Films generate income from several revenue streams, includingtheatrical exhibition,home video,television broadcast rights, andmerchandising. However, theatricalbox-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assessing the success of a film, mostly because of the availability of the data compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights, but also because of historical practice. Included on the list are charts of the top box-office earners (ranked by both thenominal and real value of their revenue), a chart of high-grossing films by calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box-office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights, and merchandise.
Traditionally,war films,musicals, andhistorical dramas have been the most popular genres, butfranchise films have been among the best performers of the 21st century. There is strong interest in thesuperhero genre, with eleven films in theMarvel Cinematic Universe featuring among the nominal top-earners. The most successful superhero film,Avengers: Endgame, is also the second-highest-grossing film on the nominal earnings chart, and there are four films in total based on theAvengers comic books charting in the top twenty. OtherMarvel Comics adaptations have also had success with theSpider-Man andX-Men properties, while films based onBatman andSuperman fromDC Comics have generally performed well.Star Wars is also represented in the nominal earnings chart with five films, while theJurassic Park franchise features prominently. Although the nominal earnings chart is dominated by films adapted from pre-existing properties and sequels, it is headed byAvatar, which is an original work. Animated family films have performed consistently well, withDisney films enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home-video era. Disney also enjoyed later success with films such asFrozen andits sequel,Zootopia, andThe Lion King (along withits computer-animated remake), as well as itsPixar division, of whichInside Out 2,Incredibles 2, andToy Story 3 and4 have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar animation, China'sNe Zha 2 (thehighest-grossing animated film), and theDespicable Me andShrek series have met with the most success.
Whileinflation has eroded the achievements of most films from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, there are franchises originating from that period that are still active. Besides theStar Wars andSuperman franchises,James Bond andGodzilla films are still being released periodically; all four are among the highest-grossing franchises. Some of the older films that held the record of highest-grossing film still have respectable grosses by today's standards, but no longer compete numerically against today's top-earners in an era of much higher individual ticket prices. When those prices are adjusted for inflation, however, thenGone with the Wind—which was the highest-grossing film outright for twenty-five years—is still the highest-grossing film of all time. All grosses on the list are expressed inU.S. dollars at their nominal value, except where stated otherwise.
With a worldwide box-office gross of over $2.9 billion,Avatar is proclaimed to be the "highest-grossing" film, but such claims usually refer totheatrical revenues only and do not take into accounthome video andtelevision income, which can form a significant portion of a film's earnings. Once revenue from home entertainment is factored in, it is not immediately clear which film is the most successful.Titanic earned $1.2 billion fromvideo andDVD sales and rentals,[1] in addition to the $2.2 billion it grossed in theaters. While complete sales data are not available forAvatar, it earned $345 million from the sale of sixteen million DVD andBlu-ray units in North America,[2] and ultimately sold a total of thirty million DVD and Blu-ray units worldwide.[3] After home video income is accounted for, both films have earned over $3 billion each. Televisionbroadcast rights also substantially add to a film's earnings and, as of 2010, a film often earned the equivalent of as much as 20–25% of its theatrical box office for two television runs, on top ofpay-per-view revenues;[4]Titanic earned a further $55 million from theNBC andHBO broadcast rights,[1] equating to about 9% of its North American gross.
When a film is highly exploitable as a commercial property, its ancillary revenues can dwarf its income from direct film sales.[5]The Lion King (1994) earned over $2 billion in box-office and home video sales,[1] but this pales in comparison to the $8 billion earned at box offices around the world bythe stage adaptation.[6]Merchandising can be extremely lucrative too:The Lion King also sold $3 billion of merchandise,[7] while Pixar'sCars—which earned $462 million in theatrical revenues and was only a modest hit by comparison to otherPixar films[8]—generated global merchandise sales of over $8 billion in the five years after its 2006 release.[9][10] Pixar had another huge hit withToy Story 3, which generated almost $10 billion in merchandise retail sales in addition to the $1 billion it earned at the box office.[11]
On this chart, films are ranked by the revenues from theatrical exhibition at their nominal value, along with the highest positions they attained. Seven films in total have grossed in excess of $2 billion worldwide, withAvatar ranked in the top position. All of the films have had a theatrical run (including re-releases) in the 21st century, and films that have not played during this period do not appear on the chart because of ticket-price inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends not being considered.
