Crowe a box office bunny: Forbes

Hollywood actors regularly earn millions of dollars per movie, but are they worth it?

Apparently some are — and some are not.

A Forbes magazine survey shows Matt Damon offers the best box-office return on his salary, more than twice that of Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise.

But coming in at the bottom of the list is Russell Crowe, whose past three movies — A Good Year, Cinderella Man and Master and Commander — all disappointed at the box office and earned an average gross income of only $5 for each $1 of the Australian's salary.

By comparison, for every dollar The Bourne Ultimatum star was paid for his last three roles, the films have returned $29 in gross income.

Jennifer Aniston is the top-ranked actress, making No. 5 on the list with a gross income return of $17.

Damon's first two outings in the Bourne trilogy have so far grossed around $850 million worldwide at the box office and in DVD sales, Forbes said. The latest installment opened last weekend, taking $70.2 million at the U.S. box office.

Aniston's rank was mainly the result of her role in The Break Up, which grossed around $288 million worldwide.

Aniston's ex-husband Brad Pitt came in at No. 2, earning $24 for every dollar of his salary, while Aniston's former boyfriend Vince Vaughn grabbed third spot with $21, tying with Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp.

"The biggest stars in Hollywood are not the actors that deliver the biggest returns," Michael Ozanian, Forbes senior editor, said in a statement.

The survey found movies starring Hollywood heavyweights Hanks, Cruise and Will Smith averaged $12, $11 and $10 in gross income respectively for every salary dollar.

Funnymen Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey ranked near the bottom with Sandler bringing in $9 in gross income, and Ferrell and Carrey $8.

"American comedies don't translate as well as action flicks to foreign audiences," Forbes said.

Forbes.com calculated the net revenue for a film by adding the worldwide box office and U.S. DVD revenues and then taking away the budget. The net revenue was divided by an actor's total compensation to produce gross income. The average gross income of an actor's past three movies produced their return.