David Robson

The Billion-Dollar Divorce, and What You Can Learn From It

June 22, 2018 By David Robson Leave a Comment

In our reality TV age, there are many billion dollar divorce lessons we can learn, without spending a penny.

Many of us are keyed into the lives of our favorite celebrities, and we make note of their offscreen dramas even more closely than we follow the characters they portray.

And since the source of all drama is conflict, we pay particularly close attention to celebrity divorces. Maybe it’s schadenfreude, a glee in watching titans of industry melt down thanks to love gone wrong, or maybe watching the super-rich being brought low through relationships with the wrong person makes us feel less alone in some of our own bad romantic decisions.

Most Expensive Divorce Settlements of All Time

Some of the most expensive divorces have resulted in billion dollar payouts.

Socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein made headlines recently for her Catwoman-style attack on fashion designer boyfriend Lloyd Klein. But she made her biggest splash in 1999, thanks to her decidedly un-amicable divorce from billionaire businessman Alec Wildenstein. Her settlement included a payout of a whopping $2.5 billion, as well as an additional $100 million for each of the next 13 years. She also sold the estate she shared with him for an additional $13 million.
Rupert Murdoch has lost a fair amount in multiple divorces. His second wife Anna Torv was awarded $1.7 billion, mostly in Newscorp stock, when their 31-year marriage was annulled. And Wendi Deng, whom Murdoch married 17 days after his divorce from Torv, got to keep the $44 million apartment they shared after their amicable divorce in 2013.
Oil tycoon and Donald Trump hanger-on Harold Hamm paid just shy of $1 billion to ex-wife Sue Ann Hamm. (Considering the lack of pre-nuptial agreement, this was considered far less than she could have taken in the agreement.)
Hotel mogul Steve Wynn‘s fifty-year relationship with ex-wife Elaine Wynn had remained startlingly cordial through two divorces. Although they were able to divvy up their considerable art collection without a fuss, Elaine turned to litigation to retain her control of $1 billion in Wynn Resorts stock, finally souring the peace of their long and close relationship.
Former Forumla One CEO Bernie Ecclestone divorced his third wife, former model Slavica Radić, in 2009, for which she received a $1 billion payout. But the couple’s finances turn out to be freakishly complex, as he has been receiving $100 million per year from her assets.

Billion Dollar Divorce Lessons

These dollar amounts are staggering, obviously, and feel light years away from our own day-to-day lives.

Indeed, being in love with our soulmates and gearing up to get married, we may feel that our own emotional lives are untouchable by this degree of conflict and this level of financial repercussions.

What makes these divorces so fraught and messy is the number of assets involved in each. If two people simply decide they’ve grown apart, that’s one thing. But if they’ve built a life together that includes children, pets, and assets (homes, cars, businesses, and so on) then that’s where things get complicated.

The No-Fault Divorce

Unlike the examples cited above, many couples who have simply grown apart can opt for a no-fault divorce. If the couple don’t have assets to divvy up and simply want out, they need only cite “irreconcilable difference” or “incompatibility.” Each state will handle it differently, but after a period of living apart the state will grant the couple a no-fault divorce.

The Dreaded Prenup

Doesn’t that abbreviation (for “prenuptial agreement”) sound ghastly? In simplest terms a prenuptial agreement is a contract by which a couple determines division of property and funds in the event of a divorce.

We’ve previously given you a list of reasons why signing a prenuptial agreement is a good idea, but admittedly it’s a difficult thing to discuss, particularly in the early, rose-colored days of a relationship.

It can be challenging to convey that such agreements are worthwhile for both parties in a relationship. And it’s actually no guarantee of cut-and-dried legal proceedings during a potential divorce.

Put It In A Trust

If you really want to make sure your assets are protected from a potential divorce, put them in a trust.

Trusts aren’t just for funds: you can put all kinds of assets into a trust (including your home) and still be able to use them — possibly with reduced tax consequences to boot.

The legal paperwork for a trust will only set you back a couple hundred dollars, but that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.

No Real Guarantees, Except One

Seriously, no one enters a legitimate marriage expecting it to end. Sure, some people might get married for ethically questionably reasons, but presumably few expect it to fail. But even for two perfectly compatible people, there’s no guarantee of happily ever after.

The only thing that is absolutely certain is this: It costs more to get divorced than to get married.

