Screen Writer

What did we learn in 2009? Well, observing the record box-office takings, we confirmed that it will take more than war, recession and climactic catastrophe to dissuade cinema fans from making their way to their local multiplex. Even if the world is ending, we'll still find time to go and watch, well, the world ending in 2012or Terminator Salvation. But you knew that already.

There is, however, a more interesting phenomenon lurking in last year’s figures, a potential alteration that could confuse producers and terrify top-end agents. Here it is: the movie star is dead. Okay, that’s overstating the case, but, over the past few years the ability of the highest paid actors to pull in the punters has looked increasingly shaky.

Have a glance at the highest- earning films of 2009. At the time of writing, the top five go like this: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 2012and Up. Not a single one of those films was sold on the presence of a major movie star. Sure, John Cusack turns up in 2012and Shia LaBeouf lurks about Transformers, but you didn't see their names above the title.

On the other hand, you saw Will Ferrell's name on the poster for Land of the Lost. Adam Sandler featured heavily in the publicity for Funny People.Jennifer Aniston stared out from billboards advertising Love Happens. John Travolta and Denzel Washington attended junkets to promote The Taking of Pelham 123. The result? All those films flopped, while The Hangover– starring, erm, what's his name, you know, that guy – took in nearly half a billion dollars worldwide.

Only two films in the 2009 top 10 feature major stars. Angels & Demonscomfortably clocked up $412 million, but that's more of a Dan Brown film than a Tom Hanks film. The second Night at the Museumpicture took a similar amount, but how many of its young supporters even know who Ben Stiller is?

You could argue that you have to go down to No 15 to discover a film that relied on its star's appeal for a large percentage of its takings. Guess who? The newly resurgent Sandra Bullock, recently nominated for a Golden Globe, helped make The Proposalthe year's biggest romantic comedy. And you were expecting a Cruise or a Clooney.

So is Hollywood about to abandon stars and rely on that bloke from The Hangover? (Bradford . . . Bradley . . . Oh, what is his name?) Of course not. Remember, this has all happened before. There were no real supernovae in  Jaws, Star Warsor ET.Yet the star system remained largely unaltered.

The fact remains that, by attaching a movie star to your project, you establish that you are a serious player and offer a kind of cinematic collateral. Hey, even if I lied about the script being any good or the director knowing his arse from his elbow, I nonetheless delivered Will Smith to your door. And Will Smith is still Will Smith.