Forbes: Hollywood’s Best Bang For The Buck

Forbes does the math and finds that Shia LaBoeuf delivers the best return on a studio’s investment, bringing in $81 for every dollar he’s paid in salary. This is the second year in a row he’s topped the chart. Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett are the two best female investments a producer can make. Danial Radcliffe and Robert Downey Jr round out the top 5.¬† Full list of the Top 10 best bets after the cut.

1. Shia LaBoeuf – $81 earned for every $1 paid
2. Anna Hathaway – $64
3. Daniel Radcliffe – $61
4. Robert Downey Jr. – $33
5. Cate Blanchett – $27
6. Meryl Streep – $21
7. Jennifer Aniston – $21
8. Johnny Depp – $18
9. Nicholas Cage – $17
10. Jessica Parker – $17

Here’s how Forbes came up with their figures:

In order to create our list we looked at the top 36 earners in Hollywood. To qualify, each actor had to have starred in at least three movies in the past five years that opened in more than 500 theaters. Movies that opened after June 1 of this year are not counted. We did not include animated films because the actors aren’t really the draw and they tend to take pay cuts for voice work.

We then used data gathered for our annual Celebrity 100 list to calculate each star’s estimated earnings on each film (including upfront pay and any earnings from the movie’s box-office receipts, DVD and TV sales). We then looked at each movie’s estimated budget (not including marketing costs, which are susceptible to accounting chicanery) and box-office, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each film.

We added up each star’s compensation on his or her last three films and the operating income on those films and divided total operating income by the star’s total compensation to come up with each return on investment number. The final number represents an average of how much a studio earns for every dollar paid to the actor.

Interesting. Now I want to see the list of worst investments.¬† If Forbes is going to make us feel grudging repect for Shia LaBoeuf, if would be nice to get my smirk back over the actors who get paid way more than they’re worth.¬† Any guesses who those might be?