Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck

The Twilight movies are more than a cultural sensation, they’re a financial phenomenon. The latest, Breaking Dawn, has ranked No. 1 at the U.S. box office for the past three weekends and has already earned $588 million worldwide. The entire franchise has brought in $2.4 billion so far and there’s still one more movie set for release next year.

It’s been a lot of reward for relatively little outlay. The first two movies were produced for $37 million and $50 million, respectively. The current film is the most expensive to date with an estimated budget of $110 million. Part of the reason the budget has risen is that stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson...