Fox’s “American Idol” has catapulted Jennifer Lopez’ career from lukewarm to red hot in the space of a season.
And the “Jenny from the Block” singer (photo) may use that new found muscle to flex it during her upcoming contract talks.
Whether she returns to AI is anyone’s guess. Negotiations haven’t started in earnest for next season, but On The Money spies are telling us the opening figure in talks could approach $20 million — roughly $8 million over last year.
Lopez — who was ridiculed for signing with AI –made a shrewd move signing for one year, while her fellow judge Steve Tyler inked a three-year deal for a reportedly $6 million per.
The hard-line chatter is that Lopez will take time off to focus on her movie projects and TV shows as well as her music to advertising if the money is not right.
Lopez may just take her act south of the border by teaming up with Simon Fuller‘s production company XIX Entertainment to launch “Q’Viva: The Chosen,” a new talent reality show to be sold in Latin American countries but talks are also under way to find a US broadcaster.
Fuller, of course, is the creative brains behind “American Idol.” He’s said to be taking a bigger hand in J.Lo’s career alongside her current manager, Benny Medina. She’ll star alongside her hus band Marc Anthony.
The popular judge who helped bring Idol back to life — along with Tyler and Randy Jackson –pocketed a reported $12 million as part of the initial deal that included other projects in side News Corp., which owns Fox and The Post.
Having the No. 1 show on TV has created a platform to supersize J.Lo’s music ventures. Her latest album, “Love?,” released last month, has al ready earned around $7 million, according to estimates from music business insiders.
The Island/Def Jam album’s sin gle “Pitbull” has been downloaded 2.3 million times since its May debut.
Meanwhile La Lopez is signing up sponsorship deals at a good clip.
She’s the global brand ambas sador of Gillette’s disposable shavers, Venus. One PR expert said a sponsorship of that kind can command in excess of $10 million. And she has a financial relationship with BlackBerry to sponser the new talent show.
After her last movie, the 2010 CBS Films release, “The Back- Up Plan,” which grossed only $37 million, producers could be for given for not putting Lopez at the top of their wish list.
Now that she’s a hot property, Lionsgate said on Friday that Lopez will appear in its baby- themed movie, “What To Ex pect,” based on the well- known preg nancy bible. Medina did not return a call for comment.
Claire Atkinson
The dope
And you thought “Just Do It” was risqué.
Nike, which has come under scrutiny for previous ad campaign slogans, is mired in controversy over its new 6.0 brand, which is geared towards extreme athletes.
The sneaker giant can argue all it wants, but any T-shirt that reads “Get High” in red, yellow and green colors screams marijuana. (C’mon, even Bob Marley’s laugh ing at this one.)
Adding the mottoes “Dope, Man!” and “Ride Pipe” makes it more obvious Nike is skating the line.
Topping the list of those who believe Nike has pushed the mar keting envelope too far is Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who sent a letter to Nike demanding it remove its new T-shirts from store windows.
Nike is downplaying the negative attention and says the T-shirts are simply part of a sports campaign that features commonly used and accepted expressions for performance.
A spokesperson offered this response: “This is about sport. Sport is an antidote to drugs. There is no better adrenaline rush than catching a wave or landing a trick. The language is the same that skaters, BMXers and surfers use every day around the world. We are all about engaging consumers in sport and we do not condone the illegal use of drugs.” Joseph Barracato
Bubbly
More than 80 percent of venture capitalists say the current level of IPO activity is too low to support the health of the industry, according to a new study.
This may go a long way in explaining some of the private deals announced this week.
Shazam — a mobile phone app that allows you to point your smartphone at a speaker and identify the song playing — raised $32 million to help name that tune.
NaturallyCurly.com — a social networking site catering to curly-hair people, was able to raise an additional $1.2 million this week on top of a $2 million initial offering last year, which allowed it to work out the kinks.
In the 2011 Global Venture Capital Survey, the respondents said the US and Nasdaq in particular are the most important markets.
Ninety-one percent of VCs deemed the US IPO market a critical element of the US. In contrast, only 36 percent of American VCs said that IPO markets in other countries were essential to the success of the US VC industry.
Post staff