Forbes: Top Ten Most Overpaid Actors in Hollywood
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Methodology
To compile our list, we used data on actors’ earnings gathered for our Celebrity 100 list. Box office grosses and budget estimates are from Box Office Mojo. We looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary.
#10 Sarah Jessica Parker: Returns $7 for every $1 paid.
As long as Parker stick to playing Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, the money rolls in. As soon as she steps outside of that zone though, things get tougher. Her 2011 film I Don't Know How She Does It only cost $25 million to make, but it barely earned $30 million at the box office.
#9 Ben Stiller: Returns $6.50 for every $1 paid
Stiller's movies have been doing pretty well at the box office. But he earns so much money per film that one miss can make him seem overpaid. That's what happened with Tower Heist. The 2011 film earned $153 million at the global box office, but it cost $75 million to make, which means it barely returned any kind of profit.
#8 Denzel Washington: Returns $6.30 for every $1 paid
Washington's films do fine at the box office, but he generally commands an outsized paycheck. He made a different deal on Flight (which came out too late to count for this year's list), taking a small upfront payment in exchange for a larger share of the profits. The film has so far earned $84 million on a $30 million budget.
#7 Adam ? : Returns $6.30 for every $1 paid
? is one of the few actors who can still command $20 million per film. Usually, that's a pretty reasonable payday for someone whose comedies are consistent performers. But when a film flops, ? starts to look like a bad bet. Grown Ups was a huge hit in 2010 but Jack and Jill disappointed at the box office.
#6 Nicolas Cage: Returns $6 for every $1 paid
Nicolas Cage works a lot. Over the past three years he has been in 10 films, and that's not even counting his animation voice work. Unfortunately, most of these films haven't done very well at the box office. Last year's Drive Angry grossed only $29 million worldwide.
#5 Jack Black: Returns $5.20 for every $1 paid
When it comes to animated movies like Kung Fu Panda, Black rakes in the big bucks. But his live-action films haven't been doing as well. Last year’s comedy The Big Year barely registered at the box office. Big-name stars like Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson couldn’t overcome poor reviews and a less than sexy topic — birdwatching. It earned only $7 million.
#4 Sandra Bullock: Returns $5 for every $1 paid.
Sandra Bullock makes a surprise entry in fourth place with a $5 return for every $1 she was paid. In 2009 Bullock starred in one of the biggest films of the year, The Blind Side. Not only did it earn $310 million at the box office globally, it was made for just $30 million, making it one of the most profitable films of the year. It was also a big earner for Bullock, who had a profit-sharing deal on the project. But her two other films of the last three years were stinkers: All About Steve and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
#3 Reese Witherspoon: Returns $3.90 for every $1 paid.
Reese Witherspoon ranks third on our list with an average $3.90 return for every $1 she was paid. Witherspoon is one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood, but her choices lately have been questionable, like 2010′s How Do You Know. With a ridiculously high budget of $120 million — a big chunk of which went to salaries for Witherspoon and big-name co-stars Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson and Owen Wilson — the romantic comedy never had a chance of turning a profit. It grossed just $49 million at the box office, making it one of the worst-performing films of 2010. Her most recent film, This Means War, didn’t help much. The $65 million action comedy did OK, earning $157 million worldwide, but it wasn’t enough to get Witherspoon off of our most overpaid list.
#2 Katherine Heigl: Returns $3.40 for every $1 paid.
After hits like Knocked-Up, 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth, Heigl’s quote shot up to the $12 million range. Unfortunately, the films she’s made at that price point have failed to deliver. Her most recent film, One For The Money, earned only $37 million on an estimated $40 million budget. Heigl needs to step away from the expensive star vehicles and rebuild her career. Her next release is the ensemble pic The Big Wedding, which hits theaters in April. Featuring Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon and Amanda Seyfried, the movie could give Heigl a chance to show how funny she can be when the pressure is off.
#1 Eddie Murphy: Returns $2.30 for every $1 paid.
