DailyDairy
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Top 25 stars for 2005
STARmeter Top 25 for 2005
IMDb.com, Earth's biggest movie database, has released their top 25 stars for 2005. These STARmeter™ rankings were not based upon critical assessments or box-office performance, but the actual search behavior of over 30 million users of IMDb.com. These results are an aggregate of weekly STARmeter rankings from IMDbPro.com, IMDb.com's professional subscription service designed specifically for people in the entertainment industry. IMDbPro.com (try a free, two-week trial) features contact information for over 69,900 names and more than 16,000 companies, international, domestic and daily box-office numbers, news from the Hollywood Reporter and much, much more. Take a look at the 2005 stars below, and see the STARmeter Top 25 for 2004.
25. Keanu Reeves (Last year: Uncharted)
The erstwhile "dude" made another trip into the netherworld, but this time instead of the Matrix, it was the heaven-and-hell of comic book adaptation Constantine; on the art-house flip side, he was a Ritalin-prescribing orthodonist in indie flick Thumbsucker.
24. Tom Hanks (Last year: Uncharted)
Who knew that when the The Polar Express debuted last November with ho-hum numbers, it would turn into a surprise hit and become a perennial holiday fave? The all-American actor also created decidedly controversial and non-computerized buzz by landing the coveted lead in next year's The Da Vinci Code.
23. Kirsten Dunst (Last year: #12)
Without a Spider-Man to hold onto, the perky Dunst landed a bit roughly with the Cameron Crowe mess that was Elizabethtown. But ooh-la-la -- check out that trailer for Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette! And we're still not sure: are she and Jake Gyllenhaal still dating or not?
22. Eva Longoria (Last year: Uncharted)
Longoria's sultry turn on Desperate Housewives shot her to immediate stardom, though she was snubbed by both the Emmys and Golden Globes. But she wasted no time in working the press and appearing in every celeb magazine available. The result? Most Favored Housewife status and (finally) a recently bestowed Golden Globe nod.
21. Robert De Niro (Last year: Uncharted)
The legendary star continued to mine his new comedy career with Meet the Fockers, a star-laden sequel that teamed him with Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, resulting in a $279.2 million (!) domestic gross. On the down side, though, he was upstaged by young Dakota Fanning in the less-than-stellar thriller Hide and Seek.
20. Vin Diesel (Last year: #18)
The monolithic action star turned from punching bad guys to cracking jokes in The Pacifier, a fish-out-of-water comedy movie that paired him with toddlers instead of heavy machinery. It became an unexpected spring hit, opening with $30.6 million, going on to take in $113 mil overall.
19. Jon Heder (Last year: Uncharted)
Vote for Pedro! The star of last year's surprise indie hit, Napoleon Dynamite, continued to cement his cult star status with the movie's DVD release, an appearance on Saturday Night Live, and a scene-stealing turn in the paranormal comedy Just Like Heaven -- not to mention nabbing two MTV Movie Awards.
18. Daniel Radcliffe (Last year: #20)
Everybody's favorite boy wizard continued to make good with Thanksgiving hit Harry Potter in the Goblet of Fire, in which he navigated the hazardous waters of adolescence, braved the TriWizard tournament, and finally came face-to-face with Voldem... uh, He Who Must Not Be Named!
17. Rachel McAdams (Last year: Uncharted)
Last year's mean girl was this year's beloved ingenue, appearing in no less than three movies: the raucous comedy Wedding Crashers, the nifty thriller Red Eye, and Christmas dramedy The Family Stone. Some say she's the next Julia Roberts; we say she's in a class by herself.
16. Nicole Kidman (Last year: #14)
The Oscar winner started out 2005 admirably with classy thriller The Interpreter, but flopped badly (yet again) with the misbegotten Bewitched. But thanks to a captivating Chanel campaign, a hush-hush romance with country star Keith Urban, and the shenanigans of her ex-husband (on whom she remained mum), we still couldn't stop talking about her.
15. Emma Watson (Last year: #13)
Growing more poised and beautiful with each passing year, Watson emerged as a true teen star in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which her appearance in a stunning gown upstaged the Hogwarts' Yule Ball and turned her friends Harry and Ron into blabbering fools. Go Hermoine!
14. Christian Bale (Last year: Uncharted)
Everyone's favorite American Psycho emerged at long last as a full-fledged global star with Batman Begins, breathing new life into the story of the Dark Knight and helping prove that summer hits could be smart as well as wildly fun. Finally -- there might be a sequel worth waiting for!
