Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the world’s top ten highest-paid actors in Forbes first global list of actors earning more than Hollywood legends Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Johnny Depp and many more.
Bachchan and Salman each made USD 33.5 million to tie at 7th place while Akshay ranks 9th with USD 32.5 million in annual earnings. Apart from them Shah Rukh Khan with earnings of USD 26 million and Ranbir Kapoor with earnings of USD 15 million ranked 18th and 30th respectively in the list of total 34 global actors, compiled by Forbes magazine.
For the first time ever, this year’s ranking of the World’s Highest-Paid Actors looked outside the U.S. to create the first ever truly global dollar tally of film’s leading men. The list features 12 newcomers, five from India alone. Of 34 actors, Indian stars comprised the largest number of listees after the U.S., earning a combined $140.5 million.
The list has been topped by actor Robert Downey Jr. with earnings of USD 80 million that skyrocketed thanks to top-grossing movies such as “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. On the second spot it’s Jackie Chan with earnings of USD 50 million. “Fast and Furious” superstar Vin Diesel at the third spot with earnings of USD 47 million and “American Sniper” actor Bradley Cooper on the 4th position with USD 41.5 million in earnings.
How Bollywood stars entered into the list?
According to Forbes, though Indian movies gross far less than US films at the box office, they recoup costs by selling satellite rights to TV channels. Unlike the US, where first dollar gross deals are a thing of the past, Bollywood stars continue to earn a cut of each film’s ticketing revenue.
“Like their US counterparts, they also supplement movie pay with product endorsements. Though these tend to be less lucrative than American stars’ seven figure deal, Bollywood’s best tend to rep over 10 different products, some more glamorous than others,” it said.
The list measures money earned from June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015 before subtracting management fees and taxes. All the figures are based on data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers, lawyers—and stars themselves.
The 34 stars on the Forbes’ list earned a combined $941 million. A separate list of highest-paid actresses will be published later this year.
