Wrestling superstar turned actor, Dwayne Johnson, also known as ‘The Rock’ has been named the world’s highest-paid actor for 2016, earning $64.5 million in the year.
The 44-year-old former WWE wrestler topped the list of the 20 highest-paid actors released by Forbes Magazine on Thursday.
According to Forbes, the rating is based on the actors’ total earnings between June 2015 and June 2016.
“Johnson’s earnings include a share of any box office revenue from earthquake-themed disaster movie ‘San Andreas’, which was released in May 2015.’’
It also included the actor’s fee for recent action comedy ‘Central Intelligence’.
Forbes added that Johnson was also the actor who made the biggest gain in income this year after more than doubling his 2015 earnings.
As indicated in the ranking, 62-year-old Chinese Jackie Chan, was the second highest-paid actor with $61 million earnings, while Matt Damon came third, earning $55 million.
The magazine said, meanwhile, aging American actor and producer Harrison Ford, 74, stood at the bottom of the list, earning $15 million.
It said that surprisingly, Robert Downey Jr, the highest-paid actor in the world for three years in a row, dropped down to joint eighth place on the list after pulling in $33 million.
This, according to Forbes, was a big contrast to Downey Jr’s 2015 earnings of $80 million.
The magazine said four Bollywood stars made the top-earning list, with Shah Rukh Khan, known as ‘The King of Bollywood’, emerging as the highest earner from the Indian movie industry.
It noted that Khan pulled $33 million, standing at joint-eight position with Robert Downey Jr.
Forbes said that, however, there was a huge disparity between men and women highlighted in the size of the highest-paid actresses list compared to the highest-paid actors.
Analysing the earnings for actors and actresses, Forbes said, Johnson’s earnings during the bumper year of blockbusters was almost $20 million more than Jennifer Lawrence, the highest earning female actress.
It said Lawrence made in the same year, $46 million earning.
Forbes said more big budget roles existed for men that paid the fees and cuts of profits needed to become a highly-paid actor.
According to the magazine, this data highlights ageism inherent in Hollywood, where 95 per cent of the highest-paid actors are over 40, unlike the highest-paid actresses.
It noted that Lawrence aged 26, topped the list, and all of the highest-paid actresses were under 50.
The list of the 10 world’s highest paid actress was released by Forbes earlier in the week, with Hollywood superstar Jennifer Lawrence topping the list.
The world’s 20 highest paid actors earned a combined $703.5 million between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016 before management fees and taxes.
The world’s 10 highest-paid actresses, however, tallied a total of $205 million within the same period.
