April 26, 2012

Samuel L. Jackson Not Really the Highest Grossing Actor Ever


I love me some Samuel L. Jackson, but this nonsense bugs me:

It’s all but impossible to turn on a TV set any night of the week without happening on one of his movies (and sometimes two or three). Hence his anointment by Guinness World Records as “the highest-grossing film actor” of all time.

Yeah, yeah. His films have grossed $7.4 billion. But more than a third of that, $2.5 billion, was thanks to an essentially bit part in the three Star Wars sequels. And do those Nick Fury cameos count too? Give me a break. Jackson’s a great actor, but he just doesn’t drive box office grosses the way this factoid suggests. Profile writers should drop it.

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