So I picked up Forbes magazine today because I knew they were having something about the top earning people in entertainment. These lists really aren’t a surprise anymore; they added a top earning tweens list. Result (obviously) is that Miley Cyrus is on top of that list with an income of $25 million (together with Daniel Radcliffe but it’s well known we limit ourselves to the female side here).

She’s followed by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen with $15 million, Ashley Tisdale with $5.5 million, Emma Watson with $5.5 million, Hilary Duff with $5 million and Vanessa Hudgens with $3.2 million. On a side note (well not that much of a side note) Keira Knightley made the top earning actresses list with $32 million.

More than I’ve ever made in my life but I’m actually surprised there’s that much of a difference between them, I knew Miley was the biggest young star out there I just didn’t realize the financial gap was that big. She managed to earn more money in a year at fifteen that most people will earn in their entire lives (though all of the ones listed have made more than most people do in a lifetime).

At the end of the issue they also added a thing I didn’t really get: Good Girls, Bad Girls; Who makes more, the squeaky clean or the jailbird queen? On the good side they have Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff and Lauren Conrad. While on the bad side they have Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Seems a bit pointless to me really, in the end the good side wins of course.

I keep wondering where Forbes gets these numbers from though, it’s not like they can ring up the celebrity accountants and ask for the numbers. So they’re probably very well researched estimates.

Hilary Duff has signed on to co-star with Winona Ryder, Mark Polish, Sean Astin and Chevy Chase in the comedy Stay Cool. The story is about a successful author who has to confront his high school crush when he goes home to address a group of graduating seniors. Hilary will play Shasta O’Neil who’s a sexy high school senior who flirts with the author and invites him to the prom. The movie will be written and produced by Mark and Michael Polish.

I’ve said before that Hilary needs to get rid of her sweet roles; she already tried with War Inc. but that movie struggles to be even released. This is only half a step, again she plays a high school student though this time not the sweet one. So I’m not sure about this one, the cast isn’t that promising to be honest. I can’t even remember when Chevy Chase had a notable role, his career high was back in the seventies and eighties.

So this role isn’t too bad for Hilary but I think she needs to take bigger steps to really make an impact as an actress.

In a lot of cases with child actors people and the media call them overnight successes, that they did one thing and it made them successful right away. Even though that’s true in some cases like Natalie Portman who became a recognised actress overnight with the movie Léon it’s not true for a lot of other child actors.

It can be funny sometimes if you look at filmographies and it turns out that you’ve seen them in movies before without even realising it. I’m not counting tiny guest spots on TV shows right now; if I did that I could be going on forever seeing that’s pretty much how every actor gets started.

The first time I really had that was when I was looking at the filmography of Jena Malone. Granted, she’s not really a superstar but she still gets a fair amount of movies done. At some point I did check out her filmography because I didn’t really know her, turns out I have a on DVD with the woman; Contact in this case which she made when she was twelve years old. Her role in that movie is better known for a difficult special effect (It’s extensively mentioned in the extras; Jena is running towards a mirror but you can’t see the camera. In 1997 that was a lot more difficult than it would be these days.). She plays the younger version of Jodie Foster in the movie.

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As promised last week here’s the list of falling starlets of 2007. So mainly the people that have been going down on the Hollywood ladder. I’m fairly certain that there will be more people that disagree witht his one than with the Rising Starlets 2007 list from last week. The premise is the same in this case though, these views are only based on one opinion and that’s mine. I could of course be completely wrong and some of them might have dozens of secret projects lined up. But looking at the current situation the list comes out as this:

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Forbes Magazine released its “The 20 Top-Earning Young Superstars” this week, which basically focuses on the stars under 25 and look at how much they make. The top earners are pro-athletes so they’re of no real interest to us. In our field of interest the list pretty much starts at number five with the Olsen Twins earning $17 million each, though they didn’t actually make any money of their career in movies but of their production and clothing company.

Hilary Duff is ranked 7th with an income of $12 million, Keira Knightley is 10th with $9 million, Scarlett Johansson is 12th with $5 million, Mischa Barton is 13th with $4.5 million, Dakota Fanning is 14th with $4 million, Emma Watson is 15th with $4 million, Miley Cyrus is 17th with $3.5 million, Lindsay Lohan is 18th with $3.5 million and Mandy Moore is 19th with $3.5 million.

I just wonder, how does Forbes know what they make? I am in no position to claim that they’re wrong but income is just something that people don’t really like to talk about. Endorsement deals are also something companies tend to be vague about.

Especially looking at the example of Miley Cyrus I think she actually make considerably more than $3.5 million. In her case I just think it’s hard to keep track of everything she makes money on, seeing she makes a cut of all Hannah Montana merchandise and there’s a lot of that stuff out there. I also think she makes a fair some of money of her fan site mileyworld.com, despite the negative press. They do mention her concert tour but it seems like they’re pushing that back to next year. Which is probably explained by the timing, if they don’t count November until next year then the number is probably quite realistic. For next year the number should go up quite a bit.

Lindsay Lohan proves that even with going to rehab twice, getting DUI’s and pretty much just messing up you can still make $3.5 million a year. Though that number might have been considerably higher if she had been in successful movies.

I would really like to know where they get their numbers though.