Top-earning actor
Adam Sandler
$47,000,000
Forbes Celebrity 100Reported
About $84.1 million in 2025 dollars
Sandler owned a piece of his comedies through his Happy Madison company.
The Back-End Years · 2000s
2002
Top-earning actress
Cameron Diaz
$40,000,000
Forbes Celebrity 100Reported
About $71.6 million in 2025 dollars
Shrek, Vanilla Sky and a $20 million deal for the Charlie's Angels sequel.
The pictures that paid
Box office champions of 2002
By worldwide box-office gross
- 1
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
$937 million
- 2
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
$879 million
- 3
Spider-Man
$822 million
Neither top earner was in one of the year's three biggest films.