Vanity Fair has posted their annual list of the Hollywood folk who earned the most from making movies in 2010, and I love that they break every total down into upfront fees, back-end, and ancilliary revenue. The top 10 is split between actors — Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Sandler, Taylor Lautner, Robert Downey Jr. — and producer/directors — James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, Todd Phillips. Hit the jump to see how they ranked and what they earned.
The list only counts money made from film-related projects (i.e. no television or advertisement paychecks), and counts the income made from January 1 to December 31, 2010 no matter when the movie was/will be released. This excludes $50 million Cameron’s 2010 total, but he had no problem claiming the top spot with all his Avatar funds.
It’s funny to that Theme Park Consultant was Spielberg’s most profitable job last year. I was taken aback by his $20 million upfront fee to write and produce War Horse — never got the sense the drama would have the scale that merits such a large paycheck for behind-the-camera talent.
Kinda sad to see only 6 females in the top 40, none of whom made the top 10. But man is it cool to see Christopher Nolan in the top five without any help from Batman — his only source of income an entirely original property.
Vanity Fair posted the top 40 at their site. Here are the top 10:
1. James Cameron – $257 million
- $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)
2. Johnny Depp - $100 million
- $40 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for starring, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion)
- $35 million: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (up-front money)
- $20 million: The Tourist (fee for starring)
- $5 million: Older film revenue
3. Steven Spielberg – $80 million
- $50 million: Universal-theme-park royalties and consulting fees
- $20 million: War Horse (fee for directing and producing)
- $10 million: Older film revenue
4. Christopher Nolan – $71.5 million
- $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
5. Leonardo DiCaprio - $62 million
- $59 million: Inception (back-end for starring)
- $3 million: Back-end for starring in Shutter Island, older film revenue
6. Tim Burton - $53 million
- $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
7. Adam Sandler – $50 million
- $25 million: Just Go with It (fee for producing and starring)
- $20 million: Jack and Jill (fee for producing and starring)
- $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
8. Todd Phillips – $34 million
- $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)
9. Taylor Lautner – $33.5 million
- $12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (fee for starring)
- $12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (fee for starring)
- $7.5 million: Abduction (fee for starring)
- $1 million: Older film revenue, mostly from Twilight franchise
10. Robert Downey Jr. – $31.5 million
- $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
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What kind of a world do we live in where Taylor Lautner makes more money than Robert Downey, Jr?
Also, love the comment about DiCaprio starring in ‘somewhat convoluted Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island.’ Why was the critique necessary in an article on financial standing? SI was DiCaprio’s best film in years, and his strongest performance for over a decade.
That was Vanity Fair’s comment; I edited out their editorial on the movies, but I missed that one. Fixed now.
It made more sense in context, in which they refer to Inceptions as “somewhat convoluted Christopher Nolan movie.”
Yeah, I guessed that it was their opinion, I wasn’t blaming you. But I didn’t realise that you’d edited out comments from the other entries, so it just seemed completely random!
I guess Downey’s position is very revealing and backs up all the innuendo about Marvel being cheapskates. Depp gets $35million for a sequel to one of his blockbuster hits; Downey launches a whole bunch of franchises and a studio itself, and they give him $12million for his sequel. I know I’d kill to be underpaid like that, but still…
Very Interesting! I just now printed Coupons of my Favorite Brands for free from “Printapons” you can find them online.
yeah this article is very interesting indeed. go ahead and shove those printapons up your ass by the way
convoluted movies rule. seriously
This is even worse:
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
The highest grossing female actress is Kristin Stewart.
DiCaprio doesn’t deserve 60 mil for his 20 day work of doing scripted bad lines and running around. He’s the okay-est link of the people mentioned here but he doesn’t deserve so much either.
Mass consumption movie scene makes me sick.