Michael Bay (pictured), director and producer of the blockbuster Transformers series, beat mogul Steven Spielberg to top Vanity Fair’s inaugural list of Hollywood’s Top 40 Moneymakers, which the magazine releases on Tuesday. Bay pulled in $125 million last year, according to the magazine, ahead of Spielberg ($85 million), action director Roland Emmerich ($70 million), Avatar auteur James Cameron ($50 million), and Todd Phillips, producer of The Hangover ($44 million). The magazine limits its list to film-industry creatives: producers, directors, and stars.

Nine women made it into the top 40. The list’s highest-ranking actress, Emma Watson (no. 14), beats out Cameron Diaz (no. 19), Sarah Jessica Parker (no. 24), Katherine Heigl (no. 25), and Reese Witherspoon (no. 31). For now, Hogwarts trumps vampires: Along with Watson, Harry Potter hero Daniel Radcliffe (no. 6) and supporting actor Rupert Grint (no. 15) rank far above Twilight co-stars Robert Pattinson (no. 35) and Kristen Stewart (no. 37).

The magazine interviewed scores of Hollywood insiders, says contributing editor Peter Newcomb, who compiled the list. Although agents, lawyers, studio executives and even the stars themselves provided the deal numbers, calculating the earning power isn’t always an exact science, Newcomb says.

Who will we see on the list in 2011? Count on Twilight’s Taylor Lautner to be here, and for a stronger showing from the King of the World. Avatar director Cameron helped generated sales of more than $800 million for 2009, and his no. 1 movie will most likely also be on the 2010 list a year from now. Also hitting multiplexes this year: the third Fockers installment, for which Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller will each earn about $20 million. Owen Wilson will pull in $15 million for his efforts.
The March Vanity Fair will be on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday and will be available nationally on next Tuesday. Here’s the full list:

1. Michael Bay, producer-director ($125 million)
2. Steven Spielberg, producer-director ($85 million)
3. Roland Emmerich, producer-director ($70 million)
4. James Cameron, producer-director ($50 million)
5. Todd Phillips, director ($44 million)
6. Daniel Radcliffe, actor ($41 million)
7. Ben Stiller, actor ($40 million)
8. Tom Hanks, actor ($36 million)
9. J. J. Abrams, producer-director ($36 million)
10. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer ($35.5 million)
11. Tyler Perry, actor-director-producer ($32.5 million)
12. Adam Sandler, actor-producer ($31.5 million)
13. Denzel Washington, actor ($31 million)
14. Emma Watson, actor ($30 million)
15. Rupert Grint, actor ($30 million)
16. Owen Wilson, actor ($29 million)
17. Nicolas Cage, actor ($28 million)
18. Russell Crowe, actor ($28 million)
19. Cameron Diaz, actor ($27 million)
20. Brian Grazer, producer, and Ron Howard, director-producer ($25.5 million)
21. Johnny Depp, actor ($25 million)
22. Steve Carell, actor ($25 million)
23. Robert De Niro, actor ($24.5 million)
24. Sarah Jessica Parker, actor ($24 million)
25. Katherine Heigl, actor ($24 million)
26. Shawn Levy, director-producer ($23 million)
27. Oren Peli and Jason Blum, writer-director-producers ($22.5 million)
28. Robert Downey Jr., actor ($22 million)
29. George Clooney, actor ($22 million)
30. Matt Damon, actor ($22 million)
31. Reese Witherspoon, actor ($21 million)
32. Angelina Jolie, actor ($21 million)
33. Jennifer Aniston, actor ($20 million)
34. Sandra Bullock, actor ($20 million)
35. Robert Pattinson, actor ($18 million)
36. Clint Eastwood, actor-director-producer ($17 million)
37. Kristen Stewart, actor ($16 million)
38. Mark Wahlberg, actor ($16 million)
39. Shia LaBeouf, actor ($15 million)
40. Brad Pitt, actor ($13.5 million)

It’s an event that’s 12 months in the making – the culmination of hellomagazine.com‘s most attractive and most elegant polls draws interest from around the world and gets readers clicking in their thousands.

And excitement this year was equally as high. In total the three categories – most attractive man, woman and most elegant woman – attracted nearly three quarters of a million votes.

The battle for the most attractive man title turned into a two horse race, with Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson and House star Hugh Laurie neck and neck right until the end. At the close of the poll over 500,000 votes had been cast in this category alone and last year’s winner Rob was eventually beaten into second place by fellow Brit Hugh. The final outcome showed just how close the result was with only 4,770 votes seperating the two.
[ . . . ]
Her Twilight co-star just missed out in his category, but Kristen Stewart took gold by a landslide in the most attractive woman section. The pretty brunette’s fans helped her accumulate just under 35 per cent of the poll.
The top four was very much a musical affair, with last year’s winner Britney in at second followed by Avril Lavigne and Madonna taking third and fourth.

Ever popular Sarah Michelle Geller, who welcomed her first baby in 2009, completed the top five, closely followed by Christina Aguilera.

While George Clooney, Robert Pattinson, and practically every other celeb in the world helped raise more than $57 Million for Haiti relief, one star was upset she couldn’t partake in the telethon last Friday: Kristen Stewart.

The Twilight babe was traveling Friday to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, ’cause K.Stew had two films (Welcome to the Rileys and The Runaways) premiering.

