Will Ferrel Is Overpaid – Duh!

There are certain movie stars whose very presence in films seems to ensure box office success. Or maybe they’re just both fortunate and canny at picking the right scripts. However, the flip side of the coin are those stars who are a gamble to cast because their movies aren’t always box office smashes.

Forbes recently compiled its list of the top ten most overpaid film stars, and it includes some huge names. Some are surprises, some were always odds-on to appear in such a list.

The figures were compiled by analyzing the box office takings of the actors’ last three films and how much they were paid for each of them. The figure in brackets beside each name is how much the films made for every dollar paid to the leading actor.

1. Will Ferrell ($3.29m)
2. Ewan McGregor ($3.75m)
3. Billy Bob Thornton ($4m)
4. Eddie Murphy ($4.43m)
5. Ice Cube ($4.77m)
6. Tom Cruise ($7.18m)
7. Drew Barrymore ($7.43m)
8. Leonardo DiCaprio ($7.52m)
9. Samuel L. Jackson ($8.59m)
10. Jim Carrey ($8.62m)

No surprise to see Will Ferrell at number one. The main reason for his positioning is Land Of The Lost being such a dismal failure. No surprise either to see Eddie Murphy or Ice Cube included in the list.

However, Ewan McGregor at number 2 is a bit of a shocker, as is Tom Cruise at number 6, and Samuel L. Jackson at number 9. They’ve clearly chosen their scripts poorly over the past few years.