Sixteen years ago, People magazine ran a cover story emblazoned with the headline “Whatever happened to … Julia Roberts.” These days, people are asking, “Whatever happened to Julia Roberts’ career?”

The 41-year-old actress has not headlined a hit since her Oscar-winning turn in 2000’s “Erin Brockovich.” Only her co-starring roles in the all-star “Ocean’s Eleven” remake and its sequel bring some luster to her recent filmography.

Her latest release, the Universal Pictures caper “Duplicity,” has earned just $32 million after 17 days. It took the studio’s new box office champ “Fast & Furious” about a day to reach that figure.

Roberts was last in theaters with 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War,” sharing top billing with fellow Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The wry political satire stalled at $67 million. Before that, she appeared in 2004’s “Closer,” which made $34 million. The year before, “Mona Lisa Smile” earned $64 million.

“While she’s appealing, she also is arguably a one-note actress,” said John Wilson, organizer of the annual Razzie Awards, which each year honor the worst in Hollywood movies. “The goofy laugh and the great big gum-revealing smile, there’s only so many times you can do that and still impress people.”

Wilson said “Duplicity” might have done better if Roberts had a bigger co-star than Clive Owen, a British actor with little appeal to North American moviegoers. And the storyline — about corporate double-crossing — is not exactly a laughing matter these days, he said. Critics liked the film, though.

Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said “Duplicity” caters to an older audience that does not rush out to movies on opening weekend, and it’s holding up decently. “It’ll be OK,” she said, declining to comment on Roberts’ star power.

Even as her sales slide, Hollywood loves throwing money at Roberts. She earned $15 million for “Duplicity,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, enough to land her the No. 2 spot on the trade publication’s 2008 list of highest-paid actresses behind Angelina Jolie.

But Roberts has never seemed to be a willing participant in the Hollywood power game. The stay-at-home mother of three pre-schoolers said last month she doesn’t have “the bug” to work, and good projects do not come along very often.

Late last century, ”America’s Sweetheart” could do no wrong. The Georgia native’s wide-eyed smile brought millions of fans to the theaters, and she enjoyed six consecutive $100 million hits when adjusted for ticket-price inflation. The best performer by that measure was 1999’s “Runaway Bride” with $215 million. “Erin Brockovich” made $167 million. Her 1990 breakthrough, “Pretty Woman,” is her all-time champ with $303 million, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

When that People issue came out, on Feb. 8, 1993, Roberts was “burned out by fame and broken romances,” and had not stepped in front of a camera in 18 months, the magazine said. She enjoyed a big hit later that year with “The Pelican Brief,” but did not hit her stride until “My Best Friend’s Wedding” in June 1997. If she follows a similar trajectory this time, look for a boffo comeback sometime in 2013, when the kids will be in school.

Actress Julia Roberts reigned atop the Hollywood star ladder back in 2001 when she won an Oscar for her role in the movie “Erin Brockovich,” but in the last couple years the A-list star has been largely absent from movie screens as she became a new mom. With her starring role in “Duplicity,” the 41-year-old actress is back for more Hollywood glory. Has she regained her crown?

“Duplicity” opened on Friday and came in third at the box office over the weekend with $14.4 million, trailing ”Knowing” starring Nicolas Cage and “I Love You, Man” with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.

The third-place showing for “Duplicity” came despite some strong reviews for the film, which as of Monday evening had a rating of 66 percent on review-aggregating Web site RottenTomatoes.com.

 New Yorker magazine critic David Denby wrote that the film is an “enormously enjoyable hybrid, a romantic comedy set at the center of a caper movie” and that Roberts and her co-star Clive Owens “make a terrific team.” Dan Kois of the Washington Post said his only complaint with the film was that it did not give Roberts enough leeway as a star. “That famous rip-snorting Roberts laugh is unleashed once, about 10 minutes in, and never seen again,” Kois wrote.

Roberts is the top-grossing Hollywood actress with $2.3 billion in ticket sales for movies that she has starred in, according to the tracking firm Box Office Mojo. But her screen appearances have been rare in recent years, especially after she and husband Daniel Moder welcomed twins in 2004. Her only screen appearance since then was in the 2007 movie “Charlie Wilson’s War.” The year before, she lent her voice to animated film “The Ant Bully” and to the movie adaptation of “Charlotte’s Web.”

The “Pretty Woman” star will be more visible this year, appearing in a drama called “Fireflies in the Garden” due for a limited U.S. release on June 19. After that, Roberts’ fans will have to wait until 2010 to see her again in movie theaters, with her role in “The Friday Night Knitting Club.”

Critics have acknowledged that “Duplicity” is a movie that appeals more to “grown-ups” than to younger audiences. Is Roberts less likely to attract the young audiences that drive Hollywood box office as her career progresses, or does she still have the same drawing power she always had? Life after 40 in Hollywood has been notoriously easier for actors than for their female counterparts, but Roberts is more than the average Hollywood star and perhaps she can buck that trend.

Comedian Vince Vaughn has topped a list of Hollywood stars giving studios the best returns on their investments. In an “Entertainment All Stars Special Issue”, Forbes magazine has looked at which actors provide the best payback and Vaughn was No. 1, with his films earning $14.73 for every dollar he was paid. Why? Well, until recently he wasn’t paid the mega-bucks of other Hollywood stars and the films he starred in, like “Wedding Crashers” and “The Break-Up,” had modest budgets but good box office returns.

A-listers Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and George Clooney also looked good in the list because of their work in “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen”, as they all took pay cuts to appear in the heist movies. 

Forbes said it compiled the list by looking at a star’s last three films that opened wide before Jan.1 2008  and were made in the past five years — and were not animated. It then took half of each film’s box office income and added the first three months of wholesale DVD revenues, subtracted the budget,  and used the star’s gross income to work out payback.                   

 Here is a list of the top payback stars:

1. Vince Vaughn - $14.73                                      2. Tobey Maguire - $13.44

3. Julia Roberts $13.19                                          4. Brad Pitt $12.73

5. Naomi Watts $12.16                                          6. Matt Damon $12.16

7. George Clooney $11.56                                      8. Jennifer Aniston $10.48

9. Hugh Jackman $9.90                                       10.  Ben Stiller $9.50