Poor Eddie Murphy desperately needs a comeback. Remember back in the day when he was so funny on Saturday Night Live and in movies like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop? His voice work has helped make movies like Shrek and Mulan tolerable for adults, and even his family-friendly movies, like Norbit and Dr. Dolittle, were good for some chuckles. But lately, Murphy’s career has just collapsed. Imagine That, A Thousand Words and Meet Dave were colossal flops. Last year’s Tower Heist, which was supposed to be something of a return to form for the comedian, failed to wow at the box office, earning $153 million on an estimated budget of $75 million. (In order to even come close to turning a profit, a movie has to earn twice its production budget in ticket sales, plus the millions spent on marketing.) Murphy then backed out of hosting the Oscars, which didn’t help his reputation. His string of flops lands Murphy at the top of our Most Overpaid Actors list for 2012. We estimate that for every $1 Murphy was paid for his last three films, they returned an average of $2.30 at the box office.
To compile our list, we used data on actors’ earnings gathered for our Celebrity 100 list. Box office grosses and budget estimates are from Box Office Mojo. We looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary.
#10 Sarah Jessica Parker: Returns $7 for every $1 paid.
As long as Parker stick to playing Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, the money rolls in. As soon as she steps outside of that zone though, things get tougher. Her 2011 film I Don't Know How She Does It only cost $25 million to make, but it barely earned $30 million at the box office.
#9 Ben Stiller: Returns $6.50 for every $1 paid
Stiller's movies have been doing pretty well at the box office. But he earns so much money per film that one miss can make him seem overpaid. That's what happened with Tower Heist. The 2011 film earned $153 million at the global box office, but it cost $75 million to make, which means it barely returned any kind of profit.
#8 Denzel Washington: Returns $6.30 for every $1 paid
Washington's films do fine at the box office, but he generally commands an outsized paycheck. He made a different deal on Flight (which came out too late to count for this year's list), taking a small upfront payment in exchange for a larger share of the profits. The film has so far earned $84 million on a $30 million budget.
#7 Adam ? : Returns $6.30 for every $1 paid
? is one of the few actors who can still command $20 million per film. Usually, that's a pretty reasonable payday for someone whose comedies are consistent performers. But when a film flops, ? starts to look like a bad bet. Grown Ups was a huge hit in 2010 but Jack and Jill disappointed at the box office.
#6 Nicolas Cage: Returns $6 for every $1 paid
Nicolas Cage works a lot. Over the past three years he has been in 10 films, and that's not even counting his animation voice work. Unfortunately, most of these films haven't done very well at the box office. Last year's Drive Angry grossed only $29 million worldwide.
#5 Jack Black: Returns $5.20 for every $1 paid
When it comes to animated movies like Kung Fu Panda, Black rakes in the big bucks. But his live-action films haven't been doing as well. Last year’s comedy The Big Year barely registered at the box office. Big-name stars like Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson couldn’t overcome poor reviews and a less than sexy topic — birdwatching. It earned only $7 million.
#4 Sandra Bullock: Returns $5 for every $1 paid.
Sandra Bullock makes a surprise entry in fourth place with a $5 return for every $1 she was paid. In 2009 Bullock starred in one of the biggest films of the year, The Blind Side. Not only did it earn $310 million at the box office globally, it was made for just $30 million, making it one of the most profitable films of the year. It was also a big earner for Bullock, who had a profit-sharing deal on the project. But her two other films of the last three years were stinkers: All About Steve and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
#3 Reese Witherspoon: Returns $3.90 for every $1 paid.
Reese Witherspoon ranks third on our list with an average $3.90 return for every $1 she was paid. Witherspoon is one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood, but her choices lately have been questionable, like 2010′s How Do You Know. With a ridiculously high budget of $120 million — a big chunk of which went to salaries for Witherspoon and big-name co-stars Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson and Owen Wilson — the romantic comedy never had a chance of turning a profit. It grossed just $49 million at the box office, making it one of the worst-performing films of 2010. Her most recent film, This Means War, didn’t help much. The $65 million action comedy did OK, earning $157 million worldwide, but it wasn’t enough to get Witherspoon off of our most overpaid list.
#2 Katherine Heigl: Returns $3.40 for every $1 paid.
After hits like Knocked-Up, 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth, Heigl’s quote shot up to the $12 million range. Unfortunately, the films she’s made at that price point have failed to deliver. Her most recent film, One For The Money, earned only $37 million on an estimated $40 million budget. Heigl needs to step away from the expensive star vehicles and rebuild her career. Her next release is the ensemble pic The Big Wedding, which hits theaters in April. Featuring Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon and Amanda Seyfried, the movie could give Heigl a chance to show how funny she can be when the pressure is off.
#1 Eddie Murphy: Returns $2.30 for every $1 paid.
