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Bad ROI: Will Ferrell, Tom Cruise, Ewan McGregor and more, the list

Nov 19, 2009, 9:32 GMT

$1 paid to him = $3 total revenues at BO, bad return of investment for Will Ferrell - © PRN / PR Photos

Will Ferrell has topped a list of the Most Overpaid Stars.

The 'Elf' actor and comedian topped the annual list by Forbes magazine, which calculated how much moviemakers earn per dollar paid to their lead actor.

After the last couple of funnyman Will's films - 'Semi-Pro' and 'Land of the Lost' - bombed at the box office, his rate of return has dropped to $3.29 for every dollar of Will's fee.

This contrasts greatly with the other end of the scale, which saw Shia LaBeouf named as the Best Actor for the Buck in August, earning studios an average of $160 for every dollar he was paid.

Behind Will on the Most Overpaid list was British actor Ewan McGregor, while Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson all made the top ten.

However, Will could turn his box office figures around as he recently revealed he wants to make a sequel to 'Anchorman', one of his most successful films to date, about a 1970s newsreader.

The 42-year-old star said: "Yeah we're trying to figure out when and how we should do that. We're going to meet with all the guys and see if we can actually pull this off.

"With Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, they're in different places with their careers it's a lot harder to get us all together."

Although he did add: "And believe me, I'm not taking a pay cut, no way, absolutely not!"

Forbes magazine's top ten Most Overpaid Stars:

1. Will Ferrell

2. Ewan McGregor

3. Billy Bob Thornton

4. Eddie Murphy

5. Ice Cube

6. Tom Cruise

7. Drew Barrymore

8. Leonardo DiCaprio

9. Samuel L. Jackson

10. Jim Carrey