Who’s Who in Hollywood ROI? Who delivers more bang for the buck? Would you believe Matt Damon over Tom Cruise or Jennifer Aniston over Will Smith? Of course, all is subject to how creative Hollywood is with the numbers.
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“Movie studios are famous for their accounting creativity. The further down the profit and loss statement you travel, the more room for chicanery.
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In Tinseltown, a film must be able to recover its production budget to be considered a box office success. The only film on the list that didn’t recover its costs at all was Gigli (2003) starring Jennifer Lopez, which reportedly cost $54 million to make but barely earned a fraction of that at the box office and on video.”

The top three, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and tying for third place – Vince Vaughn and Johnny Depp – bring more to the bottom line than the over hyped Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey.

“The biggest disappointers are Hollywood’s coterie of top-earning funnymen– Adam Sandler (at $9) and Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey ($8 each)–who rank near the bottom of the list.”

What women is the best investment for Hollywood? Despite some recent less than impressive offerings, Jennifer Aniston does a Hollywood budget good.

“Aniston is the actress with the highest Star Payback. Despite swipes from the critics, her generally low-budget films grossed on average $17 for every $1 she was paid. Aniston’s standing was buoyed by her role in The Break-Up, which banked an estimated $270 million in worldwide box office and video.”
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Amazingly, the brilliant Oscar contender Russell Crowe is the worse disappointment, “Crowe’s last three films earned on average just $5 in gross income for every dollar spent on the star.” So much for the appreciation of actual talent.