Michael Bay Top Earner in 2009

Michael Bay may have had a few bad days in the awards department with multiple Razzie nominations and only one Oscar nod but he is laughing all the way to the bank with an estimated 2009 earnings of $125 million thanks to the success of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and other movies. The info is from a Vanity Fair's Top 40 Hollywood Earners article for 2009 that breaks down the probably sources of revenue for the big players in Hollywood.

Here is Bay's breakdown:
Estimated 2009 earnings: $125 million
- $75 million: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (back-end profit participation for directing and producing, based on worldwide box-office gross of $835 million)
- $28 million: Transformers: R.O.T.F. (share of estimated $280 million in DVD revenue)
- $12.5 million: Transformers: R.O.T.F. (share of toy and other licensing royalties)
- $4 million: Friday the 13th (back end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $90 million, and share of DVD)
- $2 million: The Unborn (back end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $77 million, and share of DVD)
- $2 million: A Nightmare on Elm Street (fee for producing inexplicable remake)
- $1.5 million: Royalties from older films, other income

Remaining Top 10:
2) Steven Spielberg - $85 million ($15 of which from TF2)
3) Roland Emmerich - $70 million (for 2012)
4) James Cameron - $50 million (more coming for 2010 Avatar grosses and DVD sales)
5) Todd Phillips - $44 million (for The Hangover and Due Date)
6) Daniel Radcliff - $41 million (for Harry Potter Deathly Hallows films)
7) Ben Stiller - $40 million (various movies)
8) Tom Hanks - $36 million (Angels & Demons, Toy Story 3, etc)
9) JJ Abrams - $36 million (Star Trek, Morning Glory)
10) Jerry Bruckheimer - $35.5 million (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, etc)

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