My brand new Amazon author page….where you can find links to both of our books.
Introduction
Where is Sylvester Stallone? Where is Dwayne Johnson? Where is Jennifer Lawrence? Where is Jamie Foxx? Those are just some of the questions we received after we wrote our first book, Top 50 Movie Stars…Statistically Speaking.
For that book we researched thousands of movie stars, covering over 11 different decades. We inputted thousands and thousands of movie stats into our database. Stats like box office grosses, movie reviews and award recognition. We looked at thousands of actors and whittled down the list until we were left with fifty movie stars. Of those fifty, forty had either passed away or had retired from the movie business.
The response to our book was pretty favorable, but some readers had concerns. Superhero movie fans could not believe Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans were not in the Top 50. Action fans wanted to read about Jackie Chan and Jason Statham. Younger readers could not understand why Kevin Hart was not in the book. In a nutshell, they wanted more modern-day stars!
My response was always the same. If I write another book, I will concentrate on modern stars. So here we are. My second book. A statistical ranking of modern-day movie stars.
In the following pages, we ranked 250 actors and 130 actresses. That is a grand total of 380 modern-day actors and actresses. Will you disagree with some of our rankings? I am sure you will. But, I hope that you view the rankings in a spirit of fun in which it was intended.
Questions You Might Have
- How did you pick the actors and actresses?
Two basic rules. An actor or actress had to appear in at least one movie since 2013 and have appeared in a minimum of 15 movies. Most of the actors have appeared in more than 25 movies. Only a few actors did not have 25 movies in their rankings.
- Are you missing actors and actresses?
Of course we are. If we included all actors and actresses (a) we would never finish and (b) the book would be way too big to publish.
- Some supporting actors and actresses are rated very highly. Is that fair?
One of my main goals was to create rankings that were objective versus being subjective. In our first book, Top 50 Movie Stars….Statistically Speaking, we did not include supporting actors and actresses. This book is including everybody. Are some pretty highly rated? Yes. When I first saw how high actors like J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney were ranked, I toyed with tweaking the rankings, but decided to leave them where the objective stats ranked them.
- How did NetFlix and other streaming movies make the rankings if they were not released in theaters?
Over the last few years we have started including streaming movies. In order to be eligible for the Oscars they have to play in at least one theater in Los Angeles and New York. Those grosses are not reported, so we assign the smallest gross required to get our database to register an UMR score. That gross is about $50,001.
- There are noticeably a lack of pictures in the book, why is that?
Fear of being in copyright violation is the big reason for the lack of photos. All the subjects in the book have pages dedicated to them on Ultimate Movie Rankings.com. We do include photos on the website.
Hey Bob….yes…in case you are wondering…I did move your comments to this page versus the site index. As well as moving some e-mails I got about the book.
Read the book this weekend. I agree with the Top 5. Hanks, Ford, Streep, Cruise and Washington get no argument from me. I do question how Johnny Depp cracked the Top 10. I just do not see that. Love the book.
Hey Dr. K. Johnny Depp had a great run where everything he touched turned to gold. Before that he was making one critical darling after another. Along the way he has one of the best box office totals for modern stars, has picked up multiple individual Oscar nominations…..and even has classics on his resume when he was just getting started…Platoon and Nightmare On Elm Street. Yes his last few years have been rough….but his career can not be beat by many. Thanks for the thoughts on our book.
Dustin Hoffman ranked 18th? That seems too high.
Dustin Hoffman too high? Hoffman is actually on our Top 50 Movie Stars of All-Time…Statistically Speaking list….he actually lost some points with his later half of his career. He is one of the few people to be the lead actor in 3 Best Picture Oscar winners. Midnight Cowboy, Rain Man and Kramer vs Kramer….add in all-time box office champs Tootsie and The Graduate…and you get one heck of a resume. Good feedback.
How can Minnie Driver not be in this book?
Hey G. Vandross….you are 100% correct…. Minnie did not get into the book. Actually….looking at her career and I realize I underestimated it…. I was thinking she only had a few movies…but she has enough for a page. Good shout out for Ms. Driver. Thanks for the feedback.
I have now received my copy of The Work Horse’s 2nd book. There’s a lot to digest and that will take time; but here are my own initial thoughts:
1/This volume of the Cogerson collection doesn’t have as many Mega Greats ranked as did volume one but the modern cinema doesn’t seem to me to have produced as many true Greats as Old Hollywood churned out especially among the women.
2/Bruce compensates us in Volume 2 though by covering the statistical careers of hundreds of stars as opposed to the 50 in Volume One. Indeed volume 2 is the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of today’s domestic movie marketplace and the contributions of the thespians participating that I have yet to see. Unquestionably great value for money.
3/I am pleased to see Bruce Willis at last receiving a fine ranking [13th] – see page 419 of the book. I have long argued that Willis’ impact in movies is underrated in ranking lists generally.
COMMENTS CONTINUED
4/This 2nd volume is overall of the same exceptional standard as the first one as a lucid, highly-informative and intelligent analysis of stardom in today’s cinema. Painstaking efforts have been made in the opening clutch of pages to ensure that the reader understands how the scoring system operates and how all statistical rankings and other conclusions were arrived at.
5/Therefore volume 2 has done what it set out to do and should be placed side-by-side with Volume 1 on any keen movie-buff’s bookshelf – though kept far away from 1983’s Ranking the Movie Stars if the buff has a copy of that: oil and water don’t mix!
6/Other points:
(1)The book’s cover is very classy in my opinion.
(2)My daughter – a keen movie buff herself – on a quick browse through the book was very impressed
(3)The Work Horse “saved the best wine for the last”: he has assembled the greatest cast of all on page 424 of the book!!!!
Hey Bob….thanks for the continued comments on our second book. Funny you mention the book being on a book shelf but away from Joel’s book….my book case has Joel’s Rating The Movie Stars right beside my new book and my old book. Thanks for the kind words on the book cover….the book cover is what cost so much on the first book…we went a different route this time….but I like the cover too…WoC however really really dislikes this cover. Glad your daughter liked the book as well. I had to get my book out to see what was on page 424. Astute readers can figure out this year’s new UMR Hall of Famer….as that person joined “the greatest cast of all” Good feedback.
Hey Bob. First of all….thanks for buying our second book. I am glad to read that you feel it is alot to digest. Thanks for sharing your initial thoughts. I agree….Mega Greats are not plentiful in the book….but in time they could become that.
“Unquestionably great value for money”….that would make a great review of the book….if it is not too much trouble…could you do a review on Amazon….that simple sentence would do the trick. Which…thanks for such kind words.
Bruce’s box office numbers are stellar….if I only used his Top 25 movies…he would have been even higher in the rankings….actually on the first rankings…he came in 16th place….but when other factors came into play in additional rankings he started to tumble somewhat…..all those dreadful movies caused him to take a hit in the rankings.
Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE:
As you requested I duly sent a review of Volume 2 off to Amazon; and I have forwarded to your E Mail system a copy of their return E Mail to me. Please confirm that you have picked it up OK.
Meanwhile for the site’s records I provide a copy of the review in Part 2 of this post. Sorry I couldn’t find an excuse for mentioning Thins in it!
Unfortunately too I had to leave out my signature witty Joel quips as not many Amazon review readers might know who he was – nor do I WANT them to know who he was!!!
“I am not going to draw to your attention things that I don’t want you to know about!” [British Prime Minister Harold Wilson 1964-1970 and 1976-1976] to interviewer in the late 1960s.