Adam Sandler topped Forbes magazine's 2013 list of Hollywood's most overpaid actors, the 47-year-old comedian's last three films returning an average of $3.40 for every dollar he was paid, Retuers reports.
The annual list counts the last three films an actor has starred in over the past three years with a June 1, so Sandler's high-performing comedy "Grown Ups 2" was excluded. According to Forbes, Sandler is one of the few movie stars that can "still command more than $15 million per film, on an 'up front' arrangement." In recent years, Hollywood studios have started paying actors smaller up front fees, their pays tied in moreso with box office performance.
Sandler's 2011 film "Jack & Jill," for instance, grossed $150 million at the box office while the film cost $80 million to make, meaning that Sony only took home $70 million from the highly criticized box office bomb, a return that didn't justify Sandler's pay of $15 million.
While the magazine did not report exactly how much Sandler and other stars earned per film, it said that it used a combination of pay, film budgets and expenses to estimate the average return an actor brings per dollar paid.
Eddie Murphy topped last year's list withan average of $2.30 at the box office for every dollar he earned. Meanwhile, Katherine Heigl placed slightly behind Sandler with a return average of $3.50 per every dollar earned. Reese Witherspoon came in third on the list with an average return of $3.90 for every dollar paid, while Nicholas Cage was fourth with a $6 average return.