SMThe worldwide total forSpider-Man: No Way Home atBox Office Mojo is incorrect, by virtue of double-counting the original Spanish gross in its 2024 re-release total. For this reason totals are sourced to an archived version of Box Office Mojo prior to when the error crept in.
FBox Office Mojo stopped updating its main total forFrozen in August 2014, while it was still in release. The total listed here incorporates subsequent earnings in Japan, Nigeria, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany up to the end of 2015 but omits earnings in Turkey, Iceland, Brazil, and Australia (2016), which amount to a few hundred thousand dollars. The total is rounded to $1 million to compensate for the numerical inaccuracy. It was re-released in the United Kingdom in December 2017 with the featuretteOlaf's Frozen Adventure, earning an additional $2.3 million.
F8In the case ofThe Fate of the Furious the gross is from an archived version of Box Office Mojo, after irregularities were discovered in the current figure. Ongoing weekly drops in the totals for several countries—Argentina being the worst affected—led to a drop in the overall worldwide total.[19] In view of what appears to be an aberration in the source, a previous figure is provided.
RKThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King saw its original gross corrected in early 2020. The result of this correction is thatSpider-Man: Far From Home,Captain Marvel andTransformers: Dark of the Moon all peaked one place lower than shown in the accompanying source.
DKRThe worldwide total forThe Dark Knight Rises atBox Office Mojo is incorrect, by virtue of double-counting the original Australian gross in its 2024 re-release total. For this reason totals are sourced to an archived version of Box Office Mojo prior to when the error crept in.
TS3Box Office Mojo revised the grosses for Pixar films in August 2016, resulting in the gross forToy Story 3 being corrected from $1.063 billion to $1.067 billion.[20][21] This means that it peaked at number 4 at the end of its run, ahead ofPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, rather than at number 5 as indicated by the source.
Because of the long-term effects ofinflation, notably the significant increase of movie theater ticket prices, the list unadjusted for inflation gives far more weight to later films.[22] The unadjusted list, while commonly found in the press, is therefore largely meaningless for comparing films widely separated in time, as many films from earlier eras will never appear on a modern unadjusted list, despite achieving higher commercial success when adjusted for price increases.[23] To compensate for the devaluation of the currency, some charts make adjustments for inflation, but not even this practice fully addresses the issue, since ticket prices and inflation do not necessarily parallel one another. For example, in 1970, tickets cost $1.55 or about $6.68 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars; by 1980, prices had risen to about $2.69, a drop to $5.50 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars.[24] Ticket prices have also risen at different rates of inflation around the world, further complicating the process of adjusting worldwide grosses.[22]
Another complication is release in multiple formats for which different ticket prices are charged. One notable example of this phenomenon isAvatar, which was also released in3D andIMAX: almost two-thirds of tickets for that film were for 3D showings with an average price of $10, and about one-sixth were for IMAX showings with an average price over $14.50, compared to a 2010 average price of $7.61 for 2D films.[25] Social and economic factors such as population change[26] and the growth of international markets[27][28][29] also have an effect on the number of people purchasing theater tickets, along with audience demographics where some films sell a much higher proportion of discounted children's tickets, or perform better in big cities where tickets cost more.[23]
