Las Vegas Paydays

Mister D: Something seems off about these figures, but I put them up anyway…..

The Wrap
Las Vegas’ Big Paydays
A look at some of the marque names — past and present — who broke the bank.
By Wrap Staff

  • CELINE DION (Closed)

    Show: A New Day

    Venue: The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Contract length: March ’03 to December ’07

    She banked: Over $100 million for more than 700 shows

  • ELTON JOHN (Closed)

    Show: The Red Piano

    Venue: The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Contract length: February ’04 to April ’09

    He banked: $96 million for 241 shows

  • BARRY MANILOW

    Show: Manilow: Music and Passion; Manilow: The Hits

    Venue: Las Vegas Hilton

    Contract length: February ’05 to Present

    He banked: $60 million for 120 shows; $60 million for another 200 shows

  • BETTE MIDLER

    Show: Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On

    Venue: The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Contract length: February ’08 to April ’10

    She banked: $120 million for 200 shows

  • CHER

    Show: Cher at Ceasears Palace

    Venue: The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Contract length: May ’08 to December ’10

    She banked: $60 million for 200 shows

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14 thoughts on “Las Vegas Paydays

  1. I think the numbers are saying by April 2010 she will have completed her 200 show contract with the Colosseum. I think that in April the show will end, because now Bette is performing more than 20 shows during each run and goes for about 5 weeks instead of the original 4. That means that from Dec 2009-April 2010 she will do 52 more shows!!

  2. I think it means she will make $120 million when she completes her contract in April 2010.
    Cher won’t complete her contract until December 2010.
    But it was my understanding she was doing a lesser number of shows, but it has her doing the same as Bette?
    It looks like it reflects their individual contracts.
    However Celin only made $100 mill? but then that was
    from 2003-7 and the dollar might be worth more?

    The whole thing seems pretty squewed…

    Who advised on this report and ex-CEO from Wall Street?

  3. There is no way Celine only got 100 million for 700 shows!! That just does not add up when you look at all the other numbers. And why is Cher only getting 60 million for 200 shows? This list can not be right.

  4. It would be better if we could see this figures in another source, so we would be sure.

    But remember that Celine Dion was the first to set residency at The Colosseum, therefore her contract took in consideration the cost for building the venue. Remember that the production company and Caesars were gambling, they couldn’t possibly be sure if Dion would be a hit or they had thrown millions of dollars in a terrible project.

    I see no problem with those figures. Except that I believe the artists would only get those fees if the venue sells a certain number of seats, otherwise there would be a discount on they paychecks.

    Mr. D, are there any rumors that Miss M will stay longer at The Colosseum?

    Regards,
    Marcos.

  5. Even though “over 100 million” could be just about anything for Celine, it looks like considering the time frames and how long they’ve been performing, Bette’s been paid more for doing less, no? Thus making her the most popular figure on the list. Manilow would only make Bette’s salary if he did 320 shows instead of her 200, we all know Cher wasn’t getting paid as much as Bette (at least from what’s been released), Elton did 241 shows (a little more than Bette) but only made $96 million over a 5 year period, and then we come back to Celine who “over 100 million” had to do at least 700 shows. Does it not seem like Bette (or her people?) were the ones that struck a golden deal here?

  6. Also, I don’t understand the addition to Barry Manilow in the list. Despite his ties with Bette and his success in Vegas, he isn’t playing Caesar’s. The Vegas Hilton is actually off of the strip too.

    1. It seems like Bette and her people worked out the best deal. Back in the Celine days….they didn’t know how well it was going to work and the tickets were much less weren’t they. Plus, I thought she was only playing 3 nights a week….not sure about that though.

  7. Celine tickets went from $75-225, and she performed 5 shows in a row per week. I do know that Celine grossed $400 million in ticket sales, and that her show had a budget of 10million, and they had to put more money into the set because of the LED screen costed another 10m.

  8. If Celine only GROSSED (all the money that went in the box-office, not Dion’s pay check); then her fee was 25% of it all, with the rest to recoup for building The Colosseum and share profits between Caesars and the production company (AEG, I think). It makes sense to me.

    Marcos.

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