Eddie Murphy tops list of the most overpaid actors in Hollywood (photos)

Actor Eddie Murphy’s career has collapsed, Forbes writes. Imagine That, A Thousand Words and Meet Dave were colossal flops.

Last year’s Tower Heist, which was supposed to be something of a return to form for the comedian, failed to wow at the box office, earning $153 million on an estimated budget of $75 million. His string of flops lands Murphy at the top of our Most Overpaid Actors list for 2012. The magazine says it has estimated that for every $1 Murphy was paid for his last three films, they returned an average of $2.30 at the box office. To compile the list, Forbes used data on actors’ earnings gathered for its Celebrity 100 list. Box office grosses and budget estimates are from Box Office Mojo. Forbes looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary.

Ranking second behind Murphy is actress Katherine Heigl. For every dollar she was paid on her last three movies, they earned an average of $3.40. Her most recent film, One For The Money, earned only $37 million on an estimated $40 million budget. Heigl needs to step away from the expensive star vehicles and rebuild her career. Her next release is the ensemble pic The Big Wedding, which hits theaters in April. Featuring Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon and Amanda Seyfried, the movie could give Heigl a chance to show how funny she can be when the pressure is off.

Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson appeared in the list too.