Forbes’ 10 Most Profitable Actors

Forbes have come up with a list of the 10 most profitable actors in Hollywood at the moment, now don’t confuse this list with the most paid actors because this is based on how much money the movie studio makes back for every dollar they paid the actors.

10. Sarah Jessica Parker, $17

When it comes to Sex and the City movies, Sarah Jessica Parker is a great investment. In other movies, not so much. Her 2009 film Did You Hear About the Morgans earned an anemic $85 million at the global box office. Compare that with her two Sex and the City movies, which have earned a total $705 million.

9. Nicolas Cage, $17

Cage makes our list mostly thanks to the 2009 film Knowing, which earned a healthy $184 million on an estimated budget of $50 million. The budget was able to stay low because the producers went with Cage over someone who would have cost much more like Will Smith or Johnny Depp.

8. Johnny Depp, $18

Depp is the rare actor on our list who earns more than almost every actor in Hollywood but still manages to offer a good return on investment. That’s because his films do phenomenally. Alice in Wonderland has earned $1 billion. Public Enemies brought in $215 million. As long as he continues to be a major draw overseas and his films keep performing, Depp will continue to get one of the highest paydays in Hollywood.

7. Meryl Stree, $21

The actress (2008′s most profitable actress) proves again and again that age and gender do not determine box-office draw. Mamma Mia earned $610 million at the global box office. It’s Complicated brought in $220 million. As soon as Streep starts earning the same as her male peers, she’ll likely work her way off of our list.

6. Jennifer Aniston, $21

Another woman on our list: Jennifer Aniston (2007′s most profitable actress). The star makes a surprising appearance in sixth place with a $21 return for every $1 she is paid. (She’s tied with Meryl Streep.) Although one of her included movies, Love Happens, was a huge flop, He’s Just Not that Into You and The Bounty Hunter (with $136 million at the global box office on an estimated budget of $40 million) actually did well.

5. Cate Blanchett, $27

The actress has played the female lead in two recent high-grossing films: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Robin Hood (which brought in $310 million despite a weak opening). In both cases she earned significantly less than her male costars, which is why Blanchett makes our top 10 list while Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt do not.

4. Robert Downey Jr., $33

It wasn’t so long ago that Downey (2008′s most profitable actor) was a Hollywood pariah because of his drug and alcohol problems. That helped shrink his quote when he started his comeback in 2008 with the first Iron Man. Since then he’s starred in some of the highest-grossing films of the past few years, including Sherlock Holmes ($517 million) and Iron Man 2 ($622 million) while his payday has stayed relatively low.

3. Daniel Radcliffe, $61

The Harry Potter movies are the kind of high-budget films that would usually hurt an actor on this list unless he was earning under $10 million total. But Radcliffe lands in third place (with a $61 return for ever dollar he earns) because the films earn so much money. The entire franchise has so far brought in $5.4 billion at the global box office making his growing salary seem like a drop in the bucket.

2. Anne Hathaway, $64

For the sake of our return on investment list, being a woman in Hollywood is a good thing. They tend to earn less so when their films hit, they offer a good return. Hathaway lands so high on our list thanks to Alice in Wonderland. For every dollar she earns studios earn $64 off of her films. Most of that payback is coming from Alice. The Disney 3-D film was a gigantic hit earning $1 billion at the global box office, and Hathaway earned much less than star Johnny Depp. But she also benefits from 2009′s Bride Wars, which was a modest hit earning $115 million at the global box office on a low estimated budget of $30 million.

1. Shia LaBeouf, $81

LaBeouf tops our list for the second year in a row thanks to his relatively low-paid work in high-earning films like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the second Transformers movie. As his box office grows so will his quote, which means it will be harder for him to stay at the top of our list unless his films earn proportionally more money. When LaBeouf starred in the first Transformers movie in 2007, Viacom’s Paramount Studio was able to pay him under $5 million. It had to bump that up considerably for the second film (which earned $833 million in 2009), but LaBeouf still isn’t earning $20 million upfront to star in a picture.

As a result, he offers a great return on investment. For every $1 studios spend on the 24-year-old actor his films return an average $81 of profit. For our list this year LaBeouf also benefits from the fourth Indiana Jones film, which earned $790 million in 2008. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford split the bulk of the profits from that movie leaving LaBeouf as a profitable costar. As the actor’s fame (and box-office earnings) increase he’ll be able to demand more for each film which will hurt his return on investment number unless the films are gigantic blockbusters. That could be the case with the next Transformers movie. LaBeouf was able to ask for more money upfront but because the movie is being filmed in 3-D, it should earn even more than Transformers 2.

source: Hollywood’s Best Actors For The Buck [Forbes]

Popularity: unranked [?]

Forbes’ 10 Most Profitable Actors

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