Even if you do a simple city hall wedding and realize after two years of thrifty living that you’re not compatible and get the easiest no-fault divorce, your legal fees for the latter are going to outweigh the costs of the former. (Don’t believe it? Go look up how much it costs to get a marriage license on your local government’s website, and then compare that figure with the divorce petition filing fee at your local family courthouse — it’s higher, right?)

“But hey,” you might argue, “my wedding is a deluxe, catered affair, which will surely cost more than a no-fault divorce. If you’re pulling out all the stops on a lush wedding ceremony (mazel tov, by the way), you’re determined to build a life with your partner.

That will include a comfortable home, children, multiple vehicles, and kids — all of which will later inspire divorce lawyers billing multiple hours (today that’s about $300 to $500 per hour if you don’t want to end up like the image at the top of this story) to disposition in the event your marriage becomes less perfect than you imagine.

A Final Thought

No judgement here, but if you want to ensure a blissful, litigation-free marriage, take a hint from the pattern evident in the pictures above: don’t marry someone old enough to be your father, no matter how rich he is — or, conversely, young enough to be your daughter, no matter how pretty she is. Just a thought.

Do you have any costly divorce stories to share? Have you found litigation-free bliss with a billionaire? Tell us all about it in the comments section beneath this post.

Broadway? No Way! Consider Cheap Regional Theater Tickets

June 10, 2018 By David Robson Leave a Comment

The live theater that makes the news is almost always on Broadway, yet it’s priced out of the range of many potential viewers. Cheap regional theater tickets might offer a better, more accessible experience — especially because you an easily see 10 shows at that level for the price of one of ticket in Broadway’s equivalent of the bleachers.

Even though Broadway ticket lotteries do put a handful of low-cost seats within reach of a lucky few — they give a misleading impression of easier accessibility. Watching the Tony Awards or purchasing a soundtrack may be the closest many of us get to experiencing something like Hamilton.

Cheap Regional Theater Tickets

Fortunately, a number of high-quality live art experiences await you much closer, and at much lower ticket prices.

Many of them are presented by people in your community who could really use (and well deserve) your entertainment dollars.

If you have a theater in your community staffed largely by professionals that put on different plays year-round, congratulations: That’s a regional theater.

Some of these venues focus on the classical repertoire while others offer a balance between classics and newer work. All of them offer high-quality theater for a small fraction of Broadway prices.

Get Ready for Sticker Shock

Now get a load of the following prices for some of the most popular Broadway shows — and keep in mind that the following information doesn’t include fees for travel and hotel (in case you don’t live in New York).

You could easily pay almost half a grand to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; winner of the Best Play Tony, this production is actually staged in two parts.

One ticket admits you to both parts, but it’ll cost you at least $498 — via Broadway.com, which is considered a discount ticketer — if you want to attend an evening or weekend show.

If you can make a Wednesday matinee you might score a ticket in the very last row for $236 on Vividseats.com.

Try looking for shows with fewer Tony nominations this year, like Mean Girls, and the best you can get is at least a month out for $135 per seat in the mezzanine right (bleacher seats, in sports terms) via Stubhub.

If you want to be able to see, then you might pay $249.50 apiece via the same site. If you want to see it sooner than a month from now, then you’ll have to pay over $800 to get it via verified resale (aka scalpers, who are as active on Broadway shows as they are on sporting events).

Cheap Regional Theater Tickets

Shows playing at the same time at regional theaters have much more reasonable prices, and these include plays that originated on Broadway.

For instance, in Minneapolis, the Guthrie Theater offers performances of another classic musical, West Side Story, for as little as $34 — and the most expensive seats top out at $82 each.

Other shows at the Guthrie has even more affordable prices, like $9 tickets for Not Every Mountain (pictured to the left)– although Guthrie’s site it clear that it wasn’t a finished play, but that the work was being developed during its run there.

Another musical that originated on Broadway, Camelot, has extended its run at Washington DC Shakespeare Company during this same time window. Tickets cost anywhere from $59 to $125, depending on the location of the seats.

Community Theater and Beyond

Even better prices await you at several other types of theaters, although the quality level can vary significantly.

For starters, you might pay around $12.50 per ticket at community theaters, which despite being less professional their regional counterparts still feature experienced actors.

