Will Ferrell is Hollywood’s ‘most overpaid actor’

Comedian Will Ferrell has topped Forbes magazine's list of the top ten most 'overpaid' Hollywood actors for the second year running, trumping Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey to the dubious prize.

The business magazine used financial information gathered for its annual Celebrity 100 list to work out a 'return-on-investment' figure for the 36 highest-earning actors in Hollywood who made at least three major movies in the past five years.

The number-crunchers then divided the total income generated from each star's last three films by their earnings.

Ferrell's miserable performance was down largely to his 2009 big-budget flop Land of the Lost, which cost $100m to make and only took $69m at the global box office. Ferrell is paid around $20m per movie. On average, according to the Forbes calculations, for every $1 he received in fees, his films brought in around $3.35 - a lousy return in Hollywood.

It was bad luck on Ferrell that Forbes didn't include any films released after June 2010: his recent film, The Other Guys, performed well enough at the box office, earning $160m on an estimated budget of $100m. If he can keep that up, he could be off the list by next year.

Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington came in second and third respectively. Murphy had two big box office flops with Imagine That and Meet Dave, which means he brought in only $4.45 for every $1 he got paid, while Washington's films earned around $5.10 per $1 paid.

Comic actor Seth Rogen was in fourth place, despite earning much less per film - about $10m - than the other leading men on the list. His return-on-investment figure was $6.75.

Tom Cruise was ranked the fifth most overpaid actor, with his last three films bringing in $7.20 for every $1 he was paid. He could have to wait a couple of years to come off the list: his next big potential blockbuster - the fourth in the Mission: Impossible franchise - is not due in cinemas until December 2011.

Drew Barrymore is the only woman to feature on the list, bringing in $7.45 for every $1 paid. Her middle-of-the-road romcoms Lucky You and Everybody's Fine failed to score big at the global box office.

Matt Damon, Vince Vaughn, Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey made up the Top 10. ·