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Eddie Murphy Is the 'Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood'
Eddie Murphy in 2010 (Nata Sha / Shutterstock.com)
It's no secret that big stars of big movies often take home big paychecks. But when all the box office numbers have been tallied, are those who are signing the checks getting a good return on their investment when it comes to the talent on the payroll? Forbes has calculated the ten most overpaid actors in Hollywood, and Eddie Murphy leads the list.
"Poor Eddie Murphy desperately needs a comeback," begins Forbes in their explanation of how the onetime breakout "Saturday Night Live" star has segued to some solid family-friendly hits, and a whole lot of recent misses. "We estimate that for every $1 Murphy was paid for his last three films, they returned an average of $2.30 at the box office," notes the finance-focused publication.
How did Forbes come up with their top ten? Forbes elaborates on their methodology:
To compile our list, we used data on actors’ earnings gathered for our Celebrity 100 list. Box office grosses and budget estimates are from Box Office Mojo. We looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary.
Here's the full list from Forbes:
1. Eddie Murphy
2. Katherine Heigl
3. Reese Witherspoon
4. Sandra Bullock
5. Jack Black
6. Nicolas Cage
7. Adam Sandler
8. Denzel Washington
9. Ben Stiller
10. Sarah Jessica Parker
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