Johnny Depp was named No. 1 on Hollywood’s Overpaid List.
What a lump of coal! According to Forbes, Johnny Depp is officially Hollywood’s most overpaid actor of 2015.
The success of the four Pirates of the Caribbean films allowed him to command top dollar salary-wise, but his 2015 movies, Mortdecai and Transcendence, bombed at the box office. Depp made the studio $1.20 for every $1 he was paid. This was bad enough to unseat Adam Sandler, who held the title for 2013 and 2014.
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But don’t feel too bad for Depp. He still got paid very well and could laugh his way to the bank. He’ll be just fine on Christmas morning.
Following him on the list are nine other men, including Denzel Washington ($6.50/$1), Will Ferrell ($6.80/$1), Liam Neeson ($7.80/$1), Will Smith ($8.60/$1), Christian Bale ($9.20/$1), Channing Tatum ($10.80), Brad Pitt ($12/$1), Ben Affleck ($12.80/$1) and Tom Cruise ($13.60/$1).
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The BBC did a nice comparison of the actors who provided the most value — or the most undervalued actors. Chris Evans tops the list with $181.80 for every $1 paid.
Following him are Mila Kunis ($87.30/$1), Scarlett Johansson ($84.90/$1), Gwyneth Paltrow ($82.90/$1), Emma Stone ($54/$1), Chris Hemsworth ($42.10/$1), Vin Diesel ($40.30/$1), Jennifer Lawrence ($39.10/$1), Mark Wahlberg ($37.90/$1) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ($28.10/$1).
If anyone wanted to argue with Jennifer Lawrence’s Lenny essay about the gender pay gap, here’s further proof that she was onto something. Zero out of the 10 overpaid actors are women. Five out of 10 of the most undervalued actors are women. They are delivering far more value than they are receiving in pay. I want to scream “Yes!” when I see these talented women delivering so much value. But it also means they’re not seeing it in their paychecks. For that, I scream “Nooooooooooo!”
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The overpaid male actors are all major movie stars, but so are Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie. They must deliver more value than their better-paid male counterparts. Or their agents need to negotiate better.
It may seem weird, but I can’t wait to see a woman on top of the most overpaid list. It’ll finally be a sign that the gender pay disparity is over or, at the very least, declining.
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