Biggest Box Office hit of all time–all things considered (Poll)

[baumer]

One question lol, what are your thoughts on The Exorcist? Did that make over 100m in its initial theatrical release? Wikipedia says it made $66.3m million from rentals during the 1974 release which I believe is more than $100m since rentals are usually 50% of theatrical grosses. But Jaws is widely considered the first blockbuster so I am assuming I'm missing something. But what is it?

I'm so confused with the Exorcist to be honest with you. For the longest time I believed that Jaws was the first film to make more than 100 million dollars. But then there were old news paper clippings that showed Exorcist with more than 100 mill.....so to this day I really have no idea.

[Moviedweeb]

I'm so confused with the Exorcist to be honest with you. For the longest time I believed that Jaws was the first film to make more than 100 million dollars. But then there were old news paper clippings that showed Exorcist with more than 100 mill.....so to this day I really have no idea.

I've seen some people claim that The Sound of Music or The Godfather were the first but have no idea either. Just searched this in the George Lucas Blockbusting book:

"At mid-decade Spielberg's much-delayed production Jaws redefined the meaning of a blockbuster in the modern era. It was the first studio-planned national wide release, with a TV saturation ad campaign, licensing, and merchandising. It was also the first summer blockbuster, setting a precedent for all other summer blockbusters to follow."

Ya Jaws

[The Stingray]

Who the f**k voted for The Dark Knight?!That's just stupid man.

[baumer]

I've seen some people claim that The Sound of Music or The Godfather were the first but have no idea either. Just searched this in the George Lucas Blockbusting book:

"At mid-decade Spielberg's much-delayed production Jaws redefined the meaning of a blockbuster in the modern era. It was the first studio-planned national wide release, with a TV saturation ad campaign, licensing, and merchandising. It was also the first summer blockbuster, setting a precedent for all other summer blockbusters to follow."

Ya Jaws

As you may (or may not) know Jaws is my favourite film of all time. It really is a special film in every sense...imo.

[dashrendar44]

Who the f**k voted for The Dark Knight?!That's just stupid man.

Squaremaster316? Nolanites are beyond logic, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Edited January 3, 2013 by dashrendar44

[Shawn Robbins]

In my very humble opinion, calling Titanic a bigger "all things considered" hit than Star Wars is just as inaccurate (or more) as calling The Avengers a bigger hit than Titanic when all things are considered.Regarding overseas grosses, let's not forget that overseas markets were under-developed in 1977 and earlier. For that matter, even comparing overseas numbers from 2012 to 1999 is useless at this point.

[SchumacherFTW]

I it's exceptionally tricky comparing the biggest box office hits. The important thing is that they each had respective strenghts and weaknesses. Star Wars was the only game im town, while Titanic had VHS, and Avatar had Piracy. It's all apples and oranges to me.

[Lordmandeep]

Domestic Star WarsOverseas: Titanic

[Robertron]

Worldwide: Titanic (easily)Australia: Crocodile Dundee - sold tickets to over half the population at the time.Population in 1986: 16mEst tickets sold: 9m ticketsHowever Avatar and Titanic are in the 7-8m range from memory.

[peludo]

There is another factor that makes Star Wars domestic run even more impressive: it grossed 138 million in the 1997 re-release. It adjusts today to 234 million. Titanic's re-release has grossed 57 million in 2012.

[dashrendar44]

France: Titanic (Over here, movies are classified by attendance figures not overall grosses so inflation doesn't really matter. It sold 20 758 887 tickets. Gone With The Wind sold 16 723 812 tickets and Starwars Episode IV "only" sold 6 459 530 tickets with lower ticket price).US: Star WarsWW: Titanic

Edited January 2, 2013 by dashrendar44

[Moviedweeb]

As you may (or may not) know Jaws is my favourite film of all time. It really is a special film in every sense...imo.

I have read that once or twice lol. Such a great film and achievement. The recent blu-ray restoration is also pretty remarkable.