Poor Eddie Murphy desperately needs a comeback. Remember back in the day when he was so funny on Saturday Night Live and in movies like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop? His voice work has helped make movies like Shrek and Mulan tolerable for adults, and even his family-friendly movies, like Norbit and Dr. Dolittle, were good for some chuckles. But lately, Murphy’s career has just collapsed. Imagine That, A Thousand Words and Meet Dave were colossal flops. Last year’s Tower Heist, which was supposed to be something of a return to form for the comedian, failed to wow at the box office, earning $153 million on an estimated budget of $75 million. (In order to even come close to turning a profit, a movie has to earn twice its production budget in ticket sales, plus the millions spent on marketing.) Murphy then backed out of hosting the Oscars, which didn’t help his reputation. His string of flops lands Murphy at the top of our Most Overpaid Actors list for 2012. We estimate that for every $1 Murphy was paid for his last three films, they returned an average of $2.30 at the box office.
Comments
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? made a profits an need to shut the fukk up. greedy ? . everybody want to get over the top ? .
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It's not fair to base a movie's profitability on one actor. That's like blaming the poor profits of a company on the employee of the month from a few years ago. If a movie's good it well sell and it's not up to just the actor to make a movie good.
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So let me get this straight, for every one dollar of revenue Eddie Murphy makes the Studio takes in damn near 130% in revenue? And this is the MOST over paid actor?? And they wonder why people bootleg and torrent their movies.
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So let me get this straight, for every one dollar of revenue Eddie Murphy makes the Studio takes in damn near 130% in revenue? And this is the MOST over paid actor?? And they wonder why people bootleg and torrent their movies.
right, shrek movies by itself problaby did a billion
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I find the "overpaid" label to be insulting as ? . The studio makes $1.30 for every $1 that they give Eddie....thats 130% in revenue. How is that "overpaid"?? -
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57557249/eddie-murphy-tops-forbes-most-overpaid-actors-list/
Eddie Murphy has been trying to make a comeback for the past couple of years, but his latest films were somewhat flops at the box office.
The string of low performing films has placed him at the top of Forbes' Most Overpaid Actors list for 2012.
32 Photos
"Eddie Murphy: One Night Only" tribute
The 51-year-old actor's films "Imagine That," "A Thousand Words," "Meet Dave" and "Tower Heist" all struggled at the box office.
According to Forbes, for every $1 Murphy earned from his last three films, they returned on average $2.30 at the box office.
Behind Murphy on the list is Katherine Heigl. For every $1 she earned from her last three films, they returned on average $3.40.
Forbes used data from its Celebrity 100 list and box office earnings and budget information from Box Office Mojo. The magazine looked at the actors' last three films that opened in more than 2,000 theaters.
well as i said in other thread awhile ago i think Eddie should stop doing comedies and maybe try drama since
he was good in dream girls or go back to stand up -
1000 words wasnt that bad... he need to go back to being ? Eddie
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LOL @ Denzel being over paid....the man just had one of the best..if not the best movie of the year.
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In other words, they have the best contracts.
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makes sense like the break down says this is in terms of return on your investments for the studios. Kinda wack that they put Denzel up there but didn't give a movie break down like they did for everybody else. That makes no sense be consistent with your ? .
i was watching under siege 2 the other day and peeped that Katherine Heigl was Segal's niece in the movie -
Did This Really Need Its Own Thread?
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i would say adam sandelr is overpaid. that dude is not funny and his movies are trash
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detcatinva wrote: »i would say adam sandelr is overpaid. that dude is not funny and his movies are trash
basically....i would describe being overpaid as the amount of money an actor gets paid compared to how good an actor is...not how much the movie makes. and if this were the case Adam ? would be top two for me.
i dont remember the last time i laughed at this fool.
if you wanna compare it to how much the movie made then put the blame on the writers/directors/producers etc as the actors are merely doing what they are being told to do (kind of).
i think anyway
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So let me get this straight, for every one dollar of revenue Eddie Murphy makes the Studio takes in damn near 130% in revenue? And this is the MOST over paid actor?? And they wonder why people bootleg and torrent their movies.
See, that's why the comparison isn't fair. Eddie isn't the only cause for the movie losing money, nor is he the only cause for the movie making money. -
White people stay being overpaid
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Eddie is only as good as his supporting cast...Once he did the Nutty Professor was when he was on the path of full ? .
