s richest and most talented producer / managers is Brad Grey. A veteran in the biz (he’s been there for 23 years) he was responsible for the Sopranos and Just Shoot Me (he earned net profits of $262 million on that show — and an additional $50,000 fee per episode). He also handled A-list clients like Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt.

One industry insider said, “There are 20 people who basically run this town. Brad can get any of them on the phone immediately. They answer his call because they never know what he might say that will be vital for them to hear.”

Who are the smartest people in the entertainment world? EW magazine attempts to make a list, naming the showbiz industry’s brightest minds. The criteria? They had to be at the top of their game, consistently cited by their peers as the best in their line of work. It also looked at all aspects of entertainment, going behind the scenes to the technical team who put the movie together, and management team who make those important decisions based on sheer “instinct.” Of its 50 names, here are the top 10.

1. Judd Apatow, director/writer/producer
2. Steven Spielberg, director/producer
3. James Cameron, director/producer
4. Ari Emanuel, partner of the Endeavor Agency
5. Will Smith, actor/producer
6. Meryl Streep, actress
7. Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight
8. Tyler Perry, actor/director/writer/producer
9. David Heyman, producer
10. John Knoll, visual-effects supervisor of Industrial Light & Magic

People who benefitted others in their line of work were placed higher on the list than the loners. EW claimed that they did 3 months of research, live interviews and consideration before finalizing this list. To read the entire list of the Top 50 Smartest People in Hollywood, please visit the source.

Hollywood producers are willing to invest millions on films if it can bring in the audience — you got to spend money to make some money, right?

That’s probably how the accountant of SpiderMan 3 justified a budget of $258 million, giving it one of the highest price tags of any movie before or after its release. But it’s not really the most expensive movie if you factor in inflation.

Cleopatra cost about $ 44 million, a princely sum considering it was filmed in 1963 (that would be worth about $295 million today). It is the most epensive movie made in HOllywood.

However, the Soviet movie “War and Peace” based on the Tolstoy classic cost $ 100 million in 1968, and took over 7 years to finish. It’s won the Guiness record for the largest battle scene (about 120,000 soldiers). If you compute for inflation, that would be worth abot $ 500 million today.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has announced his engagement to Georgina Chapman, a fashion designer.

While Weinstein is over 20 years older than she is, but there’s nothing sexier than a couple of millions and the reputation of being one of Hollywood’s movers and shakers. He’s often spotted at big events, rubbing elbows with a-list celebrities, and signing billion-dollar contracts before his first morning cup of coffee. He and his brother started Miramax, which they left to form another group, the Weinstein Co.

The writer’s strike has got many people thinking about the Hollywood economy — and how most of the industry don’t lead the glamorous, luxurious life of A-list celebrities.

Though the 2006 study of the Motion Picture Association of America pins the average HOllywood salary at $73,000 a year, most employees get much, much lower than that. The average includes executive salaries, which reach millions of dollars a year. But carpenters, set decorators and scriptwriters are lucky to get $50,000 to $80,000 annually.

Pretty good rate, but factor in that these jobs aren’t steady. Most will work 8 months of a year, and will have to audition or bid for positions. Writer Diana Ljungaeus says “it’s milearned a place where everyone is something else.” Cab drivers are directors, cashiers are stand up comics. Most take two or three jobs to support a craft.

“Very few people can live off the arts of TV, theater and film. It’s a few that can and they live well. The rest of the hopeful are just struggling,” she adds.

It has been customary for most celebrities to come from a certain point of origin. This point of origin where they originally came from would usually be the immediate foundation of their illustrious career. For Beyonce Knowles, she will always be best known for being a part of the famous singing group Destiny�s Child.

Outside the obvious talent in singing, her beauty and looks are other assets that make Beyonce a diva in her own right. In 2001, the group decided to try out solo careers and this surely became the opportunity for Beyonce Giselle Knowles to shine. Her natural talent in music since age seven sprung to new heights and this can be seen with her various accomplishments when she ventured out into stardom on her own.

Among her accomplishments included that of her first hit single �Work It Out�. She also gained prominence when she became the first African-American female artist and second woman ever to win the annual ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award. She has also appeared in the big screen in movies such as Austin Powers: Goldmember in 2002 and The Pink Panther in 2006.

[tags]Beyonce Knowles, destiny’s child, diva[/tags]

Originally making waves as a professional wrestler of the World Wrestling Entertainment, the Rock has obviously made the right choice in jumping to Hollywood and trying out his acting skills on the big screen. The Rock, also known as Dwayne Douglas Johnson, is a third generation wrestler who has quite a following in the wrestling industry. His father was another famous wrestler during his time, Rocky Johnson.

The Rock made waves of being a colorful and animated wrestler in the WWE, holding the championship belt on several occasion. While everyone knows that everything is scripted, this has helped hone the Rock�s skills and allowing him to take it to the big screen. He was soon offered various roles in mini-sitcoms until his first motion picture debut on the Scorpion King catapulted his on-screen value leading to other lead roles. Other major roles that he has starred in include that of Walking Tall, The Rundown and the last of which was Doom.

[tags]wwe, wrestling, the rock, wrestlemania, raw, smackdown, scorpion king[/tags]

Popular action star Mel Gibson has been often faced criticism for the movies that he has produced and it seems that the trend will continue to go on. After facing some violent reactions towards “Passion of the Christ” where he was severely questioned for its basis, he is at it again with his new film “Apocalypto”.

Apparently, Gibson was entertaining questions at the California State University when one professor from the Central American studies, Alicia Estrada questioned the misrepresentation of the Mayan culture from the movie. Gibson traded words with Estrada who was later on escorted out for her supposed misconduct and heckling barbs at the famed Hollywood actor-producer.

If there is one thing that differs from acting and directing, it is that of consistency with the races to which Gibson has been catering to. Known to be one of the hot male actors of his time in such flicks as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Patriot”, Gibson has been always the center of controversy with his film releases.

[tags]mel gibson, apocalypto, lethal weapon[/tags]

Used to be when a movie doesn’t do well in the box office, production houses shrug their shoulders and move on to the next film. Apparently those days are gone. Now they sue the author of the book on which they based the movie - at least that’s what mogul Philip Anschutz has done.

Anschutz has taken Clive Cussler to court over the disappointing results of the production “Sahara“. He says that Cussler did not live up to his side of the contract. Cussler publicly put down the movie causing viewers to lose interest in the film and he also exaggerated how many copies of the book were actually sold. All of this resulting in the poor performance of the film.

Cussler has countersued. He says that Anchutz did not follow his recommendations in either script revision or casting. He also says that the poor performance of the film reflects badly on his other works.

In reality we all know that one has little effect on the other. Many books are great but translate poorly into films just as the good performance of a film does not guarantee instant popularity of any book though it can boost its ratings a bit.

So who is reaping the benefit of all this? The lawyers. No matter who wins, the lawyers will bring home very fat paychecks.