The measuring system for gauging a film's success is based on unadjusted grosses, mainly because historically this is the way it has always been done because of the practices of the film industry: the box-office receipts are compiled by theaters and relayed to the distributor, which in turn releases them to the media.[30] Converting to a more representative system that counts ticket sales rather than gross is also fraught with problems because the only data available for older films are the sale totals.[26] As the motion picture industry is highly oriented towards marketing currently released films, unadjusted figures are always used in marketing campaigns so that new blockbuster films can much more easily achieve a high sales ranking, and thus be promoted as a "top film of all time",[24][31] so there is little incentive to switch to a more robust analysis from a marketing or even newsworthy point of view.[30]
Despite the inherent difficulties in accounting for inflation, several attempts have been made. Estimates depend on theprice index used to adjust the grosses,[31] and theexchange rates used to convert between currencies can also affect the calculations, both of which can have an effect on the ultimate rankings of an inflation adjusted list.Gone with the Wind—first released in 1939—is generally considered to be the most successful film, withGuinness World Records in 2014 estimating its adjusted global gross at $3.4 billion. Estimates forGone with the Wind's adjusted gross have varied substantially: its owner,Turner Entertainment, estimated its adjusted earnings at $3.3 billion in 2007, a few years earlier than theGuinness estimate;[32] other estimates fall either side of this amount, with one putting its gross just under $3 billion in 2010,[33] while another provided an alternative figure of $3.8 billion in 2006.[34] Which film isGone with the Wind's nearest rival depends on the set of figures used:Guinness hadAvatar in second place with $3 billion, while other estimates sawTitanic in the runner-up spot with first-run worldwide earnings of almost $2.9 billion at 2010 prices.[33]
| Rank | Title | Worldwide gross (2024 $) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gone with the Wind | GW$4,450,000,000 | 1939 |
| 2 | Avatar | A1$4,056,000,000 | 2009 |
| 3 | Titanic | $2,516,000,000T$3,769,000,000 | 1997 |
| 4 | Star Wars | $3,652,000,000 | 1977 |
| 5 | Avengers: Endgame | AE$3,357,000,000 | 2019 |
| 6 | The Sound of Music | $3,059,000,000 | 1965 |
| 7 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | ET$2,990,000,000 | 1982 |
| 8 | The Ten Commandments | $2,827,000,000 | 1956 |
| 9 | Doctor Zhivago | $2,680,000,000 | 1965 |
| 10 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | TFA$2,642,000,000 | 2015 |
InfInflation adjustment is carried out using theConsumer price index for advanced economies published by theInternational Monetary Fund.[36] The index is uniformly applied to the grosses in the chart published byGuinness World Records in 2014, beginning with the 2014 index. The figures in the above chart take into account inflation that has occurred in every year since then, through 2024.
GWThe adjusted gross forGone with the Wind includes the original release and reissue grosses up to 1998, adjusted from the Guinness base year, and the 2019 gross[37] adjusted from the 2020 index. There have been several limited re-releases in the 2020s, but the grosses from these reissues are not represented in the adjusted gross.
A1The adjusted gross forAvatar includes revenue from the original release and all four reissues. The original release and 2010 Special Edition grosses are adjusted from the Guinness base year, whilst the 2020 and 2021 grosses are adjusted from the 2021 index and the 2022 gross from 2022.[38]
TGuinness' adjusted total forTitanic only increased by $102,000,000 between the 2012 (published in 2011) and 2015 editions, a rise of 4.2% shared by the other adjusted totals in the chart, and omitted the gross from a 3D re-release in 2012.[35][39] This chart incorporates the gross of $343,550,770 from the reissue and adjusts it from the 2013 index.[40]Titanic grossed a further $762,994 during limited re-releases in 2017 and 2020, and these have been incorporated into the gross from the 25th anniversary reissue and adjusted from the 2023 index.[41]
ETThe adjusted gross forE.T. includes revenue from the original release and all re-releases. The original release along with the 1985 and 2002 reissues are adjusted from the Guinness base year, whilst the 2020 and 2022 grosses[42] are adjusted from the 2022 index.
AEThe gross forAvengers: Endgame is adjusted from the 2020 index.
TFAThe gross forStar Wars: The Force Awakens is adjusted from the 2016 index.