But don’t think that stopped her from helping out…

At the premiere for Welcome to the Rileys, the film’s producers, Giovanni Agnelli and Scott Bloom, filled us in on Kristen’s idea of how to help raise money for Haiti.

K.Stew & Co. raised cash by hosting four lucky ladies in Park City. The fortunate four paid handsomely for the privilege of a free plane ticket, a place to stay and the pleasure of Kristen’s company.

“They paid, like, a thousand dollars a piece for tickets which went to support the cause for Haiti,” says Agnelli.

Adds Bloom:

“Kristen on the plane here said [she was upset] she could not be doing the telethon…So we decided to use all that money to benefit Haiti.”

Don’t ya just heart this girl? Glad to hear she’s a celebrity who knows how to use her star power for good.

Also, anyone else just a tad curious where Kristen was traveling from all day Friday? Just an FYI: It only takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get from L.A. to Salt Lake City.

But a trip from, oh say, England perhaps, certainly would make you completely unavailable for quite some time.

Just sayin’!

There are some very hot stars heading for the Sundance Film Festival, held in snowy Park City, Utah, which runs from Thursday, Jan. 21 through the end of the month.

“Gossip Girl” hunk Chace Crawford, Katie Holmes, Dakota Fanning, “Mad Men” star John Hamm, Kate Mara, Malin Akerman, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba and Julia Robert’s niece, Emma Roberts will be making the trek up the slopes to support their indie films

But “Twilight Saga” star Kristen Stewart has two films at the festival — she plays 80′s rocker Joan Jett in “The Runaways” and a troubled stripper in “Welcome to the Riley’s” — which puts her in the running to be Miss Sundance 2010, according to our cinema scooper Greg Ellwood over at HitFix.co, who also has a great gallery of some of the most hotly anticipated Sundance films.

Past Indie Queens include Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine Keener and Parker Posey, who became mainstream movie stars after doing critically hailed indies.

But in Kristen’s case, she’s doing it backwards. She’s already a big box office star and a major international celebrity, thanks to her “Twilight” role

So the Indie Queen title is just, well, icing on the cake. Or a fresh layer of snow on the slopes.

Not terribly surprising are the negative shudders from some snooty Sundance regulars to international celebrity Stewart’s inclusion in the fest. Guess they didn’t hear about her BAFTA Rising Star nomination.

But Sundance director John Cooper defends his choice to put two of her films in the festival. “She’s putting her money where her mouth is … I think it’s great. These are tough parts.”

One thing we’re sure of — and you can put money on this — you may see Kristen on the slopes during the festival. But you will definitely NOT see her in the celebrity gifting and swag suites lining Main Street in Park City.

So not Kristen, right?

Kristen Stewart is an industry vet, and she’s not even 20 years old. The actress was playing Jodie Foster’s daughter in Panic Room when kids her age were getting their first paper routes. But unlike Haley Joel Osment, Stewart has made the transition from child star to adult actress look relatively easy, namely thanks to her high-profile role as Bella Swan in the big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.

When the film hit theaters in November 2008, she and costar Robert Pattinson experienced the same kind of unnerving immediate rise to fame that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet experienced post-Titanic. Posters of Stewart suddenly became makeshift wallpaper inside locker doors in high schools across America, or they substituted as dartboards for all those females who were envious of her onscreen and rumored off-screen time with Pattinson, much to Stewart’s dismay. “I don’t want to be a movie star like Angelina Jolie,” Stewart told BlackBook magazine. “Nothing about being a celebrity is desirable. I’m an actor. It’s bizarre to me that everybody’s so obsessive.”

Should we have added another movie to yesterday’s Kristen Stewart upcoming roles poll?

A lot of online speculation this week has the “Twilight” star set to assume the part of hacker Lisbeth Salander in a remake of the popular Swedish series “Millenium.” Rumors were picked up and (wondered about) everywhere, with Stewart supposedly “listed” for the role and considered Sony’s “only option” for Salander, despite interest from Natalie Portman and Ellen Page.

Stewart’s fans, though, shouldn’t get too excited about “Millenium,” at least not yet.

Asked whether Stewart was attached to the movie, a source close to the actress told us, “I believe that’s not true.”

Gossip Cop will continue to follow any and all casting news as it develops.

Source: Gossip Cop

According to Teen Vogue, Kristen is the #1 most searched celeb. The rest of the list at the sauce.

Stewart ran with her biopic role as Joan Jett in a mullet that made her a dead-ringer for the Runaways frontwoman. But what did you think? “The new hairstyle is a total, epic fail,” commented Hayley, while readers like Jennifer pointed out, “Have you seen Joan Jett??? This look is spot-on for her role. Kristen works it well.”

Taylor was famously dumped by boy bander Joe Jonas — by phone, no less — after the crooner fell for actres Camilla Belle. Taylor’s determined not to be bested by another woman.

“She trusts Taylor but it drives her crazy to see Kristen hanging off him all the time,” a source tells Now.

The couple have spent the last few weeks apart as Taylor — who plays werewolf Jacob in the films — has been busy promoting The Twilight Saga: New Moon. In recent weeks, Taylor and Kristen have been frequently photographed together at New Moon premieres – and all the private time between the two has rattled the “Love Story” singer.

“She doesn’t buy the whole notion that Kristen only has eyes for Robert Pattinson. She believes she’s secretly longing to get her hooks into Taylor even though they’re just good friends.”

Source: PopCrunch