Adam Sandler is the most profitable actor of 2011, surpassing Tom Cruise at No. 1 with $10.9 billion.

Comedian and actor Adam Sandler was ranked No. 1 on the Forbes magazine’s recent list of the highest-earning actors in the U.S. in ’23. He earned $73 million ($10.95 billion) in the last year.

Second place went to actress Margot Robbie, whose movie “Barbie” was a big hit, with $59 million (approximately 8.7 billion yen), and third was Tom Cruise, who earned $45 million (approximately 6.75 billion yen) after his hit “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One.

Sandler has had few hits in Japan, but in the U.S. the numerous comedy films in which he has starred have been huge hits. There are 15 films that have grossed over $100 million (about 15 billion yen) at the box office, including “The Wedding Singer” (’98) and “Big Daddy” (’99). In Forbes magazine’s ranking of the most profitable actors, he was ranked second in 2009 and third in 2011,” said a reporter for a women’s magazine.

A total of four Netflix movies were the driving force behind Sandler’s rise to the top of last year’s earnings list, ahead of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Sandler, a multi-talented actor, screenwriter, comedian, and film producer, appeared in “Murder Mystery 2,” the sequel to “Murder Mystery” in ’23, about a couple who get caught up in a murder during their honeymoon.

He has also appeared in four other Netflix original films: the coming-of-age comedy “I Won’t Call You Bud Mitzvah,” which he also produced, the animated film “Leo,” in which he served as a voice actor, and this year’s “Spaceman,” in which he played an astronaut.

Sandler has had an exclusive contract with Netflix since “Ridiculous Six” in ’15 to produce and appear in films for which he has been paid a large sum of money. This is unusual given that it is a streaming film, but it is expected that Netflix and other distribution-based companies will further increase their presence in Hollywood in the future.

Margot’s second-place finish was due to the blockbuster success of “Barbie,” in which she starred. The film is said to have grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and she, who also produced the film, made a great deal of money from her appearance fees and producer fees.

On the other hand, only two actresses, Margot Robbie and Jennifer Aniston, made the top 10. This suggests that the wage gap between men and women in Hollywood remains wide.

Netflix now has about 260 million subscribers worldwide, and with Sandler’s No. 1 ranking, it seems certain that Netflix’s presence in Hollywood will continue to grow.