Box-office figures are reported in either gross revenue ordistributor rentals, the latter being especially true of older films. Commonly mistaken for home video revenue, distributor rentals are the distributor's share of the film's theatrical revenue (i.e. the box office gross less the exhibitor's cut).[43][44] Historically, the rental price averaged at 30–40% when the distributors owned the theater chains, equating to just over a third of the gross being paid to the distributor of the film.[45] In the modern marketplace, rental fees can vary greatly—depending on a number of factors—although the films from the major studios average out at 43%.[43]
Audience tastes were fairly eclectic during the 20th century, but several trends did emerge. During thesilent era, films withwar themes were popular with audiences, withThe Birth of a Nation (American Civil War),The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,The Big Parade andWings (allWorld War I) becoming the most successful films in their respective years of release, with the trend coming to an end withAll Quiet on the Western Front in 1930. With the advent ofsound in 1927, themusical—the genre best placed to showcase the new technology—took over as the most popular type of film with audiences, with 1928 and 1929 both being topped by musical films. The genre continued to perform strongly in the 1930s, but the outbreak ofWorld War II saw war-themed films dominate again during this period, starting withGone with the Wind (American Civil War) in 1939, and finishing withThe Best Years of Our Lives (World War II) in 1946.Samson and Delilah (1949) saw the beginning of a trend of increasingly expensivehistorical dramas set duringAncient Rome/biblical times throughout the 1950s as cinema competed with television for audiences,[46] withQuo Vadis,The Robe,The Ten Commandments,Ben-Hur andSpartacus all becoming the highest-grossing film of the year during initial release, before the genre started to wane after several high-profile failures.[47] The success ofWhite Christmas andSouth Pacific in the 1950s foreshadowed the comeback of the musical in the 1960s withWest Side Story,Mary Poppins,My Fair Lady,The Sound of Music andFunny Girl all among the top films of the decade. The 1970s saw a shift in audience tastes tohigh concept films, with six such films made by eitherGeorge Lucas orSteven Spielberg topping the chart during the 1980s. The 21st century has seen an increasing dependence on franchises andadaptations, with the box-office dominance of films based on pre-existing intellectual property at record levels.[48]
Steven Spielberg (1975, 1981, 1982, 1989 and 1993) andCecil B. DeMille (1932, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1956) tie as the most represented directors on the chart with five films apiece occupying the annual top spot.William Wyler (1942, 1946, 1959 and 1968) andJames Cameron (1991, 1997, 2009 and 2022) are each represented by four films, whilstD. W. Griffith (1915, 1916 and 1920),George Roy Hill (1966, 1969 and 1973) and theRusso brothers (2016, 2018 and 2019) all feature heavily with three films apiece. George Lucas directed two chart-toppers in 1977 and 1999, but also served in a strong creative capacity as a producer and writer in 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1989 as well. The following directors have also all directed two films on the chart:Frank Lloyd,King Vidor,Frank Capra,Michael Curtiz,Leo McCarey,Alfred Hitchcock,David Lean,Stanley Kubrick,Guy Hamilton,Mike Nichols,William Friedkin,Peter Jackson,Gore Verbinski, andMichael Bay;Mervyn LeRoy,Ken Annakin andRobert Wise are each represented by one solo credit and one shared credit, andJohn Ford co-directed two films. Disney films are usually co-directed and some directors have served on several winning teams:Wilfred Jackson,Hamilton Luske,Clyde Geronimi,David Hand,Ben Sharpsteen,Wolfgang Reitherman and Bill Roberts have all co-directed at least two films on the list. Only seven directors have topped the chart in consecutive years: McCarey (1944 and 1945), Nichols (1966 and 1967), Spielberg (1981 and 1982), Jackson (2002 and 2003), Verbinski (2006 and 2007) and the Russo brothers (2018 and 2019).
