Film director and executive producer Michael Bay, right, with Transformers actors Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf. has landed at the top of Vanity Fair's list of movie earners for 2009. A third Transformers flick is in the works. Film director and executive producer Michael Bay, right, with Transformers actors Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf. has landed at the top of Vanity Fair's list of movie earners for 2009. A third Transformers flick is in the works. (Maya Hitij/Associated Press)

Transformers director Michael Bay has topped Vanity Fair magazine's inaugural list of the top earners in Hollywood in 2009, followed by fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

The latest issue of the glossy magazine, featuring a bevy of young starlets on its cover, contains the publication's first poll of the Top 40 earners in the movie business.

The Top 10 (in US dollars) are:

  1. Michael Bay, $125 milllion.
  2. Steven Spielberg, $85 million.
  3. Roland Emmerich, $70 million.
  4. James Cameron, $50 million.
  5. Todd Phillips, $44 million.
  6. Daniel Radcliffe, $41 million.
  7. Ben Stiller, $40 million.
  8. Tom Hanks, $36 million.
  9. JJ Abrams, $36 million.
  10. Jerry Bruckheimer, $35.5 million.

Phillips is the director and producer of the bachelor-party-gone-awry comedy The Hangover, which was a surprise hit last year, and Emmerich helmed the disaster flick 2012.

Abrams, who is the executive director and creator of the Lost TV series, directed Star Trek and producer Bruckheimer gets plenty of residuals from previous projects including Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Radcliffe's fellow Harry Potter actors did fairly well — Emma Watson was the highest woman on the list at number 14 while Rupert Grint came in right after her.

The only other woman in the Top 20 is actress Cameron Diaz.

Others on the Top 20 include Tyler Perry, Adam Sandler, Denzel Washington, Owen Wilson, Nicolas Cage, Russell Crowe and in a tie for No. 20 are Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

The magazine admits its tabulations could be questioned. It had to interview people who had access to details of agreements, including agents, lawyers and sometimes the stars themselves as well as tabulating box office receipts.

The Vanity Fair list is limited to creative figures: directors, stars, and producers in film.