Michael Bay: 2009's Top Showbiz Earner...For Now

Just in case you didn't envy/hate celebrities enough already, here's the the top 40 earners of 2009. The list comes from Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue, and it's a pretty thorough accounting of how these actors, directors, and executives made their money. For example, you'd think Tyler Perry would have made more than $32.5 million based on everything he's involved with. Here's a partial breakdown: "$19 million: Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail (back end for writing, directing, producing, and starring, based on domestic gross of $90 million — Perry’s films are not yet distributed internationally — and share of DVD)." Wow, that's in-depth. And he has four projects on his 2009 balance sheet, including one for which he was paid $2.5 million to executive produce a film that won't bear his name. Fascinating stuff. Conversely, you'd think Owen Wilson would be making less than $19 million at this point, but he roped Universal into giving him $15 million for Little Fockers. That seems...extreme. Between that salary and Ben Stiller, the movie already costs $35 million. Oh, and add another $20 million for De Niro. Uh-huh. That's a bloated animal of a movie. Anyway, here's the list, led by Michael Bay. It's for 2009 earnings, so James Cameron has probably already passed him, but at the time of the cypherin', he had only been paid about $50 million for Avatar. If memory serves, he's making most of his money at the tail end of the movie's run, once all the other financiers get theirs. I don't know how much we're talking, but it's bound to be hundreds of millions. 1 - Michael Bay: $125 million
2 - Steven Spielberg: $85 million
3 - Roland Emmerich: $70 million
4 - James Cameron: $50 million
5 - Todd Phillips: $44 million
6 - Daniel Radcliffe: $41 million
7 - Ben Stiller: $40 million
8 - Tom Hanks: $36 million
9 - JJ Abrams: $36 million
10 - Jerry Bruckheimer: $35.5 million
11 - Tyler Perry: $32.5 million
12 - Adam Sandler: $31.5 million
13 - Denzel Washington: $31 million
14 - Emma Watson: $30 million
15 - Rupert Grint: $30 million
16 - Owen Wilson: $29 million
17 - Nicolas Cage: $28 million
18 - Russell Crowe: $28 million
19 - Cameron Diaz: $27 million
20 - Brian Grazer and Ron Howard: $25.5 million
21 - Johnny Depp: $25 million
22 - Steve Carell: $25 million
23 - Robert De Niro: $24.5 million
24 - Sarah Jessica Parker: $24 million
25 - Katherine Heigl: $24 million
26 - Shawn Levy: $23 million
27 - Oren Peli and Jason Blum: $22.5 million
28 - Robert Downey Jr -: $22 million
29 - George Clooney: $22 million
30 - Matt Damon: $22 million
31 - Reese Witherspoon: $21 million
32 - Angelina Jolie: $21 million
33 - Jennifer Aniston: $20 million
34 - Sandra Bullock: $20 million
35 - Robert Pattinson: $18 million
36 - Clint Eastwood: $17 million
37 - Kristen Stewart: $16 million
38 - Mark Wahlberg: $16 million
39 - Shia LaBeouf: $15 million
40 - Brad Pitt: $13.5 million How about the Paranormal Activity guys making more coin than Angelina, Clooney, and Eastwood? I guess that $15,000 investment paid off.

Comments

[Nelson]

great list, definitely puts things in perspective

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