Because of release schedules—especially in the case of films released towards the end of the year—and different release patterns across the world, many films can do business in two or more calendar years; therefore the grosses documented here are not confined to just the year of release. Grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs either, with many older films often being re-released periodically so the figures represent all the business a film has done since its original release; a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known. Because of incomplete data it cannot be known for sure how much money some films have made and when they made it, but generally the chart chronicles the films from each year that went on to earn the most. In the cases where estimates conflict both films are recorded, and in cases where a film has moved into first place because of being re-released the previous record-holder is also retained.
(...) Since grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs, a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known.
*Canada and U.S. gross only.
RDistributor rental.
TBATo be ascertained.
INNo contemporary sources provide figures for20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, althoughThe Numbers provides a figure of $8,000,000 for the North American box-office gross.[54] However, it is possible this figure has been mistaken for the gross of the 1954 remake which also earned $8,000,000 in North American rentals.[55]
FHSome sources such as The Numbers state thatAloma of the South Seas is the highest grossing film of the year, earning $3 million.[56] However, no contemporary sources provide figures forAloma of the South Seas, so it is unclear what the $3 million figure relates to. If it were the rental gross then that would have made it not only the highest-grossing film of the year, but one of the highest-grossing films of the silent era, and if that is the case it would be unusual for bothInternational Motion Picture Almanac andVariety to omit it from their lists.
SSIt is not clear if the figure forSunny Side Up is for North America or worldwide. Other sources put its earnings at $2 million,[57] which may suggest the higher figure is the worldwide rental, given the confusion over international figures during this period.[58]
ONThe figure forIt Happened One Night is not truly representative of its success: it was distributed as a package deal along with more than two dozen otherColumbia films, and the total earnings were averaged out; the true gross would have been much higher.[59]
S7Snow White's $418 million globalcume omits earnings outside of North America from 1987 onwards.
GWIt is not absolutely clear how muchGone with the Wind earned from its initial release. Contemporary accounts often list it as earning $32 million in North American rentals and retrospective charts have often duplicated this claim; however, it is likely this was the worldwide rental figure. Trade journals would collate the data by either obtaining it from the distributors themselves, who were keen to promote a successful film, or by surveying theaters and constructing an estimate. Distributors would often report the worldwide rental since the higher figure made the film appear more successful, while estimates were limited to performance in North America; therefore it was not unusual for worldwide and North American rentals to be mixed up. Following the outbreak of World War II, many of the foreign markets were unavailable to Hollywood so it became standard practice to just report on North American box-office performance.[58] In keeping with this new approach, the North American rental forGone with the Wind was revised to $21 million in 1947 ($11 million lower than the previous figure),[60] and as of 1953—following the 1947 re-release—Variety was reporting earnings of $26 million.[61] Through 1956,MGM reported cumulative North American earnings of $30,015,000 and foreign earnings of $18,964,000, from three releases.[62] Worldwide rentals of $32 million from the initial release is consistent with the revised figures and later reported worldwide figures: they indicate that the film earned $21 million in North America and $11 million overseas from the initial release, and added a further $9 million in North America and $8 million overseas from subsequent re-releases up to 1956.
MDMom and Dad does not generally feature in 'high-gross' lists such as those published byVariety due to its independent distribution. Essentially belonging to theexploitation genre, it was marketed as an educationalsex hygiene film in an effort to circumventcensorship laws. Falling foul of theMotion Picture Production Code,Mom and Dad was prevented from obtaining mainstream distribution and restricted to independent anddrive-in theaters. It was the biggest hit of its kind, and remained in continual distribution until the 1970s whenhardcore pornography eventually took over. At the end of 1947 it had earned $2 million, and by 1949, $8 million; by 1956 it had earned $22 million in rentals, representing a gross of $80 million, and would have easily placed in the top ten films in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Estimates of its total earnings are as high as $100 million.
UNChopra-Gant stipulates that the figure given forUnconquered is for North American box-office, but as was common at the time, the chart confuses worldwide and North American grosses. Other sources state that the takings forForever Amber ($8 million) andLife with Father ($6.5 million)[63] were in fact worldwide rental grosses, so it is possible this is also true ofUnconquered.
