All actors are grossly overpaid. And I honestly don't understand why. The fact that an actual doctor is payed less than a person playing a doctor on film makes absolutely no sense to me. As evidenced by this list I provide below, some actors far out-earn others, even if box office dollars don't reflect the investment. Thanks to Forbes' annual list of overpaid actors, we're able to see who earns way more cash than they're worth.
Of the actors included in the
2014 and
2015 lists, only one was female, and many are actually repeat offenders. Likewise, most of the actors included also happen to be royal douchebags. I'm sure this is no coincidence.
So, if you want to see a list of actors who aren't worth your hard-earned money, take a look at the actors below and don't give them another cent.
1. Johnny Depp
Depp, the once-respected actor, has been making many bad decisions of late. This includes the alleged abuse claims against him from estranged wife
Amber Heard. To assist in proving my point concerning his piss-poor choices in film, I feel that all I have to do is list his latest movies: "Alice Through The Looking Glass," "Black Mass," "Mortdecai," "Lucky Them," "Into The Woods" and "Transcendence." See what I mean?
Of these six films, three received less than 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And, according to Forbes, who elected him 2015's most overpaid actor (he was on 2014's list as well), Depp's return on investment is a mere $1.20 on every dollar paid (for perspective, Mila Kunis's ROI was $68.70 in 2014 on every dollar).
2. Will Ferrell
Ferrell's best films are behind him, and with each new release, he proves this fact over and over again. It's not that Ferrell's films don't make money, because they do; the profits are just minuscule when Ferrell's whopping pay checks are taken into account, as he out-earns most -- if not all -- comedians currently in film. Estimates say his paychecks are roughly $20 million per movie, which is nearly half of the budget for most comedies. Forbes claims return on investment in 2015 was $6.80 for every dollar made.
3. Liam Neeson
The diverse actor (sarcasm) made a name for himself while saving his useless family not once, not twice, but three times in the "Taken" trilogy. All three of these films saw profits, but the other movies he's starred in since -- that were all essentially "Taken" but with different titles: "A Walk Among The Tombstones" and "Run All Night" -- didn't perform nearly as well. In fact, these latter films had very modest budgets of roughly $50 million, meaning Neeson's paycheck ate up most of it. Forbes' return on investment sees Neeson at $7.20 for every dollar paid.
4. Adam Sandler
I'm sure this comes as a surprise to no one. While he didn't make Forbes' 2015 list, there's no way I will let Sandler get away with his god-awful films that he has yet to make up for (this coming from a guy who actually kind of liked "Jack and Jill").
In 2014, Sandler's return on investment was $3.20 for every dollar paid. Which is really, really bad. Since then, he's released "The Do-Over," "Pixels", and "The Cobbler," each of which earned seven percent, 17 percent and nine percent respectively on Rotten Tomatoes. "The Ridiculous Six" earned an unheard of 0 percent. And rightfully so. That movie was horrible. Taylor Lautner especially.
5. Channing Tatum
I have to admit, it's nice to see this guy not succeed at something. He's too beautiful. Actually, Tatum was on both the 2014 and 2015 list of top overpaid actors, but we'll go with his better and more recent year, 2015. To be fair, "Magic Mike XXL" came out too late to be accounted for, so that means "Jupiter Ascending" and "White House Down" are two of the films that reflect this result. These movies performed very, very badly.
If it weren't for "22 Jump Street," which did incredibly well, Tatum would have been even less deserving of his paycheck. In 2015, Tatum's ROI was $10.80. In 2014, it was $6.70. So he is doing significantly better.
6. Denzel Washington
Washington is yet another actor who made the list for two consecutive years. This is because the actor can demand a very high paycheck but, in return, must achieve massive dollars at the box office. As evidenced by these lists, Washington's paychecks haven't received a cut, but his film's profits have. In 2014, Washington's ROI was $6.90. In 2015, it was $6.50. Unlike Tatum, Washington's profits have dropped, but not by much.
7. Ben Affleck
Forbes insists most of Affleck's films -- like "Argo" and "Gone Girl" -- saw significant profits, but his bombs -- like "Runner Runner" -- were lethal. In 2014, Affleck's ROI was $9.37. In 2015, it was $12.30. So he's certainly doing better. I'm sure he won't be on the list for 2016, since "Batman v Superman" was incredibly successful. Well at least it was in a dollars sense;
critics unanimously hated it.
8. Brad Pitt
How the mighty have fallen! While I think his wife is the absolute worst, I don't hate Pitt, but many do, evidently. The reason for Pitt's inclusion on this list is much like Washington's. Pitt stars in films of various budgets, but his paychecks don't budge. For example, "World War Z" and "12 Years A Slave" were both massive successes with big budgets, but films like "The Counselor" were much less successful. Regardless, Pitt was paid similarly for both.
9. Tom Hanks
Say it isn't so! Tom Hanks is an incredible actor, but as you can see, everybody makes mistakes, and that mistake was notably "Cloud Atlas," a film he played not one, but six roles in. Thanks to this reputable flop, Hanks' ROI in 2014 was a disappointing $5.20.
10. Ben Stiller
Like Will Farrell, it's best that Ben Stiller retire from releasing annual films and leave the comedies to the up-and-comers, who could probably better benefit from the cash. Thanks to flops like "Tower Heist" and "The Watch," Stiller's return on investment was just $4.80 on every dollar paid in 2014.