Power 101

4 TOM CRUISE ACTOR-PRODUCER AGE 40

Nobody opens a movie more reliably than Cruise -- even last year's muddle Vanilla Sky ended up grossing $101 million domestically. This year's Minority Report was a modest success by his standards -- the Cruise/Spielberg collaboration netted just $130 million -- but big numbers are anticipated for 2003's The Last Samurai. More impressive is what Cruise can do for a film he isn't even in: He was so wowed after screening the indie cop drama Narc he decided to stick his name on the credits as a producer. Suddenly, Paramount picked it up for a December release and its director (the previously obscure Joe Carnahan) is talking deals all over town. Now, that's power.

5 JULIA ROBERTS ACTRESS-PRODUCER AGE 34

Despite the piddling $2.5 million gross for the Steven Soderbergh-directed Full Frontal and an image-tarnishing courtship with hubby Danny Moder, she remains Hollywood's biggest female star. Acknowledging her competition, she and her producing partners Deborah Schindler and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas put together the romance Maid in Manhattan, starring J. Lo. Meanwhile, J. Ro returns to grinning glory next year in the collegiate drama Mona Lisa Smile, which teams her with actresses who would be Julia (Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles) as well as director Mike Newell.

6 DENZEL WASHINGTON ACTOR-DIRECTOR AGE 47

His Best Actor Oscar for Training Day proved he could play antiheroes and sealed his place among Hollywood's elite $20 mil- per-pic club; he'll cash his first post-raise paycheck for the Carl Franklin thriller Out of Time, due next year. Though critically challenged, the HMO drama John Q. (which grossed a respectable $71 million) was his third straight $20 million-plus bow and his seventh movie to open at No. 1. Directorial debut Antwone Fisher, a biopic about a troubled naval petty officer in which he also stars, moved audiences to tears and ovations in Toronto, generating Oscar buzz.

7 RON HOWARD & BRIAN GRAZER COCHAIRMEN, IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT AGES 48/51

Finally, they get a little respect, with A Beautiful Mind netting them their first Best Picture and Howard his first directing Oscar (and $171 million at U.S. theaters). More kudos came for their small-screen efforts exec-producing Fox's critically hailed 24. But there are limits to even Howard and Grazer's power: Disney nixed their plans for The Alamo, a $135 million-budgeted, R-rated epic (the pair was demanding an extraordinary 37 cents on first-dollar profits). The duo will produce, while Howard considers his next directing gig and Grazer focuses on Mike Myers' The Cat in the Hat and the Coen brothers' Intolerable Cruelty.

8 OPRAH WINFREY TALK SHOW HOST-PRODUCER-PUBLISHER AGE 48

With her top-rated talk-show contract ending in 2006, her eponymous magazine on solid footing, and hundreds of millions in the bank, America's girlfriend may see some free time on the not-too-distant horizon. If early ratings are an indicator, Dr. Phil McGraw -- whose Harpo- created yakker made the strongest talk-show syndie debut since Oprah herself started gabbing 16 years ago -- will carry the torch. But the Beloved guru isn't immune to making a wrong move. After famously admitting she regretted giving Oxygen the rights to her show, she later renegotiated her deal with the ailing women's network.