Dwayne Johnson dethrones Robert Downey Jr. as highest paid actor

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson topped a Forbes magazine list of the world’s highest paid actors on Thursday with an estimated 2016 payday of $64.5 million.

Johnson, 44, knocked Robert Downey Jr. off the top spot and more than doubled his 2015 earnings, largely thanks to his action comedy “Central Intelligence.” Johnson, known as “The Rock” during his wrestling career, also collected advance fees from the eighth installment of the popular “Fast and Furious” racing movie franchise.

The Forbes annual list again highlighted the pay gap between men and women in Hollywood. Earlier this week the magazine named “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence the world’s highest paid actress for a second straight year, with an estimated 2016 take of $46 million.

Forbes said 18 actors banked more than $20 million in its June 2015-June 2016 scoring period, compared with four actresses.

Jackie Chan, who has not had a big U.S. box office hit for years but is a prolific actor and producer in the burgeoning Chinese entertainment market, was second on the list with $61 million. Matt Damon came in third with $55 million, largely due to the success of his 2015 space film “The Martian.”

“Iron Man” Downey fell from top spot, despite reprising his comic book hero role in “Captain America: Civil War.” He ranked eighth, tied with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, with $33 million.

Harrison Ford crept onto the list for the first time since 2009 thanks to his return as Han Solo in the blockbuster new “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” movie and video game. Ford, who also is to reprise his role as adventurer Indiana Jones in 2019, ranked 20th with earnings of about $15 million.

Forbes estimates earnings, before taxes and management fees, from movies, TV and commercial endorsements.

The rest of the Top 10 were:

4. Tom Cruise $53 million

5. Johnny Depp $48 million

6. Ben Affleck $43 million

7. Vin Diesel $35 million

8. Shah Rukh Khan $33 million

8. Robert Downey Jr. $33 million

10. Kumar Akshay $31 million

The full list can be seen at //www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/08/25/the-worlds-highest-paid-actors-2016-the-rock-leads-with-knockout-64-5-million-year/#29ed7c5645da

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bill Trott)