Then there’s plays put on by colleges and universities, where you can expect to pay about $5 to $20 per ticket — plus the usual discounts that come with subscriptions.

Assuming you live in or near a college town, have a look and see if the local university has a drama or theater program. You never know which student actor is destined for stardom – you might just be seeing one of the first performances by tomorrow’s Tina Fey.

Downright Bonanza

Even smaller theaters than the ones on college campuses are the ones that host fringe festivals — downright bonanzas for the devotee of smaller, affordable theater.

There are a surprisingly large number of fringe festivals in the country, each one offering between a weekend and two whole weeks of small, personal theater. You might pay $10 for a single show or get a discounted pass to see five or 10 shows for even less apiece.

And if you really want to save money, you can sign up as a volunteer and then gain free admission to all of the shows if you put in a certain number of work hours. Four shifts might get you a pass for the whole shebang.

Yes, theaters at other levels have volunteer opportunities (look for an “opportunities” link on your local theater’s website), but you probably won’t get to see as many shows as you do at a fringe festival.

Fringe theater is always small-scale, usually meaning new work performed in smaller spaces. And by its nature it is meant to be affordable and accessible, as well as in-your-face and intimate.

That’s really what theater is supposed to be, but that has been lost in the spectacle and industry of Broadway. But the size of your pocketbook and your distance from Broadway are not obstacles between you and an unforgettable theater experience.

Indeed, the greatest live art experience you’ve ever had might be right in your town, at a cost you can count on two hands. Keep your eyes, heart, and browser window open.

Have you made it to any live theater recently? What’s your favorite theater in your community? Sound off in the comments below, theatergoers.

If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

Should You Go to a Movie Based on Its Box Office Take?

May 30, 2018 By David Robson 1 Comment

As people who monitor our spending very closely, many of our decisions are made based on numbers. Especially with regard to entertainment, for which our budget may be quite small.

At the time of this writing, the big entertainment news has been the box office disappointment of Solo: A Star Wars Story. It feels like the box office takings of the movie were discussed more than whether the film was any good.

Which raises the question: Should you base your movie-going decisions on box office stats? Short Answer: No. Even the long answer is essentially no.

Box office figures used to be of interest only to readers of Hollywood trade publications. Variety would collect the figures on movies rented by theaters, and would list the most popular movies rented by theaters in the largest cities.

It was only in 1981 that data was collected from all movie theaters, this time focusing on the box office — on what patrons around the country (and later, around the world) were paying to see movies.

This information became distributed in more mainstream publications, including newspapers.

Even as detailed film criticism was phased out of many newspapers (and film critics wound up on the internet, flooding the thing with endless movie reviews), that compact top ten box office list remained, offering quantitative data without taking up too many column inches.

Water Cooler Talk

The weekend grosses of movies became something we could easily access and talk about around the water cooler Monday mornings.

Combine that with the increasing dominance of the blockbuster mentality in Hollywood (and among the so-called indie studios), and you have a formula by which the most profitable movie appears to equal the best.

Your average Joe may be reluctant to offer an artistic opinion on a movie but may feel comfortable pointing at the hard data which suggests that millions of people went to a movie theater to enjoy the same experience he or she did.

Many viewers simply feel safer spending money to see a movie that everyone seems to be going to than to take a chance on something fewer people are talking about.

The Big Box Office “But”

But there are a mess of economic factors that figure into a movie’s box office grosses. Many big budget blockbusters have the advantage of tremendous studio backing, and will be booked into a large number of theaters worldwide.

Many screens in the same multiplex will offer the same movie, feeding the bigger-is-better notion (“It must be good if the ‘plex is showing it on three screens.”).

In small-town markets with only one or two neighborhood theaters, the latest blockbuster may be the only movie screening in town, and so it’ll sell a number of tickets to small-town viewers who want to see the latest movie on offer, regardless of what it is.

Big Splashy Action Movies

This kind of wide, shock-and-awe release will tend to be a big, splashy action movie, especially in the summer.

Effects-driven, highly visual movies have always been good business for Hollywood. The studios continue to chase big successes in the international markets, where they have an established and successful track record with bigger, louder movies featuring an emphasis on familiar characters, big action, and busy visuals.

And so mainstream theaters will be flooded with such movies during the summer blockbuster months.

What About Solo?

In the case of the aforementioned Solo: A Star Wars Story, it may have been that the studio miscalculated the interest in a movie based on the early days of one of the franchise’s earliest characters.

