Top 10 Biggest Hollywood Sellouts
#10: Michael Bay
There are a lot of directors in the industry who thrive on making thoughtful and aesthetically pleasing films, but Michael Bay is not one of them. His niche is making high-paced, flashy, action films that have simple plots and plenty of objectification of the women on-screen. It’s also a bad look that actresses who have worked with him, like Megan Fox and Kate Beckinsale, have not had great experiences. His films make money, as we saw with multiple “Transformers” sequels that were profitable but unremarkable, but we just don’t think he’s got a lot of passion behind his work. He himself said that he makes movies for teenage boys, so do what you will with that.
#9: Robert De Niro
De Niro is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time and he had a particularly impressive early career. Fans of classic films know him from his roles in movies like “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” and “The Godfather: Part II,” but the newer generations don’t recognize him for these monumental roles. Instead, he’s acted in some questionable comedy films that have paid the bills but stand out like a sore thumb on his filmography. We were pretty shocked to see him in films like “Meet the Fockers” and “Shark Tale,” and don’t even get us started on “Dirty Grandpa.” Surely, he couldn’t have needed the money that bad, right?
#8: Kris Jenner
The matriarch of the Kar-Jenner clan certainly knows how to hustle, and for the last couple of decades she’s been putting all of her children to work and making big bucks off of them. She got her family their own reality show, then helped each daughter start their own business in one way or another, and then put them on a new reality show that was really the same as the old one. She’s undeniably built an empire and she’s the O.G. ‘Momager.’ They have more money than they know what to do with, but is there a cost greater than having your family constantly on display and under public scrutiny?
#7: Maroon 5
Ah, the early songs of Maroon 5. Picture it: it’s the early 2000’s, you don’t have a care in the world, and you’ve got Adam Levine’s velvety pipes serenading you. Their songs like “Sunday Morning” and “She Will Be Loved” are uplifting, original, and soulful, which are not words we’d use to describe their current music. In recent years, they’ve taken a turn for the commercial, releasing songs like “Moves Like Jagger” and “One More Night.” They made compromises that sustained and increased their chart success, which has kept them in the spotlight but may have lost them some of their faithful fans. We can’t unsee their Super Bowl performance, as that really cemented that they’d lost the innocent, light-hearted feel from their early days.
#6: Ice Cube
No one would dare mess with Ice Cube when he was a member of N.W.A. in the late 80s. The rap group’s reputation was that they were hardened from their real life experiences, and this was reflected in their music. Even though their songs weren’t exactly mainstream, they were powerful in their social messaging and deeply meaningful to their fanbase. Now, over 30 years after the original members disbanded, Ice Cube has a whole different vibe. He’s appeared in comedies like “Are We There Yet?” and the Jump Street films, which did very well commercially, but it’s safe to say he’s catering to an entirely different demographic.
#5: Adam Sandler
As funny as Adam Sandler’s movies were in the 90s and early 2000s, we think the jig is up. His performances in “Saturday Night Live,” “Happy Gilmore,” and “50 First Dates” are what he’ll always be known for, but we can’t help but think that he’s reused that same formula one too many times. And the more he uses it, the worse it gets. Movies like “Jack and Jill” and “That’s My Boy” are famous for how notoriously awful they are, yet he doesn’t stop making them for a cheap – or extremely profitable – laugh. He seems to have turned a corner in recent years and stepped up his game in his films, and we really hope it stays that way.
#4: Eddie Murphy
It’s hard to believe that Donkey from the “Shrek” franchise is played by a former stand-up comedian who used curse words like it was his day job and broke ground on SNL. But, like many on this list, his once edgy and artistically driven career took a turn for the safe, commercial route. For Murphy in particular, he went from being a somewhat controversial figure to specializing in children’s films, and it seems like a disconnect from what made him famous. The path from his stand-up special “Delirious” to films like “Daddy Day Care” and “The Nutty Professor” is an odd but profitable one. Let’s hope he goes back to his roots soon.
#3: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
It’s not necessarily uncommon for athletes to turn to acting later in their careers, but it’s rarely a successful endeavor. “The Rock” has found great commercial success, but we wonder if it’s at a personal cost. He was renowned in wrestling, and had a much different persona than he’s known for today. Now he’s a franchise actor that makes tens of millions of dollars per film, and he’s essentially playing the same role over and over again. His dramatic turn in 2025’s “The Smashing Machine” drew accolades though, so perhaps we’ll see him doing fewer big payday action comedies and more challenging parts.
#2: Howard Stern
If there’s anyone who says whatever they want without shame or apologies, it’s Howard Stern. His entire persona revolved around calling out mainstream stars, spewing controversial jokes, and refusing to censor himself. That was until Sirius XM offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse to the tune of 500 million dollars. Listen, we can’t say we blame him for cashing in on this deal, but he became very hypocritical in the process. We think that old school Howard Stern would be appalled to learn that modern day Howard Stern was a judge on “America’s Got Talent,” but we all need to pay the bills somehow.
#1: George Lucas
The original “Star Wars” trilogy was groundbreaking in the world of cinema and sci-fi, and is still beloved and renowned by a die-hard fanbase today. So it’s not surprising that fans feel the creator of the series sold out in later years and in turn did the franchise a huge disservice. The prequel trilogy has been widely criticized for being a money grab as it wasn’t as well received critically and fans weren’t thrilled with it either. The final nail in the sellout coffin was Lucasfilm selling to Disney. Watching the former indie filmmaker George Lucas sell his work to this huge corporation showed us that his creative endeavors were much more financially motivated than we thought.
Which star do you think sold out the hardest? Let us know in the comments!
