Will Ferrell Announced as Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actor by Forbes

Forbes has released a list of the most overpaid actors in Hollywood. #1 on the list of the most overpaid actors is Will Ferrell, who has had a number of successful films over the years, but has also suffered with some real duds. With his recent film Land of the Lost doing so bad at the U.S. box office, it really hurt the bottom line when looking at how bankable that Will Ferrell is as a film star. Forbes released the entire list of the 100 biggest stars in Hollywood, and calculated how much money they make per dollar that it costs to pay the star, and then they were able to come with a list of the 10 most overpaid actors in the industry.

In order to come up with a fair method of determining who the biggest actors in the industry are, they used the qualifications of being in at least three movies that opened in more than 500 theaters over the past five years. Some independent films wouldn't make the cut under this method, but it also made sure that it covered a wide range of films and encompassed many years for the actors. It's an interesting list to be sure, and it shows that some of the actors that have been appearing in a lot of movies really aren't as "bankable" as one might think. It's also a bit surprising that some good actors just haven't been in successful films. The list was then constructed, calculating how much money the actor brings in per dollar that they are paid.

For Will Ferrell, he has a pretty high salary right now, and only brings in $3.29 for every $1.00 that he is paid to be in these films. That's not a good return on investment at all, because there are so many other expenses that go into making movies there needs to be a much wider gap. The second worst actors on this list may surprise a few people, and that is Ewan McGregor at just $3.75 per dollar. He has not found a lot of success in recent films, and even the Star Wars movies couldn't pull him above the threshold in the end as a profitable actor.

It's an interesting list to look at, and it's one that producers should probably keeping a closer eye on when they are trying to decide if they should take a risk on who should be cast in an important role. It's also a list that isn't completely accurate in stating which actors are actually good or not in the industry. Especially at #8, where Leonardo DiCaprio sits, and he is widely considered pretty good at his craft.

The 10 Most Overpaid Actors List

1. Will Ferrell ($3.29)
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)

Source:

10 Most Overpaid Actors in Hollywood