CITheCinerama figures represent gross amounts. Since the Cinerama corporation owned the theaters there were no rental fees for the films, meaning the studio received 100% of the box-office gross, unlike the case with most other films where the distributor typically receives less than half the gross. SinceVariety at the time ranked films by their U.S. and Canadian rental, they constructed a hypothetical rental figure for the Cinerama films to provide a basis for comparison to other films in their chart: in the case ofThis Is Cinerama, the $50 million worldwide gross was reconfigured as a $12.5 million U.S. rental gross; this is exactly 25% of the amount reported by Cinerama, soVariety's formula seemingly halved the gross to obtain an estimate for the U.S. share, and halved it again to simulate a rental fee.[64] All five Cinerama features collectively generated $120 million in worldwide box office receipts.[65]
GSVariety put the worldwide rental forThe Greatest Show on Earth at around $18.35 million (with $12.8 million coming from the United States[55]) a year after its release; however, Birchard puts its earnings at just over $15 million up to 1962. It is likely that Birchard's figure is just the North American gross rental, and includes revenue from the 1954 and 1960 reissues.
SWThe "first run"Star Wars grosses do not include revenue from the 1997 special-edition releases; however, the figure does include revenue from the re-releases prior to thespecial editions.
HP1TheHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone reissue totals recorded by Box Office Mojo for Brazil (2020), Italy (2021), Netherlands (2021) and South Korea (2021) have been deducted from the lifetime gross due to Box Office Mojo double-counting the original release grosses in those countries.
HP8Production costs were shared withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.
At least eleven films have held the record of 'highest-grossing film' sinceThe Birth of a Nation assumed the top spot in 1915. BothThe Birth of a Nation andGone with the Wind spent twenty-five consecutive years apiece as the highest-grosser, with films directed by Steven Spielberg and James Cameron holding the record on three occasions each. Spielberg became the first director to break his own record whenJurassic Park overtookE.T., and Cameron emulated the feat whenAvatar broke the record set byTitanic. When it took over the top spot in 2019,Avengers: Endgame became the first sequel to hold the record of highest-grossing film, and in doing so interrupted thirty-six years of Spielberg/Cameron dominance beforeAvatar reclaimed the top spot two years later in 2021 upon a re-release.
Some sources claim thatThe Big Parade supersededThe Birth of a Nation as highest-grossing film, eventually being replaced bySnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which in turn was quickly usurped byGone with the Wind.[66] Exact figures are not known forThe Birth of a Nation, but contemporary records put its worldwide earnings at $5.2 million as of 1919.[67] Its international release was delayed by World War I, and it was not released in many foreign territories until the 1920s; coupled with further re-releases in the United States, its $10 million earnings as reported byVariety in 1932 are consistent with the earlier figure.[68] At this time,Variety still hadThe Birth of a Nation ahead ofThe Big Parade ($6,400,000) on distributor rentals and—if its estimate is correct—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($8,500,000)[69] would not have earned enough on its first theatrical run to take the record;[70] although it would have been the highest-grossing 'talkie',[71] displacingThe Singing Fool ($5,900,000).[72] Although received wisdom holds that it is unlikelyThe Birth of a Nation was ever overtaken by a silent-era film,[73] the record would fall to 1925'sBen-Hur ($9,386,000) ifThe Birth of a Nation earned significantly less than its estimated gross.[74] In addition to its gross rental earnings through public exhibition,The Birth of a Nation played at a large number of private, club and organizational engagements which figures are unavailable for.[75] It was hugely popular with theKu Klux Klan who used it to drive recruitment,[76] and at one pointVariety estimated its total earnings to stand at around $50 million.[77] Despite later retracting the claim, the sum has been widely reported even though it has never been substantiated.