All-time Domestic Box Office Champs Battle

[Darth Homer]

From all of the films that have ever held the all-time box office title, which are your favourites and which do you think have had the biggest cultural impact? I'm only including domestic champs here (sorry Jurassic Park) since overseas data is so unreliable pre-internet.

 

I think the best films are Snow White, Sound of Music, Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars and Titanic. Gone With the Wind, E.T. and Avatar are decent blockbusters if a little overrated, IMO. Birth of a Nation is technically impressive but morally reprehensible. Haven't see The Big Parade (and it's claim to the title is questionable since BOAN eventually outgrossed it on re-releases).

 

As for cultural impact, GWTW, Jaws and SW are undoubtedly at the top. GWTW and SW are also the only two to have reclaimed their title (the former in 1971 and the later, briefly, in 1997). GWTW also held the title for the longest (27 years consecutively). Avatar I think had the least cultural impact of any of them, other than the 3D boom. The real question is how long it will take another film to overtake it. I'm guessing at least 8 years, and it'll probably be a film we never expected to do it.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Darth Homer

[Jake Gittes]

Jaws for me. Every time I watch it I just can't get over what a perfect piece of storytelling it is.

[CoolioD1]

Jaws or Star Wars. I mean, Jaws is certainly a better movie, but that motherfucking asshole known as nostalgia makes Star Wars pretty much immune to criticism from me. Could watch it over and over.

[Ozymandias]

Star Wars

[Darth Homer]

I probably should have left SW out of the poll but oh well. Landslide here we come

[luna]

none of them i've seen are that good. maybe i'm just a dipshit.

 

59 avatar

57 titanic

43 sound of music

41 et

26 jaws

23 star wars

 

haven't seen birth of a nation, big parade, snow white, gone with the wind, godfather.

[lab276]

My favourite is Titanic quite easily, followed by E.T. As for impact, it's definitely Star Wars.

[Punishment]

Star Wars!  Titanic would be next, none of the others even come close for me.

[MasterDodsen]

Aw... come on, this isn't fair.  Star Wars, duh!

 

My list would look like this:

 

1. Star Wars

2. Titanic

3. The Godfather

4. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

5. E.T.

6. Avatar

7. Jaws

8. Sound of Music

9. Gone with the Wind

 

Never seen The Big Parade or Birth of a Nation.

[Wormow]

E.T's been screened so many times at my old school that I honestly hate it.I haven't seen all of Titanic and Avatar was a visual beast, so I guess Avatar.

[RobinHood26]

I wanted to Vote Jurassic Park! lol I would have to say Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. In that order. 

[Webslinger]

The Godfather

[Lumos]

I had no idea that the Godfather adjusted to over 600M.  Mind blown.....

 

Anyways, I voted for Titanic.  Probably the best film from the 90's along with American Beauty.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Lumos

[Olive]

1. Star Wars

2. Titanic 

3. Avatar

[Darth Homer]

For comparison, here's how the original runs for each movie stack up, as near as I could estimate (adjusted totals in brackets):

[*]The Birth of a Nation (1915) - Highest-grossing film until 1925
Total: $10 million (only $40 million because tickets were $2 for this film, even though average ticket price back then was less than 10 cents!) [*]The Big Parade (1925) - Highest grossing silent film of all time
Total: around $5 million in rentals (difficult to calculate adjusted gross from that) [*]Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - Highest grossing until 1939
Total: $66 million ($615 million) [*]Gone With the Wind (1939) - Highest grossing until 1966
Total: $32 million in rentals (i.e. nowhere close to the $189 million/ $1.58 billion that BOM has its first run at) [*]The Sound of Music (1965) - Highest grossing from August 1966 until the re-issue of Gone With The Wind in 1971 
Total: $79 million in rentals ($1.13 billion) [*]The Godfather (1972) - Highest grossing until 1975
Total: $134 million ($626 million) [*]Jaws (1975) - Highest grossing until 1977
Total: $196 million ($1.01 billion) [*]Star Wars (1977) - Highest grossing until January, 1983
Total: $307 million ($1.13 billion) [*]E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Highest grossing until re-issue of Star Wars in 1997
Total: $359 million ($987 million) [*]Titanic (1997) - Highest grossing until 2010
Total: $600 million ($1.01 billion) [*]Avatar (2009) - Highest grossing and most successful film ever (US and worldwide)
Total: $749 million ($761 million)

Interesting that all of them except the silent films adjust to between $600m and a little over $1b. GWTW is significantly more, of course, but wasn't there some controversy about BOM's adjusted figure for it?

Edited May 29, 2013 by Darth Homer