It was a big year at the box office, amid the release of blockbusters such as Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Wicked and Dune: Part Two.

But the star who has topped the list of money makers for 2024 didn’t appear in any of these popular flicks, as they didn’t need to.

This clever clogs managed to negotiate such a good deal for one single movie that they could buy a private island and still have a lot of pocket change to play with.

So, who’s the film star who is absolutely flush with cash after such a successful 2024?

It’s Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, of course.

As well as being an actor, an absolute tank, one of the most famous WWE stars in the world, and the owner of a tequila brand, this bloke is an astute businessman.

The Rock, 52, has been crowned as the highest paid actor of 2024 (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

He beat out a host of Hollywood’s largest earners – including the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld and Hugh Jackman – to earn the crown from Forbes this year.

According to the publication, Johnson has got plenty of money stashed away for a rainy day, as the 52-year-old is said to have earned a whopping $88 million in 2024.

And that’s after he gave his agent and lawyer a significant slice – so yeah, The Rock is absolutely minted.

The majority of it comes from his involvement in Amazon Prime’s Christmas film Red One, as Forbes say his contract for the movie was worth a hefty $50 million.

It’s ‘believed to be the highest fee-plus-buyout total in history for a single movie’.

Johnson’s role in Red One has paid off handsomely (Amazon)

If you didn’t catch it over the festive season, Red One follows the story of Santa Claus (code name: Red One) after he is kidnapped.

It leads to the North Pole’s Head of Security (Johnson) teaming up ‘with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter’ (Chris Evans) in a bid to save Christmas.

Johnson also earned a fair few quid from his return as Maui in Moana 2, while he also worked as a producer on the Disney film too, which grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.

Fair play, Mr Rock.

Sadly, only one woman managed to make the male-dominated top ten, suggesting that Hollywood still has a long way to go when it comes to paying stars fairly for their work.

Have a look at who else made the cut here:

The full Forbes list of 2024’s highest paid actors:

Dwayne Johnson – $88 million ($103 million gross)

Ryan Reynolds – $85 million ($100 million gross)

Kevin Hart – $81 million ($108 million gross)

Jerry Seinfeld – $60 million ($70 million gross)

Hugh Jackman – $50 million ($66 million gross)

Brad Pitt – $32 million ($42 million gross)

George Clooney – $31 million ($37 million gross)

Nicole Kidman – $31 million ($41 million gross)

Adam Sandler – $26 million ($35 million gross)

Will Smith – $26 million ($30 million gross)

Mariska Hargitay – $25 million ($29 million gross)

Channing Tatum – $24 million ($28 million gross)

Jason Statham – $24 million ($25 million gross)

Mark Wahlberg – $23 million ($31 million gross)

Matt Damon – $23 million ($30 million gross)

John Cena – $23 million ($30 million gross)

Denzel Washington – $23 million ($27 million gross)

Jake Gyllenhaal – $22 million ($26 million gross)

Scarlett Johansson – $21 million ($25 million gross)

Joaquin Phoenix – $19 million ($22 million gross)

Reality TV was thrust into the mainstream back in the 2000s, with shows like I’m a Celeb, The Biggest Loser, and X Factor ruling the ratings.

Obviously, our screens look very different today, with streaming platforms like Netflix reigning superior, but it’s still fun to think about older shows that wouldn’t be as popular today, such as The Osbournes.

Focused on the chaotic family life of Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, the show first hit screens in 2002, running for four seasons until ending in 2005.

The MTV show featured Ozzy, his wife Sharon, their daughter Kelly, and their son Jack, showcasing the everyday shenanigans that the unorthodox family went through, for your viewing pleasure.

If you’re wondering if the show was well received at all, Sharon would go on to be a judge on X Factor, while Kelly bagged a role on Project Runway Junior, with Jack starting his own series, called Adrenaline Junkie.

The family shot to stardom in their own unique, foul-mouthed way, with viewers loving the chaos-surrounded home life.

But did you know that there is actually another Osbourne sibling who was missing from the show?

They chose not to be a part of the series, and were often seen blurred out in photos.

