Add up the grosses from every movie an actor has done. Combine the total earnings of all of Samuel L. Jackson’s movies together… or all of Brad Pitt’s, or the Governator’s, or anyone else’s… and then rank the movies in order.
Who would you guess comes out on top?
I was surprised to see that Frank Welker, the original voice of galactic baddie Megatron, topped the list. His movies — not accounting for inflation — have grossed more than anyone else’s.
Granted, that is very likely due to the sheer number of movies he has been a part of. Still, he deserves credit; no other voice actor has proven himself quite like Welker has. It’s a shame that Michael Bay didn’t trust the original Megatron to play the new Megatron in the recent Transformers movies. Still, it isn’t like Hugo Weaving was a bad choice. (And it’s worth noting that Welker was a part of the newest Transformers movie as other characters, and it doesn’t appear that his numbers have been updated to include the ridiculous amount of money being earned worldwide by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. His spot at the top is secure.)
There were a couple other actors on the list which stood out. John Ratzenberger is sitting pretty at spot #6, despite having a relatively short filmography. Still, with all ten (soon to be 11) Pixar movies under his belt, plus the first two Superman movies plus Star Wars: Episode V under his belt… Well, that adds up to some pretty darn decent money.
Another on the list that stood out is Stan Lee, at number 17. The casual moviegoer may never have even known who Stan Lee is — or perhaps they only know him as the creator of just about every Marvel character or any importance.
And therein lies his claim to movie success: the man has been in most Marvel Comics-based flicks released in the past ten years. His filmography is quite short, but it’s packed with blockbusters. The only Marvel movies that I don’t see on there are the second X-Men movie, the Wolverine movie, and the Elektra movie.