According to Forbes, America’s Most Overpaid Actor is Will Ferrell
By
November 5, 2010
We can’t pretend we read Forbes cover-to-cover, but we must say: their listicles about how much money celebrities make never fail to disappoint. Just last week, we learned all about the top-earning dead stars; and who could forget Hip-Hop’s Cash Kings in August? This week, another treat: Hollywood’s most overpaid movie stars.
Will Ferrell tops the list—for every $3.35 his films earn, he gets $1. This is a pretty astronomical percentage, when you stop to consider exactly how many people work on every film; we hope the gaffers and sound engineers on Land on the Lost weren’t gaffing and engineering for minimum wage. Eddie Murphy came in second place, making $1 for every $4.45 his films do. Funny People co-stars Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler both made the list, too, coming in at fourth and ninth, respectively. Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Drew Barrymore, and Matt Damon all figured in as well.
Why the glut of comedians? The article’s author, Dorothy Pomerantz, explains that since humor doesn’t always translate well overseas, comedies tend to make less money worldwide compared to action films like Salt—or like Transformers, starring Forbes‘ “best actor for the buck,” Shia LaBeouf, who makes $1 for every $81 his films do. The first and second Transformers films have pulled in over $1.5 billion in global box-office sales.
[Forbes via THR] PHOTO BY GUILLERMO QUEZADA
