This week, Neil Calloway looks at a list of actors who aren’t providing much bang for their buck…
Even a person who only vaguely keeps up with film news could have had a decent guess at who would make the top ten most overpaid actors list, which was revealed by Forbes magazine a few days ago.
With a few exceptions, they are of a similar type; all but Will Smith are white, and Julia Roberts is the only woman among them. Most of them have been around for at least ten years.
They’re big names, who command (or demand) a big fee, but their work is not what it used to be, and they’re probably more known for their personal lives than their work these days. When was the last time you rushed to see a George Clooney film? Or got excited about the new Johnny Depp movie? Nobody queued to watch Money Monster or Yoga Hosers, did they?
Looking at the films that have dominated the box office this year, they aren’t star led films; they’re franchises – Marvel, DC, or animations like Finding Dory, or The Secret Life of Pets. They may star big names, but you go because of the franchise, rather than the cast; only obsessives care who is playing Batman or Spider-Man.
With an increasing reliance on international box office, Hollywood can’t rely on American stars to guarantee box office any more, and this list proves that if you hire a big name, you might not get a big return. Johnny Depp films only brought in $2.80 for every $1 he was paid (down from $4.10 last year). Will Smith came second, with his movies only making $5 for every dollar he was paid. Suicide Squad wasn’t included as it just missed the cutoff, but rather than being a Will Smith film (Jared Leto and Margot Robbie featured in the publicity more) it was a film that Will Smith appeared in; he was a hired hand rather than the star.
Look at the stars of the upcoming Rogue One; you know them, you’ve seen them in other films, but they are hardly superstars; your local market is not selling unofficial Diego Luna or Alistair Petrie calendars, but that won’t stop the film being a huge hit. Why hire an actor who costs a small fortune and can derail your movies chances of success by allegations of domestic violence when you can make a bigger film with a cast of unknowns but some money spent on a decent writer.
The age of the Hollywood star seems to be coming to an end; a film can’t be sold on a name alone any more. Increasing diversity of audiences, increasing entertainment options (why schlep out to watch a bad film when you can stay in and luxuriate with a great TV show?), mean that you can’t just shove a big name on a poster and expect the money to roll in. That’s a good thing, by the way.
Neil Calloway is a pub quiz extraordinaire and Top Gun obsessive. Check back here every Sunday for future instalments.
Originally published December 11, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
