Move over Emma Stone, Tinseltown has a new highest-paid actress. Scarlett Johansson leads this year's ranking with $40.5 million in pretax earnings between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, making her acting's top-earning female lead. 
 
 Playing Black Widow in Marvel's Avengers movies has become a lucrative role for Johansson, who quadruples her 2017 earnings to bump Stone from No. 1. She'll return onscreen for the fourth installment of the superhero conglomerate series in 2019. 
 
 "The percent of budget cost have certainly skewed heavy, particularly on the Avengers movies, to cast now, whereas maybe in the early ones it was more visual effects or below the line," said Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President and producer last year. "But that's okay because [the actors] are the best effects." 
 
 Johansson edges Angelina Jolie (No. 2; $28 million) who returns to the ranking thanks largely to her upfront pay for Maleficent 2. Jennifer Aniston (No. 3; $19.5 million) still earns big bucks 14 years after the conclusion of Friends, making most of her money by endorsing the likes of Emirates airlines, Smartwater and Aveeno. Expect her paycheck to skyrocket next year when production begins on her forthcoming Apple series with Reese Witherspoon (No. 5; $16.5 million), for which the pair will receive an estimated $1.25 million an episode. 
 
 Just ahead of Witherspoon, who rejoins the list with movie earnings and Big Little Lies paychecks, is Jennifer Lawrence. The Hunger Games actress' two most recent movies, Mother! and Red Sparrow, underperformed at the box office. But she still commands big bucks for her turns in the X-Men series and a high-paying Dior contract. 
 
 Together, the world's 10 highest-paid actresses tallied a combined $186 million between June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018, before fees and taxes. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted. Overall, the cumulative total is up 16% from $172.5 million in 2017. 
 
 The list examined actresses the world over, including Australian Cate Blanchett (No. 8; $12.5 million) and Israeli Gal Gadot (No. 10; $10 million). Gadot, whose turn as Wonder Woman catapulted her to fame, is the only newcomer on the ranking. The Patty Jenkins-directed blockbuster tallied $821.8 million at the box office and scored a sequel, which accounts for the majority of Gadot's payday this year. Though she only made an estimated six figures for the first installment, her increased quote, coupled with a Revlon endorsement, launched her among the highest-paid. 
 
 "There was such an obsession in the industry that teenage boys were the primary target box office," said Jenkins, who helmed the smash hit and will be directing and writing its sequel for an estimated $7 million. "The industry has had a hard time shifting to acknowledging that they need to hit a more diverse audience." 
 
 Currently, female characters fill only 28.7% of all speaking roles in film, according to a 2016 study. That lack of roles means that there are fewer opportunities for female stars to earn big bucks. This year, only two women broached the $20 million mark, down from three in 2017 and four in 2016. Notably absent: Amy Adams, Emma Watson, Charlize Theron and last year's top-ranked Emma Stone, who all failed to earn above the $10 million cut off for this year's list and dropped off the ranking. 
 
 Roles for women who are no longer young ingenues are few and far between. Yet the highest-paid actresses buck that trend: 60% of this year's list members are over the age of 40. Some have forged their own roles to build opportunities for themselves: Witherspoon cofounded her Pacific Standard production company and Hello Sunshine media house to option rights for female-led parts. Others, like Aniston, supplement acting income with hefty endorsement deals. ||||| 2017 Getty Images 
 
 La La Land--the city and its celluloid namesake--has been very kind to Emma Stone. At just 28 years old, the Hollywood star is this year's highest-paid actress, banking $26 million pretax in our 12 month scoring period. 
 
 Stone has her earnings from the movie-musical to thank for the bulk of her payday, which also won her a Best Actress Oscar. Her portrayal of Mia, an aspiring actress and barista, garnered rave reviews and goosed the film to $445.3 million at the global box office. 
 
 "I moved here when I was 15 to start auditioning, I knew what it felt like to go on audition after audition," Stone said backstage after accepting her Academy Award, speaking of the similarities between the role and her life. Those auditions have officially paid off: she scored her largest ever annual take-home and is the biggest dollar and percent gainer, year over year, of anyone on the list. 
 
 She bests Jennifer Aniston (No. 2; $25.5 million) who continues to bank millions more than a decade after Friends' conclusion, thanks to regular roles in movies such as The Yellow Birds. But Aniston, 48, makes most of her money by endorsing the likes of Emirates airlines, Smartwater and Aveeno. Hair-care line Living Proof, which she owned a stake in, was sold Unilever for an undisclosed amount in December 2016, adding to Aniston's bottom line. 
 
 Full List: The World's Highest-Paid Actresses 2017 
 
 Former top-ranked Jennifer Lawrence comes in at No. 3, notching just over half her 2016 total. But don’t worry—she still made $24 million. Without a Hunger Games movie, most of Lawrence's paychecks came from forthcoming Darren Aronofsky thriller Mother!, Red Sparrow and a longstanding Dior endorsement. Melissa McCarthy (No. 4; $18 million) and Mila Kunis (No. 5; $15.5 million) round out the top five. 
 
 Together, the world's 10 highest-paid actresses tallied a combined $172.5 million between June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017, before fees and taxes. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted. The list examined actresses the world over, but no stars from Asia made the cut, as Fan Bingbing and Deepika Padukone dropped off due to quieter years. 
 
 Brit Emma Watson (No. 6) is this year's sole newcomer after depositing her paycheck for Beauty and the Beast, which grossed $1.26 billion to become the top-grossing movie of the year so far. Though tech drama The Circle flopped, she managed to make $14 million in our time frame, thanks to the Mouse House. 
 
