Hanks Tops ‘Most Powerful’ List
NEW YORK (AP) – Relax, moguls. Ozzy Osbourne is not about to take over your jobs.
Osbourne, dapper in a pinstriped suit, stares from the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s annual list of the 100 most powerful people in entertainment, which he and his wife, Sharon, made for the first time.
But others wield more clout.
For the first time in 13 years, the magazine split its annual list in two, with separate lists for stars and power brokers. Actor Tom Hanks topped one; the HBO executive team of Jeff Bewkes and Chris Albrecht led the other.
Of Hanks, the magazine said, “you trust this man completely.” The two-time Oscar winner’s dark role in “Road to Perdition” won critical kudos and was his seventh straight movie to gross more than $100 million.
Hanks also took the advice of his wife, actress Rita Wilson, and produced “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” the year’s surprise movie hit.
Bewkes, who was recently promoted to a bigger job at HBO parent AOL Time Warner, and Albrecht were credited for establishing critical and popular successes like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.”
“Bewkes and Albrecht have transformed a network of programming into a nexus of generation-defining pop culture, and their rivals are paying a lot more than $11.95 a month for it,” the magazine said.
Rounding out the moguls’ top five are John Calley & Amy Pascal, heads of the allied Sony and Columbia film studios; CBS president Leslie Moonves; Kaz Hirai, head of Sony’s U.S. video game unit; and Barry Meyer & Alan Horn, heads of the Warner Brothers film studio.
Following Hanks on the star list are filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actors Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts.
For the record, reality TV’s Osbournes were ranked No. 37.
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