While protesters occupy Wall Street, complaining about the “1 percent” of fat cats who hold the country’s wealth, business magazine Forbes spotlighted a very different sort of elite: celebrities who might be getting a bigger paycheck than they deserve. Forbes this week released its list of “Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Stars.” I put that headline in quotation marks because, of course, everyone has a different definition of “overpaid.”
Drew Barrymore had the unlucky distinction of topping the list. Forbes found she earned studios just 40 cents for every dollar she was paid. Eddie Murphy came in second. He earned his bosses $2.70 for each dollar he was paid.
Forbes looked only at the 40 actors and actresses who make the most in Hollywood. And to make that 40, the thespian also had to have starred in at least three movies that opened in more than 500 theaters in the past five years, before May 1 of this year.
Animated films didn’t count, Forbes said, “because the stars aren’t really the draw.” But would “Shrek” and its sequels have done so well without the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and the aforementioned Eddie Murphy? It seems doubtful.
Forbes didn’t include every live action film in its calculations, either. The magazine pointed out that Barrymore’s 2009 film “Everybody’s Fine” made just $16 million at the global box office. But she doesn’t get credit for a hit she was in that same year: “He’s Just Not That Into You,” which made $180 globally. Forbes says that “we didn’t count it because Barrymore wasn’t really the star of the film.” So why blame the poor performance of “Everybody’s Fine” on her? Robert De Niro’s name appeared above Barrymore’s on the poster. The young but veteran actress also produced “He’s Just Not That Into You.” Given the success of the film, I’d say Barrymore more than earned her keep on that one.
Other big names on the list include Will Ferrell in third, Reese Witherspoon fourth, and Denzel Washington fifth. Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise were seventh and ninth, respectively. They’ve all had huge hits. Today’s big earners are tomorrow’s overpaid celebrities, it seems. The cliche has it that in Hollywood, you’re only as good as your last film. But all these people — Barrymore included — prove that movie careers have their ups and downs. There’s no straight line to success or failure.
Take Eddie Murphy. Forbes mentions some of his hits, like “Dr. Doolittle,” and some of his failures, like “Imagine That.” It doesn’t mention “Dreamgirls,” the 2006 film for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Murphy went from that height to his next film, the risible “Norbit.” That filmed made a tidy profit. Murphy didn’t take the respect that comes from an Oscar nod and use it to get a meaty role. He went for the money — which sometimes pans out for the studio, and sometimes doesn’t.
For that decision, Murphy should have been barred from the Oscars for life. Instead, he’ll be hosting them this February.
Kelly Jane Torrance is The Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
