Who are the most overpaid in Hollywood? With the exception of lottery winners and oil executives, actors are the most overpaid people on the planet. This is for good reason though: movie going audiences are drawn to familiar names and faces, so if you have one of those names and faces in your film, then you get a big audience and make a pretty penny. Unfortunately, some of these megastars just aren’t worth the money. An actor is considered “bankable” when the amount of money he has earned is very small compared to the total amount of money his films have grossed worldwide. So without any delay, Here are the 7 most overpaid actors working in Hollywood today:
#7 Drew Barrymore / Angela Weiss / Getty Images
#7 Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore followed a similar route to Ewan McGregor, except considerably more lame. Her career is balanced between big blockbusters and small no-name crappy movies that don’t make a dime. She’s had a lot of production success lately, but any movie with Drew in a lead role is a lot. People don’t seem to mind her decision-making skills behind the camera, but they just can’t stand watching her and hearing her horribly irritating voice in front of the camera. Throughout her long career, Drew was paid $1 for every $7.40 her films earned. So, on average, Drew earns about fifteen percent of the gross earnings from her movies.
#6 Tom Cruise / Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
#6 Tom Cruise
At one point, Tom Cruise was the biggest movie star in the world. His name has been synonymous with Hollywood since the 1980s, so it only makes sense that he gets paid a lot of money. However, these days Cruise’s entire career consists of psychologically enslaving young starlets and hip hop dancing in a fat suit and bald wig.
He was a Scientologist for a while, but it wasn’t until he started acting like a Scientologist that people were weirded out by him. While he’s making good strides in rekindling memories of old Tom, it’ll be hard to make audiences forget he’s a cult member. This is the kind of thing that won’t easily escape moviegoers’ minds. Also, being in a Cameron Diaz movie is never a good way to get people to like you back. Throughout his career, Tom was paid $1 for every $7.20 his movies made, so on average, Tom makes about fifteen percent of the gross earnings from his movies.
#5 Ice Cube/Paras Griffin/Getty Images
#5 Ice cube
Ice Cube is not for the pop charts. He said it himself. It’s also no longer for the movie-going public. He had some success with questionable family films such as Are We There Yet? and I finished? , but people can only tolerate a family-friendly gangbanger for so long. The public is waiting for Ice Cube to be badass again, and if they don’t see him in a photo wearing a Raiders hat and holding an AK soon, they’re going to give up on him completely. Ice earned $1 for every $4.77 grossed in his movies, so in other words, on average, Ice Cube was paid almost twenty percent of the gross earnings from his movies.
ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Images
#4 Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy has had a brilliant career. After bursting into the national spotlight during his short-lived career on SNL, Eddie quickly became the black comedian of the 80s. As he got older, he began to focus on family comedies with films such as The Nutty Professor and Dr. Dolittle . Again, like a full-sized black Napoleon, Eddie completely conquered the landscape before him.
However, as Eddie’s fan base ages, they no longer recognize their beloved Eddie Murphy. Recent movies like Meet Dave and Imagine That (which felt like a remake of Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories that came out just a year earlier) were major box office disappointments. The Adventures of Pluto Nash is the biggest summer flop of all time. On average, for every dollar Eddie earned, his films brought in $4.43, so like Billy Bob, Murphy earns almost a quarter of the total gross earnings from his films.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
#3 Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob “The Creepiest Cool Guy Alive” Thornton doesn’t make much money compared to other actors. This would be commendable, except for one problem: his movies don’t make money. Looks like soul patches just don’t pay like they used to. On average, Billy Bob was paid $1 for every $4, his films made almost a quarter of the total gross earnings from his films!
#2 Ewan McGregor
The Force may be strong in Obi-Won, but his ability to consistently pick movies that aren’t shit is definitely lacking. Ewan McGregor is either in massive, timeless films such as Star Wars: Episode 1 and Moulin Rouge! , or it’s in some trashy little movie that no one sees. This is probably great for him because he just gets to make whatever movie he wants, but his stats suffer in this situation. His movies either go big or go home. On average, Ewan was paid almost thirty percent of the total gross earnings from his films, in other words for every dollar in salary, his films grossed $3.75.
#1 Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell is too good for his own good. His trademark films with man-child characters ( Elf , Step Brothers ) have been incredibly popular for nearly ten years, but audiences are starting to lose interest in the “classic Will Ferrell” characters.
Will Ferrell’s movies have led to millions of frat boys to Anchorman throws and Old Schoolquotes, like a bulimic girl after a cookie eating contest. When you watch a Will Ferrell movie now, you can frequently predict which lines will be drunkenly spouted in bars in the next six months. Unfortunately, even though Will Ferrell’s mass appeal is as strong as ever, he’s actually not that bankable. Will Ferrell is the least bankable star in the world today! It seems that for every dollar paid to Will Ferrell, his movies only made $3.30. In other words, Ferrell made almost a third of the total gross earnings from his films, which is not a good return on investment. Compare that to Shia LaBeouf whose movies made about $160 for every $1 LaBeouf personally took home! Here’s hoping Will can redeem himself with the hilariously-looking upcoming Anchorman II.