If you thought the Osbournes only had two children, you would be mistaken (MTV)

Aimee Osbourne is Ozzy and Sharon’s eldest child, but chose to move out before filming for the series started, aged just 16.

She has since opened up on why she chose not to be a part of the show.

She told the Independent in 2020: “Back then, I still felt I was trying to figure out who I was in the chaos of family life.

“So why on earth would I want that portrayed on television? I wanted to protect myself, my parents, my siblings, too. They were very young, very impressionable.”

Mother Sharon later revealed how upset she was when Aimee chose to move out, revealing on an episode of The Talk in 2018: “She felt too that she didn’t want to grow up on camera.

“She hated the idea — it was appalling to her. And so she left at 16 and I regret every day that she did. It broke my heart when she moved.”

Aimee Osbourne pictured with her mother, Sharon (BG002/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Aimee has become a singer and has also had a few acting stints in the years since the reality TV series.

Known as the lead singer of band ARO, she spoke to Cleveland in 2021 to reveal how she got into song-writing: “I started writing, secretly, as a teenager. I also would write a lot of poetry — I was always creative in that way, less academically inclined.

“My parents overheard me kind of singing in my room. It was a friend of my parents who said, ‘Oh, you should come and stay with me and work with some producers and see what happens’.”

Like the new Netflix series leaving viewers in tears as it’s based on a shocking true story, or the upcoming Stephen Graham drama that draws inspiration from real life.

And there’s one particular terrifying horror series based on a ‘bone chilling’ true story that can be watched for free.

With the ‘best British TV cast ever’, the show was previously added to ITVX after it debuted in America back in 2018.

With Ridley Scott as a producer, The Terror opens with a creepy scene, drawing horror fans straight in for a binge.

Based on a Dan Simmons novel of the same name, the first season is a fictionalised version of a real-life arctic expedition from the 1800s.

The series stars the likes of Ciaran Hinds, Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, and Adam Nagaitis, And look, it’s fine if you don’t know their names straight away, it’s pretty much a line-up of incredible character actors you’ve definitely seen in numerous films and shows but can never quite place their name.

The Terror released to genuinely outstanding reviews – currently holding an average of 7.9/10 on IMDb and 87 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The creepy show is available to watch on ITVX (AMC)

The thriller series is an anthology show, meaning each season features a different cast, with season one receiving a whopping 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of the most highly acclaimed shows to be available for free, the first season is an absolute hit with fans who have been singing its praises after watching on ITV.

A 9/10 review on IMDb said: “The first season of The Terror is superb. I binge watched it over three nights and I regard it as essential viewing.”

Another fan called the show ‘bone chilling’ in a 10/10 review on IMDb.

Meanwhile, one Reddit thread on the subreddit r/Television called The Terror ‘one of the best limited series of all time’.

The show is a fictionalised account of a true arctic voyage (AMC)

They said: “I love horror TV, but this is so much more. I don’t think most people realize how utterly enthralling a show about a few dozen rough, grungy looking men with bad dental hygiene, trapped in a bleak, colourless landscape for years can be.”

One fan concurred, commenting: “Agreed on all takes; Season 1 assembled the most impressive calibre of British acting in a series that I’ve ever seen.”

Another summed it up brilliantly, saying: “It is a masterpiece – up there with some of the best television ever made IMO. And I didn’t even like the idea of the monster at first but in the end I understood its importance to the ultimate meaning of the story.”

Olivia Khwaja spent a couple of years on a high-fat, low-carb keto diet and went from weighing 95kg to 75kg, but then in 2022, she decided to switch to a carnivore diet where she cut out all plant-based foods and only consumed animal products.

It’s basically the anti-vegan diet, and Olivia apparently enjoyed so much success with it that her weight fell to 55kg and she’s got the rest of her family to follow her with it.

Olivia says the carnivore diet has given her smoother skin and a clearer mind as well as the weight loss (Collect/PA Real Life)

Her husband Greg has lost 39kg in weight, while their children Eden and Bailey have also tried the diet.