[Walt Disney]

Gone with the Wind, then Star Wars, then Titanic/ET/Sound of Music.I'd give a personal shout-out to Forrest Gump, which imo tends to be underrated as far as its BO goes. You almost never have a straightforward drama make $200m dom these days (The Blind Side is the only one I can think of), and FG did $329m 18 years ago, off a $24m OW. Those might be the best legs since E.T. Yet I'm even more amazed by its $350m overseas gross, because while the message is universal, the story is still fairly deeply rooted in American culture and history.

Forrest Gump is one of my 4 favorite movies of all-time, so you are preaching to the choir with that one.I totally agree with your opinion that the answer is Gone with the Wind followed by Star Wars. Gone with the Wind didn't have the benefit of television to expose people to it. Moreover, there were a lot more movies made back then so it was easier for movies to get lost in the shuffle.Star Wars did have TV to help advertise it, but the idea of a blockbuster was something very new. Star Wars was a game changer. There were so many copycats after Star Wars that its effect on the box office goes beyond what its own movie made. However, I still say GWTW first, then Star Wars 2nd.

[Jake Gittes]

Forrest Gump is one of my 4 favorite movies of all-time, so you are preaching to the choir with that one.

You make it sound like we are the only two people on this forum. I hardly ever see people acknowledging its box office run and thought this would be as good a thread to comment on that as any. When people think of the 1990s monsters, they usually think of Titanic, then of TPM and The Lion King and Jurassic Park, and so FG gets kinda left behind. And it actually outgrossed The Lion King. Edited January 2, 2013 by Jake Gittes

[Michael Gary Scott]

Star wars changed everything

[Wildfire]

Star Wars'77 was a freak ONLY in USA.So yeah :Titanic all the way.

"Star Wars'77 was a freak ONLY in USA."that is absolutely not true...i saw it in Australia,New Zealand,Singapore,Gibraltar and Malta all of them months ans some nearly a year after in had been released in the US and the film was still packing them in Star Wars was huge everywhere there was a cinema,some of them may only have been paying a few cents to see it but 10s of millions of people were seeing italso this is supposed to be "biggest blockbuster all thing considered" so the dollars earned by films like Titanic and Avatar Star Wars and Gone With The Wind all have to be adjusted and trying to find people who agree on how to do it is nearly impossible ...

[Robertron]

"Star Wars'77 was a freak ONLY in USA."that is absolutely not true...i saw it in Australia,New Zealand,Singapore,Gibraltar and Malta all of them months ans some nearly a year after in had been released in the US and the film was still packing them in Star Wars was huge everywhere there was a cinema

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't release dates more staggered than today?So it would only make sense that you would have the chance to see it in several parts of the world months apart and still be busy.EDIT: with 5 months between the US and AUS release, and 7 months between the US and UK release it makes sense that they would be packed as they were at the peak of their release when you saw them.Also, films were a lot leggier back then. Edited January 2, 2013 by Wreck-It Robertron!

[Ozymandias]

Its Titanic no matter what anyone says. TDK and Avatar don't come close to it. Star Wars is the easy 2nd place. Gone With the Wind doesn't count because that movie came out in a completely different kind of world. TVs weren't even invented yet./thread

Edited January 2, 2013 by Shpongle

[The Futurist]

I bet Titanic destroys Star Wars in the majority of markets. Here in Germany it's 8 m admissions vs almost 19 m.

Yep.Star Wars 1977 was a puny film outside of the US.FranceStar Wars IV A New Hope : 6 million ticketsTitanic : 20,7 million tickets, still the biggest ticket seller in France history.Titanic was a freak of nature EVERYWHERE.Dollars don't mean shit.Only attendance matters. Edited January 2, 2013 by The Futurist

[baumer]

There's one big reason Titanic sold so many more tickets than SW and that is because it was available in so many more theaters and more screens. In 1977, if your film was playing in 1000 theaters, that was wide. Today 1000 theaters is a mini run. So for you to bring up SW only selling 6 million tickets in France and so on, wouldn't you have to take into consideration that it didn't play on nearly as many screens?