Vanity Fair: Hollywood’s Top 40 Money Makers
Ever wonder just how much money your favorite stars are worth? Well, Vanity Fair did the homework for us and we’ve got a nice look at what Hollywood Top 40 stars made for 2010. Yeah, these numbers are big. Real big.
A definition: this list is limited to creative figures—stars, directors, producers—and to the money they earn from film. Thus we include no executives or agents, and we don’t count earnings from non-film-related projects, such as Steve Carell’s fees for starring on The Office or Jennifer Aniston’s for appearing in SmartWater ads. We did our best to ascertain a star’s up-front advance for a given film as well as his or her share of the movie’s profits, assuming there were any
Alright, now go take a look at this list full of stars with really full bank accounts:Here are the TOP 15:
15. Robert Pattinson
ACTOR (WME)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $27.5 MILLION (2009 rank: 35)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (fee for co-starring)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (fee for co-starring)
$1.5 million: Water for Elephants (fee for starring alongside Reese Witherspoon in upcoming literary adaptation)
$1 million: Fee for starring in upcoming costume drama Bel Ami; older film revenue, mostly from Twilight franchise
14. Jerry Bruckheimer
PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $27.5 MILLION (2009 rank: 10)
$10 million: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (fee for producing fourth installment of his lucrative Johnny Depp vehicle)
$10 million: Annual first-look production deal with Disney
$7.5 million: Older film revenue
13. Kristen Stewart
ACTRESS (The Gersh Agency)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $28.5 MILLION (2009 rank: 37)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (fee for co-starring)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (fee for co-starring)
$2.5 million: On the Road (fee for starring in long-aborning adaptation of the Jack Kerouac classic)
$1 million: Older film revenue, mostly from Twilight franchise
12. Joe Roth
PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $28.5 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$27.5 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$1 million: Older film revenue
11. Will Smith
ACTOR, PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $29 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$20 million: Men in Black III (fee for starring in upcoming franchise resuscitation)
$5.5 million: The Karate Kid (back-end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $358 million, plus share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$3.5 million: Older film revenue
10. Robert Downey Jr.
ACTOR (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $31.5 MILLION (2009 rank: 28)
$15 million: Fee for starring in upcoming untitled Sherlock Holmes sequel
$12 million: Iron Man 2 (back-end, based on worldwide gross of $627 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$3.5 million: Sherlock Holmes (back-end, based on worldwide gross of $523 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$1 million: Older film revenue
9. Taylor Lautner
ACTOR (WME)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $33.5 million (2009 rank: —)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (fee for co-starring in upcoming penultimate Twilight film)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (fee for co-starring in upcoming final Twilight film)
$7.5 million: Abduction (fee for starring in upcoming John Singleton thriller)
$1 million: Older film revenue, mostly from Twilight franchise
8. Todd Phillips
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $34 MILLION (2009 rank: 5)
$15 million: The Hangover Part II (fee for writing, producing, and directing)
$13 million: The Hangover (back-end for producing and directing; excludes $39 million earned in 2009)
$3 million: Due Date (back-end for producing and directing, based on worldwide gross of $200 million, as of December 31, 2010)
$2 million: Older film revenue
$1 million: Project X (fee for producing upcoming low-budget comedy)
7. Adam Sandler
ACTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER (WME)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $50 MILLION (2009 rank: 12)
$25 million: Just Go with It (fee for producing and starring in upcoming comedy opposite Jennifer Aniston)
$20 million: Jack and Jill (fee for producing and starring in upcoming comedy with Katie Holmes and Al Pacino)
$3 million: Grown Ups (back-end for starring and writing, based on worldwide gross of $271 million, plus share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$2 million: Older film revenue
6. Tim Burton
DIRECTOR (William Morris Endeavor)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $53 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$50 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for directing, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$3 million: Older film revenue
5. Leonardo DiCaprio
ACTOR (Special Artists Agency)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $62 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$59 million: Inception (back-end for starring in somewhat convoluted Christopher Nolan film)
$3 million: Back-end for starring in somewhat convoluted Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, older film revenue
4. Christopher Nolan
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $71.5 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$69 million: Inception (back-end for writing, producing, and directing, based on worldwide gross of $823 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$2.5 million: Older film revenue
3. Steven Spielberg
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (CAA)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $80 MILLION (2009 rank: 2)
$50 million: Universal-theme-park royalties and consulting fees
$20 million: War Horse (fee for directing and producing upcoming World War I drama)
$10 million: Older film revenue
2. Johnny Depp
ACTOR (United Talent Agency)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $100 MILLION (2009 rank: 21)
$40 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for starring in Tim Burton film, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion)
$35 million: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (up-front money for starring in next installment of Jerry Bruckheimer’s waterlogged but ludicrously profitable franchise)
$20 million: The Tourist (fee for co-starring in one of the year’s bigger flops alongside Angelina Jolie)
$5 million: Older film revenue
1. James Cameron
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (Creative Artists Agency)
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $257 MILLION (2009 rank: 4)
$248 million: Avatar (back-end for writing, producing, and directing, based on 2010 worldwide box-office gross of $1.95 billion, and share of DVD and pay-television revenue; excludes $50 million earned in 2009)
$5 million: Avatar (share of toy licensing, other revenue)
$4 million: Older film revenue (e.g., back-end and royalties from earlier projects, other payments)
Check out the rest of the list here, at Vanity Fair.
Related Posts
Fabulous Fixings Around The Web




