The Highest Paid Dead Celebrities of Pandemic Year 2020

Michael Jackson continues to reign supreme, but Kobe and Dr. Seuss are giving him some competition this year, as are Charles Schulz (Peanuts comics creator), Elvis and Arnold Palmer.  

The secret to capitalizing on fame and brand is multimedia, including streaming, an especially lucrative strategy during a pandemic when people are stuck at home looking for content. JL

Madeline Berg reports in Forbes:

Here’s who is making a killing in the afterlife. Marilyn Monroe, $8 million; George Harrison, $8.5 million; Freddie Mercury, $9 million; Prince, $10 million; John Lennon, $13 million; Bob Marley, $14 million; Juice Wrld, $15 million; Kobe Bryant, $20 million; Elvis Presley, $23 million; Arnold Palmer, $25 million; Charles Schulz (Peanuts) $32.5 million; Dr. Seuss, $33 million; Michael Jackson $48 million.

Sam-I-Am now has a lot more green to go with those eggs and ham. The estate of Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss) nearly doubled its income in 2020, earning an estimated $33 million in a very Grinchy year.

The bigger payday is thanks to a smart new strategy from the team at Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which transformed the beloved children’s author’s 60-plus books into a multimedia universe. Think Marvel’s Avengers but without the crossover characters.

First up in the Seuss-iverse was Netflix’s Green Eggs and Ham, which turned the 50-word book into an animated series that reportedly cost $65 million and was voiced by Michael Douglas, Keegan-Michael Key and Diane Keaton, among others. In addition to a second helping of Ham, there is also a three-movie deal with Warner Bros. that will focus on the characters Thing One and Thing Two, the titular cat in The Cat in the Hat and and the world of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!.

“We put our big-boy pants on,” says Susan Brandt, a former Twentieth Century Fox home video executive who has been leading the Seuss revival since 2012. And the timing is finally right. Movie studios and deep-pocketed streaming giants like Netflix, Apple, Disney and Amazon are engaged in an entertainment arms race for original content that saw them spend more $120 billion last year. A huge portion of that amount is going to proven IP and brand-name entertainers, many of whom have been long dead—but not in show business.

Several other names on our annual highest-paid dead celebrities list have also received huge streaming paydays this year. Peanuts signed a rich deal with Apple TV+ that landed late creator Charles M. Schulz at No. 3 with $32.5 million. And Netflix has shelled big bucks out for an animated series featuring Elvis Presley (No. 5) and yet another biopic of Marilyn Monroe (No. 13).

Sadly, there are also young newcomers to the list—21-year-old rapper Juice WRLD (No. 7) earned $15 million since last year’s list, and NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash in January, is ranked No. 6, having earned $20 million.

Here’s who else is making a killing in the afterlife. Marilyn Monroe, $8 million; George Harrison, $8.5 million; Freddie Mercury, $9 million; Prince, $10 million; John Lennon, $13 million; Bob Marley, $14 million; Juice Wrld, $15 million; Kobe Bryant, $20 million; Elvis Presley, $23 million; Arnold Palmer, $25 million; Charles Schulz (Peanuts) $32.5 million; Dr. Seuss, $33 million; Michael Jackson $48 million.