$42 mln gap between highest-paid actor and actress

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It is official: Mark Wahlberg is the highest-paid actor in the world with a whopping 68 million US dollars – 42 million more than the top earning actress Emma Stone.

Rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg banked in an estimated 68 million dollars pretax thanks to earnings from "Transformers: The Last King" and comedy sequel "Daddy's Home 2" in the 12 month scoring cycle, according to the Forbes magazine.

Actor Mark Wahlberg poses as he arrives at the European premiere of "Deepwater Horizon" at Leicester Square in London, Britain, September 26, 2016. /Reuters Photo

"Fixed compensation means he benefits even when movies don't do well," said Forbes.

Forbes' earnings estimates, from June 2016 to June 2017, are pretax with fees for agents, managers and lawyers excluded.

46-year-old Wahlberg knocked last year's top spot "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson into the second place, with estimated 2017 earnings of 65 million dollars.

"The Fast and Furious" star Vin Diesel comes behind with 54.5 million dollars, followed by Adam Sandler (50.5 million) and Chinese kung-fu star Jackie Chan (49 million).

The ranking has once again highlighted the huge pay gap between genders in the Hollywood.

Last week, "La La Land" star Emma Stone was named the world's highest-paid actress with an estimated 26 million dollars.

Emma Stone /AFP Photo

Jennifer Aniston landed the second place with 25.5 million while the "Hunger Games" rebellion Jennifer Lawrence raked in only 24 million – just over half her 2016 total.

While only three actresses made more than 20 million dollars in the 12 month cycle, 16 actors crossed the mark.

The 10 highest-paid leading men earned a combined 488.5 million, nearly three times more than the 172.5 million earned by the top 10 leading women, according to Forbes.

Forbes said two main reasons behind the pay gap are the dominance of action blockbusters and the shortage of roles for elder women.

USC Annenberg report

A 2016 study called the film industry "a straight, White, boy's club". "Girls and women comprised only 28.7 percent of all speaking characters," said the USC Annenberg report, "Television/digital series are more balanced. Girls and women comprise 37.1% of characters and 42% of series regulars."

"Until there are an equal number of high-paying roles, there will continue to be an inequality in the paychecks of Tinseltown's very richest," the Forbes concluded.