 "Every kid who grew up on Harry Potter felt instantly comfortable seeing Emma Watson on screen; even if she wasn't Hermione Granger, she was Belle," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at industry tracker ComScore. "[Disney] could have plugged in any actor into that role but it wouldn't have had that magic." 
 
 This year, three women breached the $20 million mark, compared to four women in 2016. Notably absent this year: Scarlett Johansson, who failed to earn above the $11.5 million cut off for this year's list. Overall, the cumulative total is down 16% from $205 million in 2016. 
 
 Their success remains remarkable considering that female characters fill only 28.7% of all speaking roles in film according to a 2016 study. Roles for women above 40 are even fewer and farther between, which makes it all the more notable that 60% of this year's list members are over the age of 40. These women have forged their own roles, such as Atomic Blonde producer and star Charlize Theron, 42, (No. 6; $14 million) who spent five years developing the spy project. 
 
 "We’ve had moments like this, where women really showcase themselves and break glass ceilings," Theron told Variety. "And then we don’t sustain it. Or there’s one movie that doesn’t do well, and all of a sudden, no one wants to make a female-driven film." 
 
 As the ticketing receipts of Wonder Woman and Girls Trip show, strong female characters have never been more bountiful at the box office. Here's hoping their success engenders more roles for a wider range of actresses in years to come. 
 
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 Additional reporting by Madeline Berg. ||||| For the second year in a row, the odds are in her favor: Jennifer Lawrence is once again the world's highest-paid actress, notching $46 million pretax over 12 months--$13 million more than second-ranked Melissa McCarthy, who pocketed $33 million. 
 
 Lawrence's impressive earnings consist largely of a profit slice from the big box office gross ($653.4 million) of her final Hunger Games installment and a mammoth upfront fee for the forthcoming Passengers. Her total is down 11.5% from $52 million in 2015, but she remains the girl on fire, financially speaking. 
 
 McCarthy, 45, is this year's biggest dollar gainer year over year; her earnings are up $10 million on 2015's estimate thanks in part to a reported eight-figure payday for Ghostbusters. This year, the Mike & Molly star recorded her biggest annual paycheck to date, out-earning Scarlett Johansson (No. 3, $25 million). 
 
 “I started to think if I could do anything to build women up rather than the constant tear down I’m going to do it,” McCarthy, who started her own all-sizes clothing line, told FORBES. 
 
 Once again, we examined stars from around the globe, scouring Bollywood and the burgeoning Chinese cinema industry. To wit, 30% of the list hail from outside the U.S.; Chinese actress Fan Bingbing makes the cut for the second consecutive year, while Charlize Theron, a dual citizen of South African and the U.S., returns to the list for the first time since 2013. 
 
 India's Deepika Padukone is the only newcomer to the ranking. The 30-year-old joins the list with Bollywood hits such as Bajirao Mastani, though she earns far less than her Hollywood counterparts for roles. Instead, she compensates with over a dozen lucrative endorsements--a hedging tactic employed by many of her Hollywood peers. 
 
 Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2016 
 
 In an industry where a pay gap with male actors still exists, 90% of the world's highest-paid actresses supplement their on-screen earnings with endorsements. A particular standout: Jennifer Aniston (No. 4), 47, whose advertisements for Emirates airlines, Smartwater, Aveeno and Living Proof comprise a chunk of her $21 million earnings. 
 
 Together, the world's 10 highest-paid actresses tallied a combined $205 million between June 1, 2015, and June 1, 2016, before fees and taxes. Four women, up from three in 2015, banked more than $20 million compared with 18 of the world's leading men (a separate list of highest-paid actors will be published Thursday). 
 
 Though these select actresses earn more than most could dream of, their movie money is but a fraction of what many of their male counterparts pocket. While top actresses can negotiate eight figure upfront fees plus a cut of profits for leading parts in big budget movies, there are simply fewer of those roles available for women. In fact, a recent study found that female characters fill only 28.7% of all speaking roles in film. When women are on screen, they are likely to be eye candy for a male gaze: Women appeared in sexy attire more than a third of the time and were shown partially or fully nude 27.5% of the time, three times as much as men. 
 
 It's a phenomenon up-and-comer Brie Larson experienced firsthand. “There were many times that I would go into auditions and the casting directors would say, ‘It’s really great, we love what you’re doing but we’d really love for you to come back in a jean miniskirt and high heels,’ ” said 30 Under 30 honoree Larson after winning the Best Actress Oscar for Room. 
 
 Well-known names including Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz were among the drop-offs on this year's ranking. There were also some noteworthy near misses: Kristen Wiig, Renée Zellweger and Cate Blanchett all narrowly missed the $10 million cut off for this year's ranking. 
 
 Where last year's ranking evaluated 18 women, this year's list has returned to the top 10 to give a more accurate portrait of acting's earning elite. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers and lawyers. 
 
 Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2016
– Emma Stone ruled the roost last year, but this time around she's lost the No. 1 spot on the highest-paid actress list to the Black Widow. That would be Scarlett Johansson, whose annual paycheck is leaps and bounds ahead of the runner-up by more than $12 million, per Forbes: The Avengers star brought in $40.5 million pretax between June 1, 2017, and June 1 of this year. Forbes notes that the combined pay of the 10 top-paid actresses grossed $186 million, as well as another interesting tidbit on these high-paid Hollywooders: A full 60% of the women on this list are over the age of 40, turning the tables on the "young ingenue" routine that often relegates older women in Tinseltown to less-palatable roles. Rounding out the top five after Johansson: Scarlett Johansson, $40.5M Angelina Jolie, $28M Jennifer Aniston, $19.5M Jennifer Lawrence, $18M Reese Witherspoon, $16.5M See who else made the list here. (There are zero women on this highest-paid athletes list.)