Seemingly hellbent on singlehandedly proving that bigger is, in fact, better, Sylvester Stallone returns to the big screen this weekend with The Expendables 3, the latest in his action star nursing home franchise.
What's it like to meet Stallone and other pop culture legends?
Read our editor-in-chief Craig Glenday's diary from San Diego Comic-Con 2013.
The budget? Bigger.
The explosions? Bigger.
And the cast? Well, you get the point.
The movie features a star-studded lineup, no doubt. But how do these names stack up when it comes to the world of record-breaking? Time for our official “The Expendables 3 Guinness World Records Power Rankings!”
GROUP 1: WE LOVE YOU, BUT KEEP WORKING
17-13. Robert Davi, Jet Li, Ronda Rousey, Wesley Snipes, Jason Statham
Despite some big-time name recognition in this group, there’s nary an official world record to be found among them. But, at least thanks to Snipes, we'll always have Willie Mays Hayes.
GROUP 2: RECORD BREAKERS BY ASSOCIATION
12. Glen Powell: It’s a unique list when a relative unknown like Glen Powell can trump Jason Statham, but this is a unique place! Powell featured as “Trader #1” in The Dark Knight Rises, which holds the mark for highest box office opening weekend for a 2D movie with $160,887,295 (£103.9 million).
11. Kellen Lutz: Like Powell, Lutz can thank a mega-franchise for his spot. He played the role of Emmett Cullen in the Twilight series. The franchise's five installments take up the top five spots for the highest-grossing vampire movie ever.
10. Dolph Lundgren: Dolph finds his spot thanks to riding the coattails of buddy Stallone by co-starring in Rocky IV. We’ll discuss more below.
9. Victor Ortiz: When Floyd Mayweather Jr. broke the record for highest annual earnings by a boxer in 2012, he did it on the strength of just two fights – one of which was this infamous $40 million payday against Ortiz. Hands up, Victor!
8. Terry Crews: No. 8 on this list, but No. 1 in our hearts. We love Crews in everything from Old Spice commercials to Brooklyn 99. But, as the newest host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the U.S., Crews joins the most syndicated TV game show ever, as the franchise has aired in more than 100 countries.
7. Antonio Banderas: Voicing the swashbuckling cat Puss in Boots in three films of the Shrek franchise, Banderas hitched his wagon to the highest-grossing animated film series of all time at more than $3.5 billion (£2.1 billion). He also is a frequent diner at Restaurante Botín in Madrid, the oldest operating restaurant, open since 1785.
GROUP 3: THE BIG BOYS
6. Mel Gibson: His appearance in TE3 is Gibson’s highest-profile role in years, as he continues to mend his damaged public perception. But you can’t deny his abilities in cinema. In addition to successes with the Lethal Weapon franchise and epics like Braveheart, his The Passion of the Christ is both the highest-grossing foreign language film and religious film at more than $611 million (£366 million) worldwide.
5. Randy Couture: Now an actor, Couture first made his name fighting in UFC, where he owns the most title reigns (5), most title fight appearances (15) and is the oldest person to win a UFC fight (47 years, 48 days) and championship (43 years, 255 days). He has also inspired a slew of cheesy fight montage videos.
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Straddling bodybuilding, acting, and politics, Ahhnold has perhaps the most interesting career arc on this list. He held the record for both most consecutive (6) and overall wins (7) of Mr. Olympia until later being surpassed by Lee Haney (1984-91) and Ronnie Coleman (1998-05). He still owns the longest time between Mr. Olympia titles (5 years) and his 1994 vehicle True Lies became the first-ever movie with a $100 million budget.
He also saw the Arnold Sports Festival named after him, recognized as the bodybuilding event with the largest attendance back in 2007.
3. Kelsey Grammer: Those tossed salads and scrambled eggs sure led to a lot of success for Grammer. Frasier not only owns the record for most Emmys won by a comedy series (37), but the character of Frasier Crane is also tied for the longest-running human character on primetime TV at 20 years. Add in his work as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons (which owns too many records for us to even list here) and as Dr. Hank McCoy in the X-Men movie franchise, and Grammer is very secretly a world records machine.
2. Sylvester Stallone: He may lead the Expendables, but he doesn’t top our list. We actually broke down Stallone vs. Schwarzenegger head-to-head last year, and Sly packs quite the resume punch ( Rocky pun entirely intended). Be sure to check it out for the full scoop on Stallone.
1. Harrison Ford: Star Wars. Heard of it? Indiana Jones. Seen 'em? The list goes on and on with Ford, a truly special talent and well worthy of the competition on the rest of this list. There are nearly 100 Star Wars-related records in the GWR database, reflecting the popularity of a franchise fueled in large part by his Han Solo. Thanks to his starring turns, Ford at one point held the record for most films starred in to gross $100 million internationally (15). If you remove cameo artists like Stan Lee or voice-only actors, Ford still ranks No. 6 on that list. He’s one of the biggest movie stars in the world and known for quality, not just quantity. Plus, he’s responsible for this.
We can't wait to see who makes the call sheet for Expendables 4 -- resident GWR strongman Paddy Doyle would fit right in!
And for the latest on all things world record, visit Guinness World Records on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and our brand-new Instagram. Plus check out Guinness World Records on YouTube to subscribe for the latest record-breaking videos!
