Here’s a list of the top 10 grossing movies (worldwide) from the IMDB…
[list=1][li]Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000[/li][li]Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $923,000,000[/li][li]Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000[/li][li]Independence Day (1996) $810,400,000[/li][li]Star Wars (1977) $780,000,000[/li][li]Lion King, The (1994) $766,700,000[/li][li]E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $704,800,000[/li][li]Forrest Gump (1994) $679,400,000[/li][li]Sixth Sense, The (1999) $645,100,000[/li][li]Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997)$614,300,000[/list=1][/li]
This stunned me. How many of these movies are just mindless special effects and action? There a couple of good ones – The Sixth Sense if one of them. Forrest Gump was a great movie, but The Lost World? And even Titanic! I still don’t get how that one got so big…
<deep breath>
Sorry for flying off of the handle. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Does that list just take into consideration the amount of money (today’s value) the movies have grossed? Or is it considering the fact that 40 years ago a dollar was worth more? (My wording isn’t the best, but do you know what I mean?)
Chrome Toaster has a very good point. If inflation is taken into account, I believe that Gone With the Wind is the highest grossing movie of all time. I’m not sure, but I think that it cost something like 25 cents to see that one.
I’m with Chrome. It doesn’t count if you don’t take inflation into account. I read somewhere when you consider the cost of living difference, the highest grossing film of all time is Snow White.
All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.
Why is the success of a movie measured in dollars and not in tickets sold? We rank popular TV events by how many people watch them, not by how much revenue they generate. Why don’t we do the same for films?
Now that I think about it, almost all other popular entertainment is measured in units/tickets sold: Books, records, software, sporting events, concerts. The theatrical film industry really is an anomoly in how they gage success.
Gold records are dollars, platinum records are units.
By the way, I believe I heard that Cleopatra finally turned a profit in something like 1995.
A few of the movies that I’ve heard would be on the list if adjusted for inflation include Gone With the Wind and Around the World in 80 Days.
However, favorites like Casblanca, Citizen Kane and It’s a Wonderful Life didn’t do that big at the box office, and got their fame from TV/video years later.
I understand all the words, they just don’t make sense together like that.
Ursa M., it makes sense when you think of all those other products being tangible things with an easily defineable price. If I wanted to sell some books, I could calculate how much was needed to run the press, how much the author wanted for his troubles, etc., and then decide a price based on that. Same with CDs. With movies, though, you just sort of hope for the best. Movies are distributed differently than books or CDs. It’s the theatre manager’s decision how much a particular movie will play, if at all. Theatres have limited seating, where a store can sell as many books as they want.
Nonsese. No Hollywood movie ever made a profit. Just ask Art Buchwald.
People don’t factor for inflation becuase it’s too hard. It’s a common problem in various areas – top selling albums, top money-earning horses, etc.
I think BIRTH OF A NATION is high on the list, thoough GWTW is up there. It would be nice to see a list with inflation factored in, though I suspect TITANIC would still be high on the list.
Remember, most of the recent entries not only had higher ticket prices, but they also had people willing to see them multiple times during a run. Prior to STAR WARS, few people saw a new movie more than once in the theaters. Now, it’s very common for all the top money earners. And there’s no way to factor that out.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
As you can see, on the adjusted list, Gone With the Wind is indeed #1, with other notables such as The Sound of Music, The Ten Commandments, Dr. Zhivago, The Jungle Book, and Snow White rounding out the top ten. Very interesting to see that “Top Ten” listee The Sixth Sense is now relegated to number 37.
As you can see, on the adjusted list, Gone With the Wind is indeed #1, with other notables such as The Sound of Music, The Ten Commandments, Dr. Zhivago, The Jungle Book, and Snow White rounding out the top ten. Very interesting to see that “Top Ten” listee The Sixth Sense is now relegated to number 37.
Okay, finally… here is your List, adjusted for inflation. Note that Gone With the Wind is indeed #1, and other notables like Dr. Zhivago and The Ten Commandments are in the Top Ten. The Sixth Sense, number 6 on the total dollars list, is now relegated to # 37 on the adjusted list. http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/Top10everad.html
You know, you’re right. I couldn’t find a worldwide box office adjusted list. I imagine that would be a colossal pain in the ass to create. Would you need to take into account the various inflation rates around the world, or would you just take the total in US dollars and adjust that upward? I don’t know, and I’m not about to try.
