Mark Wahlberg has officially stolen his former “Pain & Gain” costar’s spot as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may have pulled in the most Hollywood bucks in 2016 with roles in “Baywatch” and the upcoming “Jumanji,” but 2017 belongs to director Michael Bay’s star of “Transformers: The Last Knight.”
Forbes magazine’s 12-month earning report released Tuesday shows Mr. Wahlberg netting $68 million in pretax earnings compared to Mr. Johnson’s $65 million.
“The world’s 20 highest-paid actors tallied a combined $720 million between June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017, before fees and taxes,” Forbes reported. “Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted.”
The top five actors on the magazine’s list include:
- Mark Wahlberg: $68 million
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: $65 million
- Vin Diesel: $54.5 million
- Adam Sandler (assisted by Netflix deal) $50.5 million
- Jackie Chan $49 million
Forbes noted that only three females cracked $20 million in 2017 due to “schedules dominated by superhero movies” and similar action fare.
“There are simply fewer parts for women that pay the sizeable back-end profits that result in leading men’s large paydays, or the franchise sequels that permit aggressive negotiation for favorable deals,” Forbes reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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