Nicole Kidman the 'most overpaid actor'

The Australian Oscar-winner topped Forbes magazine's annual list of the least bankable film stars - those least likely to give studios a good return on their investment at the box office.

An analysis of Kidman's most recent films found they earned only $1 (57 pence) for every dollar the actress was paid, compared to $8 a year ago.

Last year's The Invasion, a remake of the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, fared even worse, losing $2.68 for every dollar paid to Kidman, who reportedly received $17 million for her role.

"Despite winning an Oscar for her performance in 2002's The Hours, Kidman has become the most overpaid celebrity in Hollywood," notes Forbes, which adds her career could receive a boost with Baz Luhrmann's upcoming epic Australia, in which she stars opposite Hugh Jackman.

Kidman replaces fellow Australian Russell Crowe, who last year topped Forbes' list, now in its second year.

She is followed in second place by Jennifer Garner, whose films including The Kingdom and Catch and Release have underperformed at the box office. The magazine notes that even though Garner received a relatively "low salary", the films did so badly they were calculated to earn just $3.60 for every $1 she was paid.

Kidman's ex-husband, Tom Cruise, came third in the list with a $4 return for every dollar he was paid, mostly because of last year's flop Lions for Lambs. For every dollar the star earned, the film returned only $1.88.

Forbes calculated the rankings by looking at stars' past three films and dividing their total earnings by the releases' gross income to get the actor's payback figure.

Also making the top 10 most overpaid Hollywood celebrities were Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Nicolas Cage, Jennifer Lopez, Drew Barrymore, Will Ferrell and Cate Blanchett.

The magazine notes that studios looking to hire Diaz, who reportedly earned $50 million between June 2006 and June 2007, "might want to question whether she's worth the money".

"Her films returned a lowly $4 for every dollar Diaz earned," it said.

The actor whose bankability improved the most over the past year was Crowe, who was ranked the most overpaid celebrity in 2007 when Kidman was in second place.

Last year, Forbes estimated his film Cinderella Man earned $5 for every dollar that Crowe was paid.

But this year, he was the 18th best earner on a previously issued list of actors worth their paycheques, with a return of $6.88 for every dollar he earned.

The improvement was attributed to last year's American Gangster with Denzel Washington, for which Crowe returned a $10.80 for every dollar he was paid.

Forbes annual list of Hollywood's most valuable stars, released in July, was topped by Vince Vaughn, who raked in $14.73 for every dollar he was paid for his films The Break-up, Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball.

Number two on the magazine's Ultimate Star Payback list was Tobey Maguire, with a gross income return of $13.44 for each dollar of his pay for the Spider-Man sequels and Seabiscuit.