# Which author's books have made the most money in movies?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 21, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564 "2009-10-21T02:33:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564/21 "2009-10-23T03:24:30Z")

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I’m actually going to guess William Shakespeare. He hasn’t had any blockbusters, but he has had a tremendous quantity.

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**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564/22 "2009-10-23T05:35:54Z")

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I think if television movies could be included (though I’m not sure how you’d measure it in comparison to box office receipts), Agatha Christie would have to be pretty high up there. But in purely theatrical releases I’m not sure she’d make the top 10.

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**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564/23 "2009-10-23T06:03:22Z")

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> [@ArchiveGuy](#):
>
> [Domestic $](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/) (not adjusted for inflation):
> 
> **Tolkien** : $1.061 billion  
> **Fleming** : $1.609 billion  
> **Rowling** : $1.712 billion

There are still at least two movies left in the Harry Potter franchise, so it would be a bit surprising if it doesn’t end up well past two billion dollars. Then again, I guess they may still be making James Bond movies fifty years from now, so it’s probably safest not to include projected earnings.

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**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-authors-books-have-made-the-most-money-in-movies/514564/24 "2009-10-23T19:12:22Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I’m actually going to guess William Shakespeare. He hasn’t had any blockbusters, but he has had a tremendous quantity.

Oh, I hadn’t even thought about plays, how would Neil Simon stack up? Again, no huge blockbusters, but a lot of movies.

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