Top-earning actor
Tom Cruise
≈ $25,000,000
About $25 million a film + gross shareEstimate
About $45.5 million in 2025 dollars
No Forbes list covers 2001. Cruise was the top-paid actor per film, with back-end deals on top.
The Back-End Years · 2000s
2001
Top-earning actress
Julia Roberts
≈ $20,000,000
$20 million a filmEstimate
About $36.4 million in 2025 dollars
No Forbes list covered 2001; Roberts' fee stayed at $20 million.
The pictures that paid
Box office champions of 2001
By worldwide box-office gross
- 1
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
$975 million
- 2
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
$884 million
- 3
Monsters, Inc.
$529 million
Neither top earner was in one of the year's three biggest films.