Hollywood's "Twenty-million-dollar club" in which members have enjoyed a seemingly endless rise in pay may be at an end after studios discovered that casting unknown actors can work just as well as the biggest stars.

Spurred partly by the economic downturn, studios have placed previously unrecognised performers in leading roles in the past 12 months with unexpected success.

The trend has indicated that they no longer need a big name to promote a blockbuster. It could spell the end of the club to which the highest paid A-list stars belong.