Who was the top-grossing actress of 2010? Give you a hint: You may have difficulty spelling her name and you’ll have to go down the rabbit hole to find out.
Canberra-born actress Mia Wasikowska, who played the title role in “Alice in Wonderland,” may be new to Hollywood, but she has come within a whisker of bumping Leonardo DiCaprio off as the world’s top box-office earner for 2010.
Mia Wasikowska
Forbes magazine unveiled its Hollywood box office kings and queens on Tuesday and 21-year-old Wasikowska tied for second place with Johnny Depp on the important list, leaving a who’s who of Tinseltown A-listers in her wake including Robert Downey Jr, Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe and the stars from the Twilight films.
The list measures the actors who earned the most money at the box office this year. DiCaprio’s “Inception” made $1.1 billion at the global box office, while “Alice in Wonderland” made $1.03 billion.
Wasikowska also starred in the critically-acclaimed film “The Kids Are All Right,” with Annette Benning and Julianne Moore. That film, a critical darling and a likely Oscar winner, earned a respectable $29 million at the box office – a healthy return, since the film was made on just a $4 million dollar budget, Forbes notes.
Forbes described Wasikowska as the “big surprise on our list”.
“Wasikowska was lucky enough to star as Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. And while there’s no way she was the primary driver of ticket sales for the film (co-star Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton were much bigger draws), she did appear in almost every scene of the film, and can’t be fairly dismissed,” Forbes declared.
Alice in Wonderland was the second-highest grossing film of 2010 with $US1.03 billion ($A1.04 billion) in global box office takings, just behind Toy Story 3.
Depp should have been alone in second place, but his much-hyped new movie with Angelina Jolie, The Tourist, was a major disappointment at the box office leaving him tied with the Aussie actress.
In fourth position was Downey Jr with $US808 million in takings for ‘Iron Man 2’ and the comedy ‘Due Date’ while Daniel Radcliffe’s ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,’ which only opened a month ago, but has collected $US780 million, is fifth.
Another young Brit, Robert Pattinson, came in sixth with $US749 million for his Twilight films and the $US56 million tear jerker ‘Remember Me,’ which push his Twilight co-star and rumoured real-life love, Kristen Stewart, into seventh with $US698 million. Stewart also played Joan Jett in “The Runaways.”
While critics hated Sam Worthington’s 3-D Clash of the Titans re-make, audiences still paid up $US494 million in tickets to see the film, giving the Aussie eighth spot.
Will Smith is notably absent on this year’s Forbes list, but his 12-year-old son Jaden, however, took ninth position with $US359 million for The Karate Kid re-make. His veteran co-star in the film, Jackie Chan, playing the Mr Miyagi character, shared ninth spot with the youngster.
In compiling its list, Forbes did not include animated films, although Toy Story 3 and others were some of the top-earning of the year. Forbes concluded the stars are not really the big draw for the animated films.
Here are the top 10 actors that made it to Forbes list of highest-grossing movie stars in 2010:
1. Leonardo DiCaprio, $1.1 billion (“Shutter Island,” “Inception”)
Leonardo Dicaprio in Inception
2. Mia Wasikowska, $1.03 billion (“Alice in Wonderland,” “The Kids Are All Right”)
Mia Wasikowska in Alice in Wonderland
2. Johnny Depp, $1.03 billion (“Alice in Wonderland,” “The Tourist”)
Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland
4. Robert Downey Jr., $807 million (“Iron Man 2,” “Due Date”)
Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 2
5. Daniel Radcliffe, $780 million (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I”)
Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 1
6. Robert Pattinson, $749 million (“Twilight: Eclipse,” “Remember Me”)
Robert Pattinson in Twilight Eclipse
7. Kristen Stewart, $698 million (“Twilight: Eclipse,” “The Runaways,” “Welcome to the Rileys”)
Kristen Stewart in Twilight Eclipse
8. Sam Worthington, $484 million (“Clash of the Titans”)
Sam Worthington in Clash of the Titans
9. Jaden Smith, $359 million (“The Karate Kid”)
Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid
9. Jackie Chan, $359 million (“The Karate Kid”)
Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid
