. . .Nicole Kidman. . .


Nicole Kidman Tops Most Overpaid Celebrity List
Oscar winner moves up from second place last year

Russell Crowe is no longer the most overpaid celebrity. That honor goes to a fellow Aussie.

Nicole Kidman was name as the most overpaid celebrity in Hollywood in Forbes' second annual list of the stars who give the least return for their pay.

This dubious honor was determined by dividing an actor's gross income for his/her last three films into the net revenue (i.e. box office + DVD sales - the budget = payback value). According to this formula, Kidman's films only earned $1 for every dollar she was paid. A year ago, the films earned $8 on the dollar.

"Despite winning an Oscar for her performance in 2002's 'The Hours,' Kidman has become the most overpaid celebrity in Hollywood," says Forbes, adding that her upcoming movie "Australia" could give her a boost.

The remainder of the Payback list includes:

2. Jennifer Garner - "Underperfromance" ought to be her middle name after appearing in "The Kingdom" and "Catch and Release." She only brought the studios $3.60 for every dollar she received.

3. Tom Cruise - Not many wanted a serving of "Lions for Lambs." Overall, his films averaged $4 of gross income. At least his " Tropic Thunder" turn is earning him raves.

4. Cameron Diaz - $4 gross also.

5. Jennifer Lopez - Jenny from the block isn't bringing in the bucks with only a $4.10 return for each dollar she gets.

6. Jim Carrey - Only $4.11 return for his work isn't a laughing matter for this comedian who has seen better days at the box office.

7. Nicolas Cage - Sure, he may have had success with his "National Treasure" sequel, but that could only do so much against his box-office flop "Next," which lost 50 cents for every dollar he was paid. Overall, the studios averaged $4.16 in gross income for his films.

8. Drew Barrymore - $4.38 on the dollar.

9. Will Ferrell - "Blades of Glory" may have put gold in the studios' coffers, but his serious and critically acclaimed turn in "Stranger Than Fiction" wasn't a draw for his usual fans. The studios only averaged $4.67 for every dollar he got.

10. Cate Blanchett - Good acting doesn't always spell good box office. She brought in $4.97 gross income for her last three films.

Kudos goes to Crowe, however, who fell off the list altogether after topping it last year. Back then, he only averaged $5 on the dollar as compared to this year's $6.88 return for his work. He owes this increase to "American Gangster," which returned 10 times the amount he was paid.

---

_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2008 12:10PM by NewtonMP2100.

So I wonder what actor/actress earned the studios the most for every dollar they were paid.

---

[www.zeemaps.com]

Attributing a movie's success or failure solely to one actor? Maybe Actor X kept a bad movie from taking an even bigger bath than if might have otherwise. Maybe that big hit was an ensemble cast and Actor X was only a small part of that. Heck maybe it was the script that was amazing/crap.

It sounds like this was an amusing exercise, but pretty meaningless overall.

Crow had 2nd billing on "Gangster"

What a good film!

Quote
The UnDoug
So I wonder what actor/actress earned the studios the most for every dollar they were paid.

Here you go..

It's official: Matt Damon is twice as valuable as Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe is a dead loss, Adam Sandler is enough to make you weep, and Jennifer Aniston is surprisingly profitable.

After decades spent grappling with how to evaluate the tricky business of an actor's artistic prowess, Hollywood studios now have a handy tool to determine whether to hire a star.

According to the Ultimate Star Payback list, published by the business magazine Forbes yesterday, Damon offers the best box-office return on his salary. For every $1 Damon received in salary his films brought in $29 at the box office. Using the same method, the most profitable woman among Hollywood's A-list actors turns out to be Jennifer Aniston, proving that the critics know nothing when it comes to making money.

Damon's ranking was buoyed by his starring role in the Bourne trilogy. The latest instalment, The Bourne Ultimatum, broke US box-office records on its release last week, taking $70.2m (£35m) on its opening weekend.

The list was compiled by averaging the stars' salary for their last three films and setting it against the box-office takings. Thus Damon, a snip at a modest $26m for his appearance in the first of the Bourne films in 2004, brings a handsome profit: that film took $290m at the box office worldwide, as well as a further $165m in video sales and rentals, against a budget of $75m.

By contrast, the Oscar-winner Crowe suffered for a series of box-office disappointments, bringing in just $5 for every dollar of his salary. Last year's A Good Year cost some $35m to make, a third of which went on Crowe's salary, according to Forbes magazine. The film took just $7.4m at the US box office but once worldwide figures are taken into account, it made little more than $40m.

But it is the biggest earners on the list who must be causing Hollywood's accountants to pause. Tom Cruise, who commands considerably more than $25m a film, brings in just $12 per salary dollar at the box office, as do Will Smith and Tom Hanks, Hollywood's other biggest earners.

Hollywood funnymen, too, are raising few smiles with their contribution to the bottom line. Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey each contribute a meagre $8-$9 at the box office for each salary dollar. This may not be enough to persuade the studios to reconsider financing bloated star-driven comedy vehicles such as Carrey's $100m remake of Fun with Dick and Jane. Including worldwide sales, that film generated just over $200m in income.

The studios will retain a fondness for another big earner, Johnny Depp, who also commands about $20m a film. Thanks to the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp comes in as the third most-profitable actor for the studios, just behind Brad Pitt.

The biggest surprise is Aniston, critically panned and regarded as the cause of box-office flops. But her appearance in The Break-Up, which took $270m worldwide, helped boost her earning to $17 per dollar for her average $14m cheque, pushing her above Angelina Jolie, Renée Zellwegger and Reese Witherspoon in the rankings.

The tops and flops

Top five

1 Matt Damon $29 per $

2 Brad Pitt 24

3 = Vince Vaughn 21

3 = Johnny Depp 21

5 Jennifer Aniston 17

[www.guardian.co.uk]

Quote
The UnDoug
So I wonder what actor/actress earned the studios the most for every dollar they were paid.

They're all pRon stars!!!!!

~A

Quote
Blankity Blank
Attributing a movie's success or failure solely to one actor? Maybe Actor X kept a bad movie from taking an even bigger bath than if might have otherwise. Maybe that big hit was an ensemble cast and Actor X was only a small part of that. Heck maybe it was the script that was amazing/crap.

Thats what I always liked about Gene Hackman. He may have been in some BAD movies, but he was never bad IN them.

---