Hollywood is No Country for Young Men or Old Women

Here's the list of the Top Money-Making Stars of 2010 as voted by motion picture exhibitors in Quigley Publishing Company's 79th annual poll.

Rank	Actor	Gender	Age	Lifetime U.S. Box Office
1	Johnny Depp	Male	47	$2,731,758,969
2	Angelina Jolie	Female	35	$1,607,756,601
3	Robert Downey, Jr.	Male	45	$1,989,876,295
4	Matt Damon	Male	40	$2,511,475,356
5	Steve Carell	Male	48	$1,616,882,568
6	Tom Hanks	Male	54	$4,408,107,253
7	Denzel Washington	Male	56	$1,833,794,005
8	Leonardo DiCaprio	Male	36	$1,883,672,916
9	George Clooney	Male	49	$1,750,939,442
10	Anne Hathaway	Female	28	$1,188,233,811

What's striking is there isn't a man on this list under 35, or a woman over 35. Not that it's any suprise that Hollywood is no country for young men or old women.

Now if this were a different industry, such as college sports with Title IX, Hollywood would have to make one bug budget movie starring a woman for every one starring a man. But, of course, Hollywood already does that to a large extent, they are called romantic comedies.

Perhaps more draconian measures are in order, such as the CAFE standards where Detroit auto companies must sell a certain number of subcompact hybrid cars for every sport utlity vehicle to balance the gas mileage of the fleet. But are you ready to stand in line for a Johhny Depp movie at the megaplex waiting for someone to buy a ticket to see Anne Hathaway?

From another perspective, all of these actors have been in show business for more than 10 years. So these slots have been earned over a series of films by actors willing to work for a decade or longer on their craft.

And where are the women of a certain age who aren't on the list? Well here are 10 more women who were did $100 million or more at the U.S box office in 2010.

Rank	Actor	Gender	Age	Lifetime U.S. Box Office
1	Cameron Diaz	Female	38	$2,707,789,729
2	Gwyneth Paltrow	Female	38	$1,752,156,187
3	Cate Blanchett	Female	41	$2,038,042,217
4	Julia Roberts	Female	43	$2,523,519,818
5	Helena Bonham Carter	Female	44	$2,128,001,715
6	Joan Cusack	Female	48	$1,881,735,102
7	Sigourey Weaver	Female	61	$2,409,910,544
8	Meryl Streep	Female	61	$1,751,561,404
9	Kathy Bates	Female	62	$2,561,897,494
10	Maggie Smith	Female	76	$2,527,327,957

That list does not look so shabby in comparison to Quigley's list. So maybe the motion picture exhibitors don't know as much as they think they know. Or maybe they just didn't like Valentine's Day. But I think maybe Hollywood women just need better publicists.