For the second year in a row, Forbes contends that Adam Sandler is the most overpaid actor in Hollywood. This is how the magazine came to that conclusion:
We use earnings estimates from our Celebrity 100 list. We look at the last three films each actor starred in before June 2014, since that was the end of our time frame for the Celeb 100. We don’t include animated films or movies where the actor appears in a cameo or a very small role, or movies that were released on fewer than 2,000 screens.
We then look at the budget and revenue for each film (using numbers from Box Office Mojo and other sources) to come up with operating income. We add together the total compensation for each star on the three movies and the operating income from each movie and then divide to come up with the final return on investment number.
In Sandler’s case, for example, every $1 the actor was paid brought back an average of roughly $3. With such gems as Blended, Grown Ups 2, and Jack and Jill on his docket, maybe that’s not a complete surprise. But, as we’ve noted, the fact that Sandler has a cultural resilience (and importance) is not a mistake, and he’s on his way to Netflix to continue his output. Will he pull a three-peat? Until next year, here’s the rest of Forbes’s 2014 list:
1. Adam Sandler (returns $3.20 for every $1 paid)
2. Johnny Depp ($4.10 for every $1)
3. Ben Stiller ($4.80 for every $1)
4. Ryan Reynolds ($4.90 for every $1)
5. Tom Hanks ($5.20 for every $1)
6. Will Ferrell ($6.60 for every $1)
7. Channing Tatum ($6.70 for every $1)
8. Denzel Washington ($6.90 for every $1)
9. Sandra Bullock ($9 for every $1)
10. Ben Affleck ($9.37 for every $1)