Vanity Fair Lists Top 40 Highest Earners in Hollywood

It must no longer be a secret that James Cameron, director of “Avatar” is the top earner in Hollywood for 2010 – after all, the movie broke all records at the box office ever. Vanity Fair has released its annual list of top 40 highest earners.

Only 6 women made the cut in the first 40, among which we find Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock and Kristen Stewart of “The Twilight Saga.”

VF says the chart was comprised by looking solely at money made from film, including salary, share of profits (if any) and DVD sales.

Merchandising or side-projects like endorsement deals for various products have not been considered when coming up with the total amount a star made in 2010, the magazine notes in the introduction.

Still, overall and with the exceptions of the first two big winners, James Cameron and Johnny Depp, it’s clear that movie studio bosses are again willing to invest big in the stars they cast in films.

“While nine-figure windfalls such as James Cameron’s and Johnny Depp’s are still rare, Hollywood’s post-crash aversion to $20 million paydays and gross-point deals seems to be easing,” VF notes.

“The fact that a mid-range star such as Vince Vaughn asked for – and got close to – $20 million to appear in The Dilemma proves that the big studios are once again hungering to shell out Goldman-like bonuses for (somewhat) proven commodities,” the magazine says.

Now, we’ll let figures do the talking.

James Cameron has officially become “king of the world” with the film he took over a decade to make. “Avatar” earned him a cool $257 million and that’s without including a cut of merchandising.

Johnny Depp comes in second, making $100 million in 2010 with “Alice in Wonderland,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the critically panned “The Tourist.”

Steven Spielberg is back in the top three, scoring big with the upcoming “War Horse” ($80 million), while “Inception” got director and writer Chris Nolan a neat $71.5 million.

At number 5, we find actor Leonardo DiCaprio with $62 million from “Inception” and “Shutter Island,” while director Tim Burton comes next with $53 million for “Alice in Wonderland.”

Adam Sandler, though not as loved by critics as he once was, still brings home the big bucks: he made $50 million for “Grown Ups” and the upcoming “Jack and Jill” and “Just Go With It.”

Todd Phillips made $34 million with “The Hangover,” “The Hangover Part II” and “Due Date,” while Taylor Lautner, definitely a newcomer, made $33.5 million from “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” Parts 1 and Part 2, and the upcoming “Abduction.”

Top 10 is rounded by Robert Downey Jr., who pocketed $31.5 million for “Sherlock Holmes” and “Iron Man 2.”

Other stars who made the cut include “Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson (at 15) and Kristen Stewart (at 13), Sandra Bullock (22), Angelina Jolie (21) and Jennifer Aniston (18).

For the full list, including more details, see Vanity Fair here.