U.S. comedian Adam Sandler topped Forbes’ list of Hollywood’s most overpaid actors for a second consecutive year, nudging out Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks for the dubious honor, the magazine said Tuesday.

    Although Sandler’s latest film “Grown Ups 2” was a hit, pulling in US$246 million at the global box office, it didn’t go far enough to make up for the 48-year-old’s previous flops, “Jack and Jill” and “That’s My Boy.”

    “We estimate that for every US$1 Sandler was paid, he returned an average of US$3.20,” said Forbes, the lowest return on investment of any actor whose record the magazine examined.

    Depp, the star of the hugely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, came in second, returning an average of US$4.10 for each dollar paid, because of recent misses like “The Lone Ranger” and “Dark Shadows.”

    Forbes compiled the annual ranking by looking at the estimated paychecks of Hollywood’s top stars and the budget and revenue of the last three films each actor starred in before June 2014 to determine a return on investment for each actor.

    Animated and limited release films and movies featuring cameo roles were not included in the calculations.

    Comedian Ben Stiller, whose film “Night at the Museum: Secrets of the Tomb” opened in U.S. theaters earlier this month, was No. 3 with a US$4.80 return due to “Tower Heist” and “The Watch,” which did not perform well at the box office.

    “Green Lantern” star Ryan Reynolds was fourth with US$4.90 for each dollar paid, followed by dual Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who pulled in a US$5.20 return, rounding out the top five.

    “Cloud Atlas” was a very expensive flop and Hanks played six different roles in the movie, according to Forbes.

    (SD-Agencies)