But arguably this is a little misleading. Both Ford and Jackson have been in some high-grossing franchises - both in Star Wars, Jackson in Marvel movies, Ford in Indiana Jones movies - as well as other hits. Ford, however, mostly had leading roles in his films: Jackson tended to be a supporting actor or part of an ensemble. And while it's not quite fair to say either was along for the ride, and individual elements are hard to separate, we can only wonder what might have happened, for example, if the also-considered Al Pacino or Christopher Walken had played Han Solo or first choice Tom Selleck had played Jones. Would the movies have been more successful? Less successful? Or wouldn't it have mattered - the movie, rather than the cast, was the most important thing?

Both men have also been in their share of flops so it's not like they or any other star provide any guarantee of box office success. Still, casting stars is still a common way to attract attention before a film is released.

From 1915 to 2013 in the US, Quigley Publishing Company ran and published a poll, which became known as the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll. It was based on a questionnaire sent to movie exhibitors every year, asking them to name who they felt were the previous year's top 10 money-making stars. While this could have a subjective element, presumably the exhibitors based most of their choices on an economic question: which stars' movies brought audiences into the cinemas?

Some stars have proved durable. John Wayne was placed in the top 10 25 times between 1949 and 1974, Clint Eastwood 21 times between 1968 and 1993, Tom Cruise 20 times between 1983 and 2007, Gary Cooper 18 times between 1936 and 1957, and Tom Hanks 17 times between 1988 and 2013.

Female stars who were in the top 10 the most were silent-screen legend Mary Pickford (13 times between 1914 and 1926), Betty Grable (10 times, 1942 to 1951), Doris Day (10 times between 1951 and 1966), Barbra Streisand (10 times between 1969 and 1980) and Julia Roberts (10 times between 1990 and 2004).

Of these, Pickford has faded somewhat (her silent movies aren't all that well known now) and Grable is better remembered as a pin-up, but the others are still big names - Day and Streisand as singers as well as actresses.

Stars who topped the list the most often are Cruise (seven times between 1986 and 2005) and five-timers Bing Crosby, Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Hanks. The two stars who topped it for the most consecutive years are Crosby (1944 to 1948) and Reynolds (1978 to 1982). Although Reynolds made the top 10 again in 1983, his lustre soon faded (his focus on lowbrow comedies and action films when he was capable of better and turning down the role in Terms of Endearment that won Jack Nicholson an Oscar didn't help). Crosby kept appearing on the top 10 list well into the 1950s, Hanks has been a top star since the late 1980s and Eastwood for at least half a century.

Sometimes there are surprises: Cary Grant did not appear on the top 10 list until 1944, though he had been working for more than a decade, but made up for it: he was then on it in 1948, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966 (the year he retired from films). It's remarkable, given how busy he was in the 1950s with films such as An Affair to Remember, To Catch a Thief, and Indiscreet that he was not on the list from 1950 to 1958, although there were several lesser films in that period. He was offered such unlikely parts as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. And he's still one of the best-remembered names from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Cooper, arguably, has faded a little: though he won two Oscars (for Sergeant York and High Noon), made a number of classic films and had a low-key acting style that holds up well. He's just not up there with the likes of Humphrey Bogart and James Dean (even if they didn't rank as high in their time). But then plenty of once-big names have faded: many stars like Norma Shearer and Marie Dressler are remembered only by film buffs.

Some had a brief time at the top: Julie Andrews was number one in 1966 and 1967 after her early Mary Poppins/Sound of Music splash with films such as Torn Curtain and Hawaii. While she remained a big name, her status as a top box office draw waned shortly thereafter (a couple of big flops such as Star! didn't help) though she kept working, often with writer-director husband Blake Edwards.

Shirley Temple topped the list from 1935 to 1938 but her big success ended with her childhood. It's not an unusual phenomenon: many young people don't make the transition to adult stardom. Temple coped better than many and eventually went into politics, becoming an ambassador. Mickey Rooney was number one from 1939 to 1941 but although he kept working all his life, he never regained his early popularity.