| Grex > Agora41 > #224: "They Don't Make Movies Like They Used To:" Inflation-Adjusted Box Office |
| "They Don't Make Movies Like They Used To:" Inflation-Adjusted Box Office | 
Jun 1 05:10 UTC 2002 |
With all the discussion of "Spider-Man" leaping into the list of top-grossing movies of all time, I got interested in this chart, which is a better stab at counting how many people went to each movie. USA Box Office Totals adjusted for inflation, normed to 2001 ticket prices http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted/ inflation-adjusted unadjusted year ------------- ---------- ---- 1 Gone With the Wind MGM $1,156,206,209 $198,654,225 1939 2 Star Wars Fox $1,034,082,490 $461,038,066 1977 3 The Sound of Music Fox $857,529,698 $163,214,286 1965 4 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $831,167,907 $434,974,579 1982 5 The Ten Commandments Par. $766,838,626 $65,500,000 1956 6 Jaws Uni. $749,738,814 $260,000,000 1975 7 Titanic Par. $731,450,012 $600,788,188 1997 8 Doctor Zhivago MGM $708,813,451 $111,721,910 1965 9 The Jungle Book Dis. $634,070,021 $135,475,556 1967 10 Snow White and the Seven...Dis. $622,390,000 $184,925,486 1937 11 Ben-Hur MGM $614,923,077 $70,000,000 1959 12 101 Dalmatians Dis. $600,735,755 $152,551,111 1961 13 The Exorcist WB $580,397,676 $204,671,011 1973 14 The Empire Strikes Back Fox $560,180,312 $290,475,067 1980 15 Return of the Jedi Fox $537,970,634 $309,306,177 1983 16 The Sting Uni. $520,805,272 $159,616,327 1973 17 Raiders of the Lost Ark Par. $497,826,666 $242,374,454 1981 18 Jurassic Park Uni. $492,477,773 $357,067,947 1993 19 The Graduate Avco $488,612,657 $104,397,100 1967 20 The Phantom Menace Fox $476,114,927 $431,088,297 1999 From the top 20, there are: Four by George Lucas (The Star Wars series) Four by Steven Spielberg (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was directed by Spielberg, produced by Lucas) Three Disney animated features
| response 1 of 20: |
Jun 1 05:22 UTC 2002 |
Of recent big box office releases: 52 Spider-Man 60 Harry Potter 66 Lord of the Rings and EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES hasn't made the top 111 list yet, though it should get there this weekend.
| response 2 of 20: |
Jun 1 12:53 UTC 2002 |
Would be interesting to see inflation-adjusted production costs, too. "Ben-Hur" probably cost a serious amount of money, but "The Sting" was probably a bargain to make.
| response 3 of 20: |
Jun 1 15:26 UTC 2002 |
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| response 4 of 20: |
Jun 1 17:44 UTC 2002 |
I heard a radio commentator point out recently that it was obvious Spider Man had higher money making potential than Harry Potter, simply because it was much shorter and could be shown more times per day.
| response 5 of 20: |
Jun 1 23:39 UTC 2002 |
Who'd've guessed the top Disney feature was The Jungle Book?
| response 6 of 20: |
Jun 2 00:05 UTC 2002 |
To be honest, I'm really not surprised.
| response 7 of 20: |
Jun 2 00:42 UTC 2002 |
Really? Why not?
| response 8 of 20: |
Jun 2 01:24 UTC 2002 |
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| response 9 of 20: |
Jun 2 05:37 UTC 2002 |
misleading since gone with the wind, the ten commandments, jaws, e.t. all had extended re-releases (et again just this year) re-calculate this list with JUST first release money (tickets sold during its first run) and its a more fair accounting. Gone with the Wind has been re-released upteen times since 1939. Titanic only had its one run.
| response 10 of 20: |
Jun 2 12:28 UTC 2002 |
I have seen only the first of these. It was well acted. Are the others known mainly for their special effects and large casts?
| response 11 of 20: |
Jun 2 16:24 UTC 2002 |
Question about #1: Do they make sure to account for re-releases? Star Wars and ET were both re-released, and therefore have to be calculated against two dollar values. Also, this method isn't entirely fair to newer movies, although that's less true than the more common method being unfair to older movies. Movie prices don't usually go up with inflation; they oscillate, with big jumps followed by periods of stability. One of the reasons cited for the sudden rash of "top 50 movies" (there were four or five additions last year, IIRC, and we already have two this year) is because of a jump in ticket prices in the last few years. (If tickets are more expensive, people are likely to see fewer movies, or the same movies fewer times.)
| response 12 of 20: |
Jun 2 18:57 UTC 2002 |
I'll bite, Lumen -- why doesn't The Jungle Book's place on the list surprise you?
| response 13 of 20: |
Jun 2 19:12 UTC 2002 |
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| response 14 of 20: |
Jun 3 02:46 UTC 2002 |
That's probably because you weren't around in 1967. It was definately very big. I wouldn't have guessed it was the biggest, but I'm not shocked either.
| response 15 of 20: |
Jun 3 08:55 UTC 2002 |
resp:12 "The Bare Necessities" and other wonderful songs. Strong storyline. Reasonably good animation for Disney for that time.
| response 16 of 20: |
Jun 3 14:03 UTC 2002 |
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| response 17 of 20: |
Jun 17 15:17 UTC 2002 |
Re #10: Gone With the Wind? I'll have to disagree. Most of the acting was really overblown, some was overtly racist, and the storyline was trite. It's an important film in the history of motion pictures, but otherwise very overrated.
| response 18 of 20: |
Jun 17 15:49 UTC 2002 |
I think "overblown" acting was kind of the style in Hollywood in the 30's. Gone With the Wind is one of the best movies ever made and hardly overrated, imho.
| response 19 of 20: |
Jun 17 16:16 UTC 2002 |
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| response 20 of 20: |
Jun 17 18:46 UTC 2002 |
Re #19: Well, I think the book is overrated, too. ;)