Stars Losing Gravitational Pull, Hollywood Finds

The lure of A-list movie stars is on the wane, the Hollywood Reporter notes after an examination of recent box-office receipts and extensive polling of Tinseltown insiders. Due in part to ubiquity on the internet and magazine racks, big names like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts have seen their films gross far less than those driven by franchises—think Pirates of the Caribbean or Bourne.

"As audiences get younger, they don't care about movie stars in the same way," one exec says. "The idea of seeing a beautiful movie star on the big screen just isn't the same to them." The development seems certain to translate into a different salary structure for stars, with less coin on the front end and more results-based paydays. (More George Clooney stories.)