Updated

You don't have to command a big paycheck in Hollywood to make a ton of dough in the movies.

For example, Cameron Diaz took a big pay cut to make "Bad Teacher," but still ended up making even more money.

How?

Diaz was paid $1 million up front, but scored a big percentage of the movie's $216 million in receipts, and walked home with a cool $42 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Sandra Bullock did even better with "Gravity." She got a $20 million salary up front plus a percentage of the hit movie's profits, which combined to make her a cool $70 million.

Take that, Jesse James.

"If you’re really an A-list star and you’ve got negotiating clout...you can share in the pot of gold," Entertainment Weekly editor Adam Markovitz told the website.

An actor who wasn't so lucky? John Travolta. He took a pay cut to make the Scientology thriller "Battlefield Earth." Unfortunately for him, the movie bombed, so there were no profits to take a cut from. Which means he couldn't buy any more 747 jet planes for his personal fleet.

Poor guy.