Shia Lebouf leads the list of actors who are now considered bankable. Unlike the likes of Tom Hanks, Will Smith or Brad Pitt though, these new stars do not command $15Million and yet their movies profit really well in the box office. This thus makes it a very ideal deal for Hollywood producers since they make a lot of money investing in stars like Lebouf. Smart, eh?

According to this Forbes report via MSNBC:

“Transformers” is the ultimate example. The 2007 film featured actors Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, but the real stars were the massive computer-generated robots that turned into cars. LaBeouf and Fox have their charms, but they’re also cheap to hire. DreamWorks didn’t have to pay through the nose for LaBeouf and Fox as they would have for actors like Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore.

Thanks to “Transformers” (and the most recent Indiana Jones movie) LaBeouf, 23, lands at the top of our latest return on investment list. The young actor was lucky enough to catch the eye of Steven Spielberg who has cast him in many of DreamWorks’ most lucrative movies. Because of his inexperience and (until recently) unproven ability to draw in audiences, LaBeouf earned relatively small salaries in films that grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. As a result, for every dollar he was paid, LaBeouf’s movies returned an average $160 for the studio.

The list includes the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Cera and Robert Downey, Jr.