Vin Diesel has come out on top in 2017 after the success of Fate of the Furious, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and voiced the alien Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Photo / Getty Images
Vin Diesel has come out on top in 2017 after the success of Fate of the Furious, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and voiced the alien Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Photo / Getty Images
Vin Diesel has been named the top-grossing actor of 2017 by Forbes.
His takings were listed at $US1.6 billion, largely in part to being the face of the Fast and the Furious franchise.
The 50-year-old actor also appeared in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and voiced the alien Grootin Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.
Fate of the Furious, the eighth instalment in the franchise, was released in April and topped $US1.2 billion at the international box office.
Fate of the Furious also boosted Dwayne Johnson to the No. 2 spot on the Forbes list, with a gross of $US1.5 billion.
Johnson also starred in Baywatch and the recently released Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017.
The law of diminishing returns (and diminishing quality) used to be a given in regards to Hollywood sequels, with the exception of the James Bond series: think Jaws, Alien, Halloween, Police Academy, Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street or any number of other film series from the '70s, '80s and '90s.
But increasingly, Hollywood studios are looking to a longer life-cycle for their successful franchises.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson finished runner up in the box office stakes. Photo / Getty Images
Ninth and tenth instalments in the Fast and the Furious series have already been confirmed; the latter to be released in 2021, 20 years on from the debut of the original.
Disney is also planning to continue its Star Wars series beyond Episode IX (due in 2019) and the upcoming Han Solo stand-alone film (due for release in May).
And despite having pumped out 17 movies in 10 years, Marvel has designs on sustaining its "Cinematic Universe" well into the 2020s.
Marvel's competitor in the superhero franchise stakes, DC, released two films this year, Wonder Woman and Justice League. The two films propelled Gal Gadot to the third spot on the Forbes list, with $US1.4 billion gross.
Forbes calculates the top-grossing actors by adding up 2017 global ticket sales of major films as of December 26.
Animated movies where only actors' voices were used were not included in the totals.