It has been booked on thousands of screens, and its marketing has been difficult to miss. If you want to see it, you’re in luck – it’s certainly playing at a theater near you, even if there’s only one movie theater in your town.

Which leaves us with the perplexing story that the new Star Wars movie is a flop financially. On paper the movie’s grosses — $150 million in its first three days – seem impressive (after all, that’s more money than most of us will see in our lifetimes).

What Flop?

But the main story emphasizes what a flop this movie has been: The previous Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, took $220 million in its first three days in just the U.S. and Canada; and Solo is only the seventh-highest Memorial Day opening for a movie.

Given the prominence in reporting of a movie’s financial success, words like “flop,” “disappointment,” and “undersold” create a misleading impression of inferior quality that has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the movie is any good.

The Transformers movies have made nearly $5 billion between them, but would you call them classics?

The discussion of box office grosses also ignores smaller movies. Foreign and independent films have nowhere near the theatrical distribution of the major blockbusters, and many of them could really use your ticket dollars to break even. (Many of them are more deserving of your ticket dollars, really.)

Your Favorite Movies Might Have Been “Flops”

Plus, movies become enshrined classics over time, often without the benefit of large box office dollars.

The Coen Brothers’ 1998 stoner comedy The Big Lebowski is one of the most-quoted and deeply beloved comedies of the last 20 years, a huge build from its initial box office take of $46.2 million.

The home videos outsold *The Godfather,* but *Tommy Boy* fizzled at the box office.

The Chris Farley and David Spade comedy Tommy Boy had even more modest box office revenues of $32.7 million in 1995. But 10 years later its director Peter Segal was told by Paramount that the movie had outsold The Godfather on home video.

Paramount then put out a new disc for the movie, loaded with extras, which took its profile even higher.

And surely you or someone in your office can bust out a quote from 1999’s Office Space, a funny and evergreen movie that took in $12.2 million during its theatrical run.

So Where Should You Look?

If a movie’s box office taking isn’t a reliable indicator of a movie’s quality, what can you use instead?

Film Reviews

If your local paper doesn’t have a busy film critic or reviewer (or if that person sucks), there’s a bunch of great film writing on the web.

RogerEbert.com has many writers on staff who are continuing the tradition of clear, insightful, and useful film writing established by the late, great Chicago critic.

Rotten Tomatoes

The fresh or rotten binary is sometimes misleading, but Rotten Tomatoes isn’t a bad first stop for an overview on a movie. It includes excerpts of reviews, plus a fresh or rotten certification based on those reviews that will tell you if a majority of reviewers liked it.

Ask a Friend or Acquaintance

You’re sure to have a movie-mad friend who’d love to make recommendations. Just ask — straight up and spoiler-free — if the movie’s worth seeing.

Twitter

Every movie that comes out has people tweeting about it. You can either type the title into the search window or look for the hashtag for the movie (i.e. #Solo or #SoloAStarWarsStory).

This will get you to a mess of different opinions about the movie. If any particular person’s tweets about a movie feel right, are smart or amuse you, follow that person.

Even better, if you can find out the Twitter handle of a movie critic you dig, follow that profile for additional recommendations.

All of the above ideas will help you navigate your way through the summer movie season, when lots of flicks tend to generate big numbers because kids are out of school.

Just remember: bigger box office doesn’t automatically mean a better movie. And the little movie you take a chance on might turn out to be tomorrow’s classic. Happy viewing.

How seriously do you take a movie’s box office takings when considering a movie’s worth? Where do you go for movie recommendations? And which movies do you want to go see this summer?

If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

The Cape Strikes Back: More Star Wars Swag for the Solo Premiere

May 24, 2018 By David Robson Leave a Comment

Solo: A Star Wars Story premieres tonight, and some theaters are holding fan events before the screening that will include costume contests.

If you’re considering attending — or even if you’re planning to see the movie at the theaters later on — the following list of costumes on Amazon might pique your interest.

You’ll definitely enhance your experience of the flick with the following Star Wars swag.

Lando Calrissian Costume

This item comes first because it’s so, so great.

As played by Billy Dee Williams in the original trilogy, the likable rogue Lando Calrissian made a regal impression thanks largely to his stylish taste in capes. Donald Glover continues the caped tradition as a young Lando in the new movie.