While health experts say that eating too much meat can make it more likely that a person will get bowel cancer and that you should have a balanced diet with fruit and vegetables, Olivia says that adopting the carnivore diet has given her smoother skin and a clearer mind along with the weight loss.

Her whole family have taken up the diet and she says it’s helped them too (Collect/PA Real Life)

She said her family was ‘flourishing’, and told PA Real Life that after just a few weeks of the carnivore diet she ‘woke up and I just felt this feeling of euphoria’.

“Just looking at the sky, I was like, ‘It’s just so blue and so beautiful’,” she said of the impact the diet had on her mind.

“It’s like I was living under a cloud without realising and it just lifted.

“I’ve never pushed either of my children into this. They’re on their own journey, but I think they’re both happier avoiding addictive foods and love the freedom that comes with it.”

Eggs, sardines and steak are the mainstay of her diet (Collect/PA Real Life)

Olivia said that she focused her advice on cutting out processed foods from her diet, and had wanted to make a change to her life after she lost her parents in 2014 and 2014.

Her mum had type 2 diabetes which made her ‘think that I should improve my health so I don’t get the conditions when I’m older’.

That’s what first led her to the keto diet in 2020, which helped her lose 20kg and dropped her BMI from 38.3 to 30.3, while she moved onto the carnivore diet after seeing ‘rave reviews’ and it got her the next step and she had a BMI of 22.2, a healthy weight.

She was sceptical at first as the diet didn’t contain fruit or vegetables but she kept an open mind and enjoyed the results very much.

Her husband has lost 39kg since he started the carnivore diet (Collect/PA Real Life)

In a normal day, Olivia will eat her first meal of the day at about 4pm, which is normally eggs and sardines.

A few hours later she has a large steak cooked in beef tallow with a homemade mayonnaise, while at the weekend she and her family will feast on homemade jerky, bacon sausages and chicken liver pate with no bread.

She said: “I just buy eggs, proper butter, and meat whenever we want it and keep it in the fridge.

“Whenever I get hungry, I go into the fridge and cook something. We eat everything simply… it’s a simple life.”

“I’ve never felt so good in my life – I can’t remember feeling this positive and healthy, and having so much energy, as a child or a teenager, it’s transformed my life.”

She shares her health journey on Instagram under the handle @oliviakhwaja, and Olivia claims she has not received criticism from her 10,000 followers or her children’s school.

Vance, the vice president of the United States of America, has caused headlines in recent days following a fierce confrontation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House.

The duo, alongside President Donald Trump, came to blows in the Oval Office after Vice President Vance accused President Zelenskyy of being ‘disrespectful’.

“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance said, while also accusing the Ukrainian president of ‘propaganda tours’ and not saying ‘thank you’ to Trump and the United States.

Well, he followed up on these words in an interview with Fox News on Monday (March 3) in which he said the US is the only country that can safeguard Ukraine from Russian aggression.

In making this stance, he said the security provided by the USA is ‘way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’. As it stands, only France and the UK have publicly committed to troops on the ground in the form of a peacekeeping force.

As you can imagine, the UK didn’t take too kindly to these words and insinuations from Vance.

Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance in the Oval Office as things went sour (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

And some have even made the realisation that Vance had seemingly united the British political spectrum across all major parties, with Labour and Conservative politicians backing the UK’s record. Even Reform leader Nigel Farage was on the same page as his political rivals.

“Vance is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,” Farage said.

“For 20 years in Afghanistan, pro rata our size against America’s, we spent the same amount of money, we put the same number of men and women in. We suffered the same losses.

“We stood through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution. And all right, they may be six times bigger, but we did our bit.”

Starmer backed the UK’s military record (Benjamin Cremel – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Over on the Tory benches, James Cartlidge, the Conservative shadow defence secretary, said: “Britain and France came to their aid, deploying thousands of personnel to Afghanistan, including my own brother and numerous parliamentary colleagues, past and present. It’s deeply disrespectful to ignore such service and sacrifice.”

Johnny Mercer, a former MP and British Army officer who served as Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs, took to X to label Vance a ‘clown who needs to check his privilege’.

