Will Ferrell is Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Actor of the Year
Every year the folks over at Forbes put together a fun little list of the most overpaid actors in Hollywood. It’s fun because it’s a chance for people to call out some of the big shots who earn a lot of money but fail to deliver massive box office success. Not surprisingly, at the top of the list this year is Will Ferrell, a funny guy experiencing a fair bit of backlash right now, thanks in large part to the dud that was Land of the Lost (hey, I actually liked it).
In order to create this list, they compared actor’s earnings versus the budgets and profits from their most recent films, and looked for the lowest return. Since it might be unfair to penalize actors for doing smaller art house films, they only take into account movies that opened in at least 500 theatres. They also only chose actors who had at least 3 such films in the last 5 years. Despite all of this, I still can’t help but feel that Leonardo DiCaprio ended up on the list because of his choice to do less mainstream projects.
At any rate, it makes for an interesting discussion, particularly since this story comes hot on the heels of yet another headline trumpeting the so-called death of the movie star. Check out the top 10 list after the jump, and for contrast, see also their list of Best Actors for the Buck. Do you think all these A-listers are indeed overrated and overpaid? Are movie stars still necessary in this day and age?
1. Will Ferrell — $3.29 returned for every dollar spent
2. Ewan McGregor — $3.75
3. Billy Bob Thornton — $4.00
4. Eddie Murphy — $4.43
5. Ice Cube — $4.77
6. Tom Cruise — $7.18
7. Drew Barrymore — $7.43
8. Leonardo DiCaprio — $7.52
9. Samuel L. Jackson — $8.59
10. Jim Carrey — $8.62
Comments (8)
Not sure that really makes sense because you can’t really “blame” Ferrell just because there were lots of expensive CGI shots required for LOTL. And most of their “Best Actors for the Buck” list is people who were in francises (HP, Batman, Transformers). There may be something to the “death of the A list movie star” but this seems like a clumsy way to make that argument.
Posted by Snorfle on November 18th, 2009No – movies stars are still necessary – it’s just that THESE movie stars are not necessary in this day and age.
The time has come to clean house of actors who were hot 10 years ago but no longer are.
Posted by Morgan on November 18th, 2009Ice Cube, HA!
Posted by jaime on November 18th, 2009I’m surprised with Ewan McGregor’s appearance on this list, especially coming in 2nd place. Other than Star Wars III, which made huge money and should only help his case, what other big movies has he starred in? Okay, the Island was a bust, as were Stay and Deception. I hope they didn’t count Angels and Demons or his voice work. It just seems strange to penalize an actor who’s better known for smaller films and only occasionally strays into box office territory.
The rest of the list looks solid, though I agree with Snorfie, most of these stars are past their prime and there are better ways to show how the A-list movie star is a dying breed.
Posted by Ashley Townsend on November 19th, 2009$3.29 return for every dollar invested isn’t bad all things considered. and they can keep pumping out movies until sooner or later they have a hit.
Posted by xego on November 19th, 2009Wil Ferril….so funny….NOT!!!
Posted by Bratwurst on November 20th, 2009I agree that he’s not funny. Well, except when he was on SNL and maybe one other movie.
Posted by Tommy on November 21st, 2009I’m surprised Eddy Murphy isn’t returning a negative figure. I can’t remember the last movie I saw with him that wasn’t a shameless cashgrab.
And Ewan McGregor’s rightly #2. He’s one of several ‘foreign’ actors such as Guy Pearce and Colin Farrell that Hollywood plucked after great indie movies and put them in garbage blockbusters that failed to launch.
Posted by stevie_baby on November 22nd, 2009Leave a Reply