13. Scarlett Johansson (Last year: #11)
Snarky producers tried to blame her and co-star Ewan McGregor for not turning The Island into a big summer hit, but she serenely and glamorously moved beyond the mess to become -- of all things -- the new muse for Woody Allen in the acclaimed Match Point, which grabbed her a Golden Globe nomination.
12. Jennifer Aniston (Last year: #16)
Nobody had a more tumultuous year than Aniston, whom tabloids turned into a wronged woman in the wake of her (now ex) husband Brad Pitt's romance with Angelina Jolie. Still, she cried bravely on every magazine cover available, weathered being Derailed, and emerged triumphant (and looking incredible) in year-end comedy Rumor Has It...
11. Orlando Bloom (Last year: #3)
It was not the best of years for boy wonder Bloom, whose two high-profile releases -- Ridley Scott's Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven and Cameron Crowe's messy Elizabethtown -- both rode high on waves of advance buzz, only to crash spectacularly. Good thing those Pirates of the Caribbean sequels are just around the corner!
10. Hilary Duff (Last year: #7)
The Perfect Man was more of a perfect flop, but the teen queen found fame and fortune this year with her burgeoning music career, and unveiled a more grown-up look on the eve of her 18th birthday. More importantly: will we ever get to the bottom of her feud with Lindsay Lohan?
9. Natalie Portman (Last year: #21)
Portman bid farewell to the role of Padme Amidala (aka, mother of Luke and Leia) in the final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, and made headlines for appearing at Cannes with a Sinead O'Connor-like buzz cut, which she'll sport in 2006's V for Vendetta, the futuristic action flick written and produced by the Wachowski brothers.
8. Keira Knightley (Last year: #4)
Though The Jacket certainly didn't fit too well and Tony Scott's Domino tumbled pretty badly, the comely British actress wowed audiences and stole hearts as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, the dreamy art-house hit of the fall that earned her a Golden Globe nod. Next up: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
7. Tom Cruise (Last year: #8)
Oh, where do we begin? From couch-jumping with Oprah Winfrey to finger-pointing at Matt Lauer, from wooing Katie Holmes to chastising Brooke Shields, the mega-star's life seemed to be on anything but cruise control. You'll be forgiven if you forgot, in the midst of it all, that he actually appeared in a movie this year, War of the Worlds.
6. Jessica Alba (Last year: Uncharted)
Our highest-debuting star this year set tongues wagging with her sexy, scene-stealing role in Sin City, which she followed up with comic book hit Fantastic Four and deep sea adventure Into the Blue. Throughout all three, she sported skin-tight (and skin-revealing) outfits that made her a pin-up star for the 21st century.
5. Paris Hilton (Last year: #10)
The publicity-friendly heiress filmed a sexy and scandalous commercial for Carl's Jr., tried acting on for size in House of Wax, befriended Lindsay Lohan while dumping The Simple Life pal Nicole Richie, weathered a cameo appearance in the Tom Sizemore scandal, got engaged and then broke it off... we're exhausted just recounting it!
4. Lindsay Lohan (Last year: #2)
The tabloids still couldn't get enough of Lohan this year, as the star braved stories of hard partying, domestic strife between her parents, innumerable romances, and a very public hospitalization for exhaustion. In between bouts of living large and putting out so-so pop music albums, Lohan's Herbie: Fully Loaded grossed a surprising $66 million.
3. Brad Pitt (Last year: #6)
The golden boy's image was seriously tarnished this year when he split with wife Jennifer Aniston, only to take up (seemingly) with Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie, a relationship lovingly glorified in a notorious W magazine photo spread. The public, however, ate it all up, as "Brangelina" became a weekly fixture in magazines and gossip columns worldwide.
2. Angelina Jolie (Last year: #5)
Her saintly work for the United Nations (and adoption of a new baby girl) was in stark contrast to her rumored canoodling with Brad Pitt, though she seemed to rise above it all with nary a scratch or worry. And we think it's mostly her and not Pitt that accounted for Mr. & Mrs. Smith's $186.3 million box office take.
1. Johnny Depp (Last year: #1)
The hits keep on coming for Mr. Depp, the IMDb's favorite for the second year in a row. Starting out the year with an Oscar nomination for Finding Neverland, Depp wowed everyone with his, um, idiosyncratic interpretation of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, lent his voice to another Tim Burton flick, Corpse Bride, and started filming on back-to-back sequels for Pirates of the Caribbean.
