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According to imdb (where ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bistet kindly directed me), 293 movies have grossed more than $200 million at the box office worldwide during their theatrical runs. There are a couple weird things about this list: One, there's no adjustment for inflation—so why should this list matter to anyone? If dollars aren't adjusted with time, this isn't even accurate as a popularity contest! Plus it can't tell us anything about movie-going trends (versus home video). It's useless... eventually all the Harry Potters and the Lords o' them Doofy Rings will fall off the charts when, in 2035, somebody finally adapts Waltzing Medusa for the screen.
Also, I'm having a really hard time believing two of the entries: Titanic and Gone with the Wind. Granted, these were both blockbusters among blockbusters, but I find it more than a little astoundishing that Titanic grossed $1.8353 billion in 1997, whereas the next highest gross that year was Jurassic Park at $614.3 million—ostensibly everybody in the goddamn world saw Jurassic Park, so how did Titanic exceed its sales by a factor of 2.99? Did they charge three times as much per ticket because the movie was so (irritatingly, pointlessly, nearer-my-god-to-thee) long?
As to GWTW, according to this table only four movies earlier than 1970 broke more than $200 in box office sales (the other three being Bambi, One Hundred and One Dalmations, and The Jungle Book—all Disnamations. We're really meant to believe that in 1939 Gone With the Wind sold $390.5 million at the box office, more than any other movie until Jaws came along 36 years later? And that The Wizard of Oz, the other blockbuster from that annus mirabillis cinemansis, didn't even break two mill? Given the general inflation rates between 1939 and present (1,316.43%), a movie in 2006 would have to gross $5.14 billion—almost thrice what Titanic made, though that was unadjusted 1997 dollars—to be comparable to the cited GWTW box office. But (I hear you cry) that calculation is probably skewed because the general inflation rate is not representative of the inflation in box office prices. Well, ok, Box Office Mojo tells us that the average movie ticket price in 1939 was $.23 and that in 2006 it is $6.58 (one wonders where Box Office Mojo lives); that represents an inflation rate of 2,860.87%, so the GWTW box office would translate to $11.17 billion in 2006 box office sales—more than 10 times the take of the highest-grossing movie so far this year (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest).
QED: These figures is bullshit. I love imdb, but they truly have they heads up they butts on that stat page. Go here instead.
bistet kindly directed me), 293 movies have grossed more than $200 million at the box office worldwide during their theatrical runs. There are a couple weird things about this list: One, there's no adjustment for inflation—so why should this list matter to anyone? If dollars aren't adjusted with time, this isn't even accurate as a popularity contest! Plus it can't tell us anything about movie-going trends (versus home video). It's useless... eventually all the Harry Potters and the Lords o' them Doofy Rings will fall off the charts when, in 2035, somebody finally adapts Waltzing Medusa for the screen. Also, I'm having a really hard time believing two of the entries: Titanic and Gone with the Wind. Granted, these were both blockbusters among blockbusters, but I find it more than a little astoundishing that Titanic grossed $1.8353 billion in 1997, whereas the next highest gross that year was Jurassic Park at $614.3 million—ostensibly everybody in the goddamn world saw Jurassic Park, so how did Titanic exceed its sales by a factor of 2.99? Did they charge three times as much per ticket because the movie was so (irritatingly, pointlessly, nearer-my-god-to-thee) long?
As to GWTW, according to this table only four movies earlier than 1970 broke more than $200 in box office sales (the other three being Bambi, One Hundred and One Dalmations, and The Jungle Book—all Disnamations. We're really meant to believe that in 1939 Gone With the Wind sold $390.5 million at the box office, more than any other movie until Jaws came along 36 years later? And that The Wizard of Oz, the other blockbuster from that annus mirabillis cinemansis, didn't even break two mill? Given the general inflation rates between 1939 and present (1,316.43%), a movie in 2006 would have to gross $5.14 billion—almost thrice what Titanic made, though that was unadjusted 1997 dollars—to be comparable to the cited GWTW box office. But (I hear you cry) that calculation is probably skewed because the general inflation rate is not representative of the inflation in box office prices. Well, ok, Box Office Mojo tells us that the average movie ticket price in 1939 was $.23 and that in 2006 it is $6.58 (one wonders where Box Office Mojo lives); that represents an inflation rate of 2,860.87%, so the GWTW box office would translate to $11.17 billion in 2006 box office sales—more than 10 times the take of the highest-grossing movie so far this year (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest).
QED: These figures is bullshit. I love imdb, but they truly have they heads up they butts on that stat page. Go here instead.