This beautifully-crafted costume is a mite pricey, topping off at $160, but that cape is just grand, and is ideal wear for waiting in line for a Solo screening.

Chewbacca T-Shirt

Look, we get it: Chewbacca is an iconic character, beloved by fans old and new. Maybe it’s his incredible growl (which every character in the movies seems to understand just fine), maybe it’s his pelt.

But it’s summer, and so there’s no way in heck anyone’s going to recommend that you make the scene even at something as important as a Star Wars movie premiere in a full, furry Wookiee costume. Your Chewbacca roar will become not a rallying cry for the rebellion, but a surrender to heat exhaustion.

This comfy and well-reviewed t-shirt will set you back $19.99, and is an excellent way to let your Wookiee flag fly that won’t also have you coughing up furballs.

Han Solo Jacket for Women

The new Star Wars movies have included a slew of tough, well-realized female characters that have expanded the appeal of the series among women in the audience.

Decrum has a line of wonderful jackets for women modeled closely to the outfits worn by both male and female characters from the series. It’s especially pleasing to see a brown Han Solo jacket made for women who might be itching to pilot the Millennium Falcon.

The attractive and functional jackets (yes, they have pockets!) range from $99 to 169.99, and should remain intact and suitable for wear to the next few Star Wars movies.

Han Solo Blaster

In the very first Star Wars movie Han Solo famously opined that “hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.”

This gloriously gaudy toy fits the bill — it’s a Nerf gun sporting a nifty Star Wars logo — for just $29.87 with Amazon Prime.

And it comes with four glow-in-the-dark darts to enable all kinds of nocturnal activities. Refill packs containing 14 more darts cost $7.99. And it also makes blaster noises to enable maximum “pew-pew” action.

Darth Vader Lightsaber

Given that Solo: A Star Wars Story is basically a heist movie in space, it’s pretty light on Jedi action.

But you may be one of those fans who believe (and they do have a point) that it just isn’t Star Wars without light sabers, the weapons of the Jedi Knights, spinning around and humming.

There are a whole mess of light sabers available of wildly varying quality, but accessorizing with this Darth Vader model is a nice nod to the old school (and the dark side of the Force, of course). It glows red at the touch of a button, makes a spiffy noise upon activation, swings around beautifully, and is yours via Amazon for $39.95.

Yoda Toddler Costume

For those whose very young kids are keeping them on the light side of the Force, here’s a perfect way to honor both the legacy of Star Wars and the precocious wisdom of your children.

There are numerous reasons one might dress one’s toddler as the grand Jedi master Yoda, and all of them are good. If you’re already making the scene costumed as Luke Skywalker it’s completely appropriate — even necessary — to carry your Yoda child on your back. And particularly vocal toddlers may share Yoda’s knack for offbeat sentence construction (“Give me gummi bears, you will”).

Whatever the case may be, this costume comes in newborn, toddler, and infant sizes, giving you both a Yoda robe and headpiece for $29.99.

Porg Pet Costume

This item takes Porgs to a whole new level. Of course this thing is temporarily sold out. Everybody wants a Porg for a pet, and thanks to this costume, you can make your pet a Porg.

You are going to coo and scream at how amazing your pet looks in this hilarious and adorable costume.

And your pet will respond with an absolutely bewildered facial expression that will only serve to deepen their complete and utter Porgness.

Priced at just $19.99 for the small or medium size and $22.99 for large and extra large (doberman Porgs!), this item might be essential for anyone whose pet is certified as a service animal — imagine taking your Porg to the movie theater.

Have you picked up any of these items for yourself? Which Star Wars costume is your favorite lifestyle accoutrement? And hey, what did you think of Solo: A Star Wars Story? Sound off in the comments!

If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

What’s ‘Deadpool’ Star Ryan Reynolds’ Net Worth?

May 17, 2018 By David Robson Leave a Comment

With Deadpool 2 opening in wide release Friday, May 18, star Ryan Reynolds seems set to continue his streak of starring in wildly successful movies. But what is Ryan Reynolds’ net worth?

Ryan Reynolds’ net worth has been estimated at a whopping $75 million.

Early Years

Ryan Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia. His earliest acting roles were on television, including a leading role in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (known in the U.S. as Fifteen.), two younger sisters, and a large number of foster siblings who exposed Glover to a wide array of worldviews.

