Ultimate Payback

Matt Damon is a good deal. According to Forbes, for every dollar the Cambridge native is paid, he brings in $29 of gross income per film. The Forbes formula got us thinking about the “ultimate payback” of other notable Bostonians.

The Forbes formula involves an actor’s salary, how much the movie cost to make, and the eventual figure the movie makes after it goes to DVD. Our figures are based on a complex formula we like to call, ‘Gut instinct.’

Mike Lowell
The veteran third baseman came to Boston last year as what we all saw as the crap-end of the Josh Beckett deal. Foolish us. Lowell’s a relative bargain at $9 million, and has provided 75 RBI and 15 home runs, which puts him up there with the expensive tandem of Manny and Papi.
Value: $20

Deval Patrick
Governor Patrick started out by redecorating the corner office with $10,000 drapes, which he later paid for with his own money. On Monday, the governor released a plan to invest $12 billion in capital into education, roads and bridges, and stem cell banks to attract life science companies to Massachusetts. The jury is still out.
Value: $4

Mark Wahlberg
Plus: His Calvin Klein ads from the ‘90s. Whoa.
Minus: His God-awful movie Fear.
Plus: His awesome performance in The Departed.
Minus: We want our Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch on iTunes, Wahlberg!
Value: $3.50

Mitt Romney
Since Mitt has never made his tax returns public, it’s hard to know how much Romney’s actually earned. Romney is obligated to divulge his campaign’s finances, so we’ll look there. Mitt’s campaign has received about $44 million, and he financed $8 million of that sum with his own money. Even Marxist cleavage-flasher Hillary Clinton hasn’t had to finance her own campaign yet, Mitt.
Value: -$5