Former MP and British army officer Johnny Mercer called Vance a clown (X)

Sir Keir Starmer, prime minister of the UK, took a more middle ground tone but still backed the UK’s record when it came to the armed forces. A spokesperson for the PM said: “The prime minister, and I think this whole country, is full of admiration for all British troops who have served, for instance, in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom have lost their lives in the process, and have fought alongside allies, including the United States.”

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, took a slightly more withdrawn approach to Vance’s words. She said: “I know JD Vance quite well. I’ve looked at the comments, I don’t think he actually said that.

“A lot of people are getting carried away. They’re saying loads of things and getting quite animated let’s keep cool heads. America is our closest ally. I believe President Trump and JD Vance want peace, they’re looking after their national interest, we need to do so as well.”

Trump and Vance have caused major headlines (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Vance took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify what he said by saying it was ‘absurdly dishonest’ to say he meant the UK or France, adding: “I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.

“But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”

“Vance is getting hammered in the UK from all sides,” one X user wrote.

A second said: “JD Vance’s statement has angered so many Brits.”

It comes just months after the Match of the Day pundit was sacked by the BBC amid a scandal which erupted over ‘inappropriate messages’ he sent to female colleagues.

In a statement shared on Instagram today, Penfold wrote: “I never imagined I would have to share something so personal with the public, but given the situation, I feel it’s necessary.

“After 16 years together and 4 wonderful children, Jermaine and I have decided to part ways.

“We will remain friends and continue to co-parent. We kindly ask that you respect our children’s privacy during this challenging time.

“Thank you, Ellie.”

The pair – who share two daughters Geneva and Olivia, as well as son Jacob together – got engaged in 2009 before tying the knot two years later.

Jenas and Penfold have split after more than a decade of marriage (Instagram/@jjenas)

Jenas was axed from BBC shows after his extra-marital activities were revealed last year.

He revealed that his partner of 16 years had kicked him out of the family home in Hertfordshire after the allegations came to light – and said that even the family dog had turned against him.

Speaking to The Sun days after, the 42-year-old said that Penfold was ‘absolutely raging’ when he confessed the truth to her

“She’s human,” Jenas said at the time. “When I see her now, she is just making sure the children are OK.”

He went on to hail Penfold as an ‘amazing mother’ and ‘a real one’.

Jenas had been a presenter on The One Show and made appearances on Match of the Day before the BBC announced he was ‘no longer part of our presenting line-up’.

When news of his sacking was announced in August 2024, Jenas was live on talkSPORT.

He said there were ‘two sides to every story’, and the former Tottenham Hotspur footballer later insisted he did ‘nothing illegal’.

Jenas instead described the situation as ‘inappropriate messages between two consenting adults’.

The former BBC star admitted Penfold chucked him out of the family home after the scandal came to light (Karwai Tang/WireImage)

He said at the time: “These were two consenting adults I was speaking to. With one she made it clear she was interested. I don’t want to start going down the ‘who pursued who’ road, but when people are saying things that are wrong and false information is being spread, I do have to kind of defend my space.

“In that particular instance, there was an adult conversation that took place in a bar in London where that person made it very clear that they had an attraction to me.

“Yes there was alcohol involved but I take full responsibility. I feel people don’t know the truth and are forming opinions about me that aren’t accurate. I wasn’t going through some kind of BBC vault trying to get women’s numbers.

“I’m obviously going to say I’m not a sex pest. These were consenting adults I was texting.”

During his playing career, Jenas spent eight years at Tottenham and made 155 appearances for the club.

He also played for Nottingham Forest and Newcastle and won 21 caps for England. In 2013, Jenas left Spurs and moved to his final club QPR.

However, due to a serious knee injury in 2014, he played his last professional match that year, though he retired from football completely in 2016.

That is when he transitioned into a career in the media, doing punditry for the likes of ITV Sport and BT Sport, before joining the BBC.

If you add ‘created by Guy Ritchie with one of the craziest casts of recent times’ to that, there is almost no one who wouldn’t want to watch.