Guest spots on U.S. TV shows followed, including The X-Files and The Outer Limits. He became a lead character on the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl, which aired for four seasons before its cancellation in 2001.

Reynolds on Film

Two Guys and a Girl established Reynolds as a solid comedic actor, and he made the transition to movies. Reynolds played the title role in the funny, raunchy National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, a cult favorite which took in $38.3 million at the box office.

Other comedies featuring Reynolds’ talents include The In-Laws (total box office: $26.9 million), Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (total box office: $23.9 million), and the very raunchy cult comedy Waiting (total box office: $18.6 million).

But Reynolds began branching into more serious, action-driven movies while retaining the charm cultivated in his comedies.

He was a Federal agent in the character-driven shoot-em-up Smokin’ Aces, which grossed $93 million; played the lead in the Amityville Horror remake (total box office: $108 million); and got buff for the superhero sequel Blade: Trinity (total box office: $128.9 million).

Although he was ideally cast as the lead in Green Lantern, it turned out to be a rare superhero dud, even with $219.9 million coming in at the box office.

Deadpool

The Deadpool movies are the movies for which Reynolds will probably remain best known. Created in the early ’90s by writer Fabian Nicenza and writer and artist Rob Leifeld, this Marvel Comics character quickly became a cult sensation thanks to his perverse sense of humor, his habit of breaking the fourth wall to address the reader directly, and his capacity for extreme and cartoonish acts of violence.

Reynolds may well be Deadpool’s biggest fan, considering he spent nearly 11 years and much of his own money to bring the character to movies. He first appeared as Deadpool (or, more accurately, as Deadpool’s other identity, mercenary Wade Wilson) in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Although the movie earned $373.1 million at the box office, it was not a critical success, nor was it particularly liked by anyone who starred in it.

Most critical of the movie’s naysayers were Reynolds himself, who worked even harder (and spent millions of his own money) to bring Deadpool to his own movie, costume and foul mouth intact.

The movie Deadpool was a gamble, bringing raunchy R-rated sex and violence and wildly irreverent humor to the superhero movie.

But the result was the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, bringing in $783.1 million at the box office and bestowing upon Reynolds a fat $10 million paycheck.

Ryan Reynolds’ Personal Life

Reynolds is married to actress Blake Lively, who also starred in Green Lantern. They have two children and lives in a $2.3 million house in Bedford, NY.

Reynolds is active on behalf of a number of charities. He’s best known for his work with the Make A Wish Foundation and befriended his 13-year-old Canadian fan Connor McGrath through the foundation.

Before McGrath’s death in 2016 Reynolds raised money for his treatments, and brought a video of the just-completed Deadpool during a visit, making McGrath the first fan to see the movie.

Reynolds has used his high profile on social media to raise funds for those affected by hurricanes throughout the U.S. O

Lessons From Ryan Reynolds’ Net Worth

As clichéd as “follow your dreams” has become out of the mouths of millionaires, it’s proven ridiculously true in Reynolds’ case. He has attained a high level of success in Hollywood while keeping his feet on the ground and has provided a stable and loving home for his family.

And the phenomenal success of Deadpool makes it easy to forget how unlikely a success it was, and how much of it rested both on Reynolds’ passion for making it happen and on his cultivated charm and star power.

Are you going to see Deadpool 2 opening weekend? Which Ryan Reynolds performance is your favorite? Tell us in the comments section beneath this post.

Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story — What Is Donald Glover’s Net Worth?

May 14, 2018 By David Robson Leave a Comment

The multi-talented Donald Glover has a lot going on in May: He unleashed the viral hit music video “This is America” on May 5th and appeared on Saturday Night Live as host and musical guest that same evening. And he plays Lando Calrissian in Solo, a Star Wars Story, which opens in theaters on May 25. But what is Donald Glover’s net worth?

Donald Glover’s net worth has been estimated at $12 million. Given his steady and increasingly distinctive output in a number of media, you can expect that number to skyrocket in the coming years.

The Early Years

Donald Glover was born on September 25, 1983, and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia (half an hour from Atlanta, where he currently resides).

His extended family included his older brother Stephen (who remains a close collaborator today), two younger sisters, and a large number of foster siblings who exposed Glover to a wide array of worldviews.

