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Who Is Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Star? Forbes Unveils the List

Nov 4, 2011  •  Post A Comment

A number of TV stars who have shifted their focus to movies are on the new Forbes list of Hollywood’s most overpaid stars, the magazine reports. But No. 1 on the list — by a lot — is an actress known almost exclusively for her movies.

The list calculates the average return on a star’s films for each dollar paid to the actor or actress. No one comes close to Drew Barrymore, who tops the list with her films returning an average of 40 cents for each dollar the actress is paid.

Second on the list is former "Saturday Night Live" star Eddie Murphy, whose movies have returned an average $2.70 for every $1 in salary paid to him, the story says.

Murphy’s fellow "SNL" alum Will Ferrell ranked as the third most overpaid star, with his films earning an average of $3.50 for every dollar he’s paid, the story says. Ferrell has topped the list in recent years.

No. 4 is Reese Witherspoon ($3.55 average return), with Denzel Washington ($4.25) rounding out the top five.

Comedian Adam Sandler, who also got his start on "SNL," ranked seventh, with his films returning $5.20 for every dollar he makes, the story adds.

4 Comments

  1. How is someone overpaid if they are delivering 1.70 for every movie?

  2. Overpaid compared to who?
    Just who gets to (and how do they define) “overpaid”?
    Besides, why is there even a word or expression such as “overpaid”? I’m nowhere near being a wealthy person, but I find the idea behind the term offensive. Who is anybody to say someone else shouldn’t make as much as they can.

  3. How about mentioning someone is “correctly” paid? For example, what is Tom Cruise’s return/pay? $100 for every dollar? We need some bench mark to understand the ratio.

  4. I didn’t know the stars cost was the ONLY cost of production =)

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