Brangelina, Britney's Guinness records unveiled ahead of latest book release
Brangelina, Britney Spears and the James Bond film franchise are among entertainment world heavyweights featured in the latest edition of the Guinness World Records book.
Staffers behind the annual tally of wacky records revealed a host of celebrity tidbits on Monday, two days ahead of the 2009 edition's debut.
The latest batch of record-setters includes Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, collectively dubbed Brangelina, who have been named the most powerful actor and actress.
The duo, two of the world's best-known stars, are constant tabloid fodder for their burgeoning family, globe-trotting humanitarian exploits and blockbuster film roles.
Pop starlet Britney Spears — who appears to be attempting a comeback following a couple of years of dubious behaviour, personal woes and musical disappointments — once again scored the title of most searched person on the internet, wresting the crown away from Paris Hilton.
A healthy-looking, smiling Spears scored a trio of trophies at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month and is set to release her new album Circus on Dec. 2. Just a year ago, she turned in a shambolic performance at the 2007 edition of the awards show and saw her last effort, Blackout, fare poorly on the charts.
Other entertainment world feats listed in the Guiness World Records 2009:
- Highest grossing movie series: The James Bond films, which have made $4.49 billion US since 1962 (and more expected upon the release of the upcoming instalment Quantum of Solace).
- Most lucrative Hollywood partnership: Director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp, whose six films together so far (from Edward Scissorhands to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) have grossed $986 million US.
- Highest grossing actor: Samuel L. Jackson, who, over the years, has appeared in 68 films that together have taken $7.42 billion at the box office.
- Highest annual earnings by a TV talk show host: Media maven Oprah Winfrey, who in addition to helming her ultra-successful namesake show is a hit theatre producer and magazine mogul.
Guinness staffers used a new rating system to calculate these latest figures, compiling information from a host of sources ranging from internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and Factiva to news stories to measurements from Forbes and Celebdaq.
Guinness World Records 2009 — which along with pop culture trivia morsels also catalogues the slowest to fastest, smallest to largest, least to most in a plethora of quirky categories — will be published on Wednesday.