With many movies and TV shows prohibited at home by his strict religious parents, Glover made up his own movies, recording audio tapes of stories he’d invent with his brother. High school dramatics provided another creative outlet, and his classmates would vote Glover “Most Likely To Write For The Simpsons.”

30 Rock And Beyond

Glover attended college at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. While still living in an NYU dorm he was hired as a staff writer for Tina Fey’s NBC sitcom 30 Rock.

Too talented to be contained in the writer’s room, Glover would eventually appear in the show, and after three years, with Fey’s encouragement, left 30 Rock to pursue other opportunities.

Six days later Glover was cast in the sitcom Community. He played Troy Barnes, a former high school quarterback who, over the course of five seasons, embraced his inner nerd.

Although Glover was not a credited writer on the show, he would improvise many of his finest, funniest lines, to the point where as show creator Dan Harmon recalls, “there was a transitional point where we literally started writing in the script, ‘And then Donald says something funny.'”

Music and Movies

But Glover’s considerable talent was not to be contained by television alone.

During his tenure on Community Glover’s music career began in earnest.

Glover had released a few mixtapes as Childish Gambino, but his major label debut occurred in 2011 with his first album Camp.

The album sold 242,ooo copies, earning Glover $250,000. His next album, 2013’s Because the Internet, earned Glover $330,000 and his first Grammy nominations.

That album, and 2016’s “Awaken, My Love!” were both certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (selling 525,000 and 100,000 copies, respectively).

Amid all of this activity, Glover became an in-demand movie actor, as well; 2015 alone saw him appear in three major motion pictures: The Lazarus Effect (which made $38.4 million at the box office), Magic Mike XXL (which made $122.5 million at the box office), and The Martian (which took in a whopping $630.2 million at the box office).

Though an enthusiastic fan campaign to get Glover cast as Spider-Man in a movie didn’t quite work out, the call was widespread enough that Glover was cast in a small but crucial role in the recent Spider-Man: Homecoming (which made $880.2 million at the box office).

Atlanta

The TV series Atlanta may well be the work for which Glover is best remembered.

Modeled on disparate TV shows as Seinfeld and Tiny Toon Adventures, Atlanta tells the story of Earn (Glover), a Princeton dropout fighting depression and homelessness as he works as manager to his cousin, the up-and-coming rapper Paper Boi (played by Brian Tyree Henry).

Glover earned $75,000 per episode for his work on the first season of the show, which showcased both his surreal worldview and his commitment to his community.

He brought together an all-black writer’s room for the show, with most of his staff pulled from outside the world of television.

Atlanta is FX’s most-watched comedy, and has received an abundance of awards, including the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Director for a Comedy Series for Glover.

Atlanta‘s second season, its episodes collectively titled “Robbin’ Season,” continued to garner critical acclaim and enthusiastic viewership, even as it juiced its weirdness to higher levels and demonstrated Glover’s bold willingness to abandon comedy completely (most distinctively in the terrifying and emotional Gothic horror episode “Teddy Perkins,” one of this year’s greatest episodes of any television program.)

The final episode of the season aired May 10, although Glover has signed a deal with FX to create a number of different properties.

Lando Calrissian

With the premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25, Glover’s casting as the super-cool swindler Lando Calrissian already has fans suggesting that he should get his own movie too.

Glover himself is giddy over being cast in the role, a boyhood hero. “It’s the biggest boat you can be on,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, even as he acknowledged the drawbacks of being simply an actor in a gigantic Hollywood franchise.

Throughout all of this, Glover has operated out of a home in Atlanta’s increasingly-hip Inman Park neighborhood (valued at $1.174 million); he also maintains an apartment in L.A.’s Hollywood Hills (valued at $1.3 million).

He has donated his time and money in support of the charities Community Connections (a group that provides children living in foster homes with essential items) and Oceana (which works to protect the world’s oceans).

Lessons from Donald Glover’s Net Worth

Considering Glover’s success in so many fields, it’s impossible to say that any of them are necessarily side projects, since he has excelled in everything he’s done.

Donald Glover’s work as a creator has found him balancing his commitment to telling his community’s truths with his awareness that he’s working for a network with a bottom line.

This has enabled him to create groundbreaking work with creativity, emotion, and integrity while becoming a financially successful artist. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

Readers, what are your favorite performances of Donald Glover’s? And are you planning to see Solo, a Star Wars Story in theaters?

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