Frank Welker Highest Grossing Movie Star Ever? (Updated)

Update: It seems UK's The Guardian became aware of Frank Welker's unofficial status as Hollywood's top earner. Also The Numbers site has a new chart that breaks down the totals but oddly most are half the size they use to be so not really sure what changed from the chart below to the new one. Still Welker remains top dog at $6.2 billion followed by Samuel L Jackson ($5.2B), Tom Hanks ($4.4B), John Ratzenberger ($3.9B) and Harrison Ford ($3.7B).



Flickering Myth discovered an interesting stat on The Numbers.com. Transformers' Frank Welker is the highest grossing movie star ever with a total gross of about $12.5 billion. This is based on the total movie worldwide box office gross of movie actors, regardless of the size of their role in a film. This large total is despite most of his voice work being for television with the Transformers movie franchise (as Megatron) accounting for about 40% of that total. The next four top actors are Samuel Jackson ($10.15B, thanks to Marvel movies), Warwick Davis ($9.7B, mostly due to Harry Potter), Tom Hanks ($9.16B due to his legendary film career), and John Ratzenberger ($8.3B, mostly due to all the Pixar love).



Mr. Welker's other movie voice credits include Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Dumbo, others), Caddyshack II (the Gopher), All Dogs Go To Heaven (Devil Dog), Gremlins 2 (Mohawk), A Bug's Life (Thumper), Toy Story 2 (Bullseye), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Max the Dog), and many more. If you have never read his credits you really should give them a pass at it is truly amazing just how many childhood favorite shows and characters he has lent his voice too over his 40+ years long career. He probably has had more of impact on people's childhood then most people are even aware and really is deserving of more credit than the Hollywood establishment gives him and other voice actors.

Michael Bay Press Preview Transcript

/Film has posted the entire 7200 word transcript form the interviews that Michael Bay participated in when he screened portions of the film for the entertainment press. He briefly spoke of Frank Welker so can call that official confirmation he returns as Soundwave and mentioned a new character called "Brains" that could be the Einstein character (with Mercedes-Benz E550 alt mode). Bay goes into a great level of detail about the complications of shooting in 3D, experience of filming in Chicago, working with actors, film editing, sound design and more. Below are segments from the transcript but if want to read the whole thing, click here. Thanks to Winston for the link.

Question: Does this have a feeling of closure, this chapter?
Michael: I think so. But it still can be rebooted. Not with Shia. He’s turning grumpy in his old age.

Question: Out of curiosity, shooting in 3D, what did it make you rethink about axis in motion and progression…
Michael: A lot. I mean you’ve got to watch the panning because it strobes too much. You’ve got a guy on the set who’s got a control where when the camera goes like this, he can turn the 3D almost off. He sits there and it’s like if the robot comes close, we tell him what’s going on in the shot and he can kinda try to do where you want the eye to kind of look. But I can’t always check over him because there’s a lot going on on the set. So anyway, that was my process for doing it. I was able to shot about 60% native 3D, and then you’ve got 15% of all digital shots that were 3D, and then the rest is converted close-up stuff.

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Transformers Linkfest

The first teaser trailer is out and while there isn't much in the movie news department, I do have to tidbits. Also hit the links for reviews, news of upcoming toys and more.

Optimus Prime Signed by Peter Cullen
If you are in the Maryland area, Beyond Comics is holding a raffle ($1 each) for Optimus Prime Hybrid Style THS-02 signed by the voice himself, Peter Cullen. All the proceeds will be going to Toys for Tots. The raffle is through December 18th and while it requires a visit by the store to participate it doesn't mean you can't do your part for Toys for Tots by clicking here.

Frank Welker Interview
The voice of Megatron talks Transformers: Prime and different between doing Megs now and for Generation One.

Peter Cullen Interview
Another interview, this time with the voice of Optimus Prime as he also talks about the cartoon and desire to maintain a consistency with the character through the years and various incarnations along with joy of working with Welker again. Of note is it turns out he has been working on Dark of the Moon for about a year. Thanks to rumah for the links.

I’ve been recording now for about a year with Michael Bay, and I’ve had some wonderful experiences. I went down to an airport hangar in Long Beach and worked with some of the on-camera actors and that was a wonderful experience to be a part of the movie on the technical side, because normally I’m just pinned into a small room in front of a microphone by myself.

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