'Gone With the Wind' Tops All-Time Adjusted Box Office List; 'Dark Knight' #24

The way The Dark Knight made money last year, it sparked discussion on both sides of the box office fence. There were those who believed that the $530 million the film made in the U.S. in four months time wasn't that big a deal historically. Look at Gone With the Wind and Titanic and adjust for inflation and all that. Then there were people like me who recognized that the landscape is much more competitive now than it was even six years ago, and that the window is smaller for movies to make over $300 million because the next big thing is just a couple weeks away. Plus, DVD sales are such a huge factor for studios that movies are on the big screen in summer and in stores by Christmas, something Titanic and E.T. never had to deal with. That makes what The Dark Knight did more impressive, in my opinion. Last year, even with The Dark Knight and some of the other mega hits, there were 41 number one movies. That number has doubled in less than 30 years. In 1982, there were only 20 number one films, and Porky's was the top dog for six weeks. Think about that. Ten years ago, there 28 number one movies, so that's the argument in favor of movies like The Dark Knight having to face more competition than movies released just a few years ago. That's why I don't think the inflation argument, on its own, means a whole lot. There were no $100 million movies released within six months of Titanic, and The Dark Knight opened against another one (Mamma Mia!), with three more opening less than a month after it debuted. If they were more spread out, or if Titanic had direct competitors, than it becomes a more balanced discussion. Also, the further back you look, the fewer options people had. There was no internet in the 1980s, no cable TV in the mid-70s, no home video in the 1960s, no TV in the 1940s, and so on. This weekend, IMDB published the list of the top 25 grossing films in history, adjusted for inflation. There are a lot of re-releases on the list, particularly the further up you go, and when you see how many Disney cartoons are on the list, you start to question the legitimacy of the inflation argument even more. These are just U.S. totals, by the way, so international box office isn't factored in at all. 1 - Gone With the Wind ($1.75 billion)
2 - Snow White ($1.39 billion)
3 - Bambi ($1.16 billion)
4 - Star Wars ($1.13 billion)
5 - Pinocchio ($1.11 billion)
6 - Fantasia ($1.01 billion)
7 - The Sound of Music ($953 million)
8 - 101 Dalmations ($942 million)
9 - Jaws ($889 million)
10- E.T. ($865 million)
11- The Jungle Book ($781 million)
12- The Exorcist ($726 million)
13- Titanic ($678 million)
14- Ghostbusters ($670 million)
15- The Sting ($661 million)
16- Doctor Zhivago ($653 million)
17- Lady and the Tramp ($643 million)
18- Mary Poppins ($583 million)
19- Peter Pan ($602 million)
20- The Empire Strikes Back ($583 million)
21- The Graduate ($575 million)
22- The Ten Commandments ($541 million)
23- Return of the Jedi ($539 million)
24- The Dark Knight ($532 million)
25- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ($513 million)

Comments

[Krystal]

The IMDb's list is quite a bit different than Box Office Mojo's "Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation" Domestic BO list. They have Gone With the Wind at #1, but with $1.45B, Star Wars at #2 with $1.28B, Titanic at #6 with $924M, and DK at #27 with $532M, etc. etc. Lots of differences! Wonder why?

[Nathan W. Howard]

Yeah, anytime someone makes a list that only takes into account one factor, and not the many that absolutely need to be, it is best to just ignore it.

Someone needs to come up with a real scientific/mathematic formula to determine these things.