The new gangster series meets of all of the above criteria, with Tom Hardy joined in by the cast by Helen Mirren, Paddy Considine, and Pierce Brosnan.

Add to that Downton Abbey alumnus Joanne Froggatt, Sherlock scene-stealer Lara Pulver, and Green Street star Geoff Bell, and you have all the right ingredients for an incredible show.

The show is called MobLand, and sees Pierce Brosnan as Conrad, the head of a crime family, with Helen Mirren as his wife Maeve.

Hardy plays his long-time ‘fixer’, and the trailer hints at a brewing gang war that Hardy’s character will find himself in the centre of, with his being to protect the family ‘at all costs’.

When the casting announcement was made, Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global co-CEO, said of the casting: “Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren are masters at their craft and we are honoured to have them lead the cast for Guy Ritchie’s new global, original series.

“Guy, Jez Butterworth and Ronan Bennett’s creative prowess, coupled with these gifted actors, is the perfect recipe for what we believe will be the next brand-defining series for Showtime on Paramount Plus.”

Fans are as hyped for the series as you can imagine, with one commenting on the trailer on YouTube to say: “This show with Tom Hardy and Pierce brosnan is Going to Be wild.”

Another said: “Can’t wait”, while a third replied on Twitter saying: “All-star cast! “Mob Land” is going to be EPIC!”

The show has a crazy cast (Paramount Plus)

The show was supposedly originally intended as a spin-off to the series Ray Donovan called The Donovans but was instead adapted into a fully original series.

The series follows Ritchie’s successful foray into TV with Netflix’s The Gentlemen.

His only prior involvement in TV had been Lock, Stock… making this his first fully original TV show.

The Gentlemen, the TV spin-off of his original film starring Theo James and Kaya Scodelario, was a massive hit on Netflix.

The series was such a success that a season two was ordered.

When it comes to a release date however, there is no sign of one, as James revealed they are yet to film the series.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year James said: “We are starting that in the spring.

“I really wanted to — and so did [creator] Guy [Ritchie] — make sure that we evolve the show, and that is the intention. As fun as the first season was, if you do the exact same thing again, it may not be as fun, essentially. You want to be able to dive a little bit deeper in terms of character.”

The US Vice President was called out for speaking to Fox News about possible security guarantees for Ukraine, where he yesterday (3 March) claimed that if the invaded country wants to be safe from future Russian aggression it should give the US economic reasons to care.

He said: “The president knows that if you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.

“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.

“The security guarantee and also the economic guarantee for Ukraine is to rebuild the country and ensure that America has a long-term interest.”

Vance has claimed he wasn’t actually talking about the UK or France, so which country was it JD? (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

UK Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have both pledged to send thousands of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees for the nation, so one might expect that when JD Vance spoke of ‘some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’ he was referring to either the UK or France.

However, Vance has rowed back to yesterday’s comments and claimed on Twitter that it was ‘absurdly dishonest’ to suggest that his comments on a country that would send peacekeeping troops referred to either of the two countries that said they’d send peacekeeping troops.

He wrote: “This is absurdly dishonest.

“I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.

“But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”

Which country JD Vance was therefore referring to is unclear, as is the point he was trying to make if it’s not directed at a particular country.

The United States just paused military aid to Ukraine, a move welcomed by the Russian invaders (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for Starmer praised the work done by British troops, often fighting alongside the US, adding: “Our focus, once again, is on how we protect our national interests and global security by progressing the discussions to secure a lasting peace for Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is still ‘ready to sign’ a deal which would grant the US rights to valuable mineral resources in Ukraine.

He said: “We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns.

“We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.”

The US today (4 March) paused military aid to Ukraine, saying that help for the country in the face of Russian aggression would be ‘reviewed’ in order to ‘ensure that it is contributing to a solution’.

America’s decision to halt aid for Ukraine was welcomed by Russia, with Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov telling the BBC: “If the US stops, or pauses these supplies, this will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine continue, as overnight they sent 99 drones targeting Odesa, Sumy and Donetsk, damaging power infrastructure and a children’s medical facility.