Tom Hanks Top Earner for 2004

By James Wray Jan 1, 2005, 13:51 GMT

Tom Cruise finished second to Hanks with his performance in "Collateral." Leonardo DiCaprio who first appeared on the list in 1997, finished in third place. He has held this position twice and a ranking of #5 once. Nicholas Cage ranked fourth overall. Surprisingly, this is the first time Cage has been in the Top Ten. Jim Carrey, who won the 2003 Poll slipped to #5.

The rest of the Top Ten in order were: Denzel Washington #6, Julia Roberts #7, Will Smith #8, Brad Pitt #9 and Adam Sandler #10.

The Quigley Poll, conducted every year since 1932, is an annual survey of motion picture exhibitors, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that generated the most box-office revenue in the preceding year for their theatres. Long regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a Star's box-office draw, the Quigley Poll has been cited in hundreds of publications and appears annually in Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac.

To date, Tom Cruise has been voted number one six times. Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Bing Crosby have all won five times. John Wayne, Doris Day and Shirley Temple each finished first four times, but John Wayne was voted one of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars an astounding 25 times from 1949 to 1974.

Exhibitors were also asked to name the Stars of Tomorrow for 2004: one actor and one actress who they feel will be Top Money-Makers in the years to come. The 2004 winners are Jamie Foxx who starred in "Ray" and was in "Breakin' All the Rules" and "Collateral" and Scarlett Johansson who was in "The Perfect Score" and "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie." Johansson was also a Star of Tomorrow in 2003, the only person to be so named in consecutive years.

Top Ten Money-Making Stars of 2004

1. Tom Hanks
2. Tom Cruise
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
4. Nicholas Cage
5. Jim Carrey
6. Denzel Washington
7. Julia Roberts
8. Will Smith
9. Brad Pitt
10. Adam Sandler

Stars of Tomorrow

Scarlett Johansson
Jamie Foxx

Quigley Publishing Company was founded in 1915 and has published the International Motion Picture Almanac annually since 1930 and the International Television & Video Almanac since 1955. Historical data on the Top Ten Money- Making Star Poll dating back to 1932 is available in the 2005 edition of the International Motion Picture Almanac. More information is available on their web site: http://www.quigleypublishing.com/