Los Angeles, Dec 5 (IANS): Actor Eddie Murphy is Hollywood's most overpaid actor, according to Forbes magazine.

The 51-year-old's recent films "Imagine That", "A Thousand Words" and "Meet Dave" were all labelled flops. According to Forbes magazine, for every $1 Murphy was paid for his last three movies, they returned an estimated average of $2.30, reports contactmusic.com.

His movie "Tower Heist", which was released last year, also failed to wow audiences and earned just over double its budget of $75 million.

One of the comedian-cum-actor's best loved roles was as wise cracking detective Axel Foley in the Beverly Hills Cop film franchise of the late 1980s and he is working on bringing him back.

According to the magazine, a movie has to earn twice its production budget in ticket sales, plus the millions spent on marketing, to be considered a financial success.

Actress Katherine Heigl came second in the list of most overpaid stars. Her most recent film "One For The Money" earned just $37 million and cost $40 million to make.

Reese Witherspoon, who recently gave birth to her third child, also failed to lure audiences to the cinema this year. Other actors in the list include Sandra Bullock and Jack Black.