[67] While it is generally accepted thatGone with the Wind took over the record of highest-grossing film on its initial release—which is true in terms of public exhibition—it is likely it did not overtakeThe Birth of a Nation in total revenue until a much later date, with it still being reported as the highest earner up until the 1960s.[75]Gone with the Wind itself may have been briefly overtaken byThe Ten Commandments (1956), which closed at the end of 1960 with worldwide rentals of $58–60 million[78][79] compared toGone with the Wind's $59 million;[80] if it did claim the top spot its tenure there was short-lived, sinceGone with the Wind was re-released the following year and increased its earnings to $67 million. Depending on how accurate the estimates are, the 1959 remake ofBen-Hur may also have captured the record fromGone with the Wind: as of the end of 1961 it had earned $47 million worldwide,[81] and by 1963 it was trailingGone with the Wind by just $2 million with international takings of $65 million,[82] ultimately earning $66 million from its initial release.[83]
Another film purported to have been the highest-grosser is the 1972pornographic filmDeep Throat. In 1984,Linda Lovelace testified to aUnited States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on juvenile justice that the film had earned $600 million;[84] this figure has been the subject of much speculation, since if it is accurate then the film would have made more money thanStar Wars, and finished the 1970s as the highest-grossing film. The main argument against this figure is that it simply did not have a wide enough release to sustain the sort of sums that would be required for it to ultimately gross this amount.[85] Exact figures are not known, but testimony in a federal trial in 1976—about four years into the film's release—showed the film had grossed over $25 million.[86]Roger Ebert has reasoned it possibly did earn as much as $600 million on paper, since mobsters owned most of theadult movie theaters during this period and wouldlaunder income from drugs and prostitution through them, so probably inflated the box-office receipts for the film.[87]
The Birth of a Nation,Gone with the Wind,The Godfather,Jaws,Star Wars,E.T., andAvatar all increased their record grosses with re-releases. The grosses from their original theatrical runs are included here along with totals from re-releases up to the point that they lost the record; therefore the total forThe Birth of a Nation includes income from its reissues up to 1940; the total forStar Wars includes revenue from the late 1970s and early 1980s reissues but not from the 1997 Special Edition; the total forE.T. incorporates its gross from the 1985 reissue but not from 2002. The total forAvatar's first appearance on the chart includes revenue from the 2010 Special Edition, which represents all of its earnings up to the point it relinquished the record, whereas its second appearance also incorporates revenue from a 2020 re-release in theAsia-Pacific region as well as the 2021 re-release in China which helped it to reclaim the record.Gone with the Wind is likewise represented twice on the chart: the 1940 entry includes earnings from its staggered 1939–1942 release (roadshow/general release/second-run)[88] along with all of its revenue up to the 1961 reissue prior to losing the record toThe Sound of Music in 1966; its 1971 entry—after it took back the record—includes income from the 1967 and 1971 reissues but omitting later releases.The Godfather was re-released in 1973 after its success at the45th Academy Awards, andJaws was released again in 1976, and their grosses here most likely include earnings from those releases.The Sound of Music,The Godfather,Jaws,Jurassic Park, andTitanic have all increased their earnings with further releases, but they are not included in the totals here because they had already conceded the record prior to being re-released.
| Established | Title | Record-setting gross | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915[66] | The Birth of a Nation | $5,200,000R | [# 87] |
| 1940 | $15,000,000R‡ | [# 316] | |
| 1940[32] | Gone with the Wind | $32,000,000R | [# 138] |
| 1963 | $67,000,000R‡ | [# 317] | |
| 1966[66] | The Sound of Music | $114,600,000R | [# 212] |
| 1971[66] | Gone with the Wind | $116,000,000R‡ | [# 318] |
| 1972[66] | The Godfather | $127,600,000–142,000,000R | [# 238][# 319] |
| 1976[89][90] | Jaws | $193,700,000R | [# 253] |
| 1978[91][92] | Star Wars | $410,000,000/$268,500,000R | [# 320][# 238] |
| 1982 | $530,000,000‡ | [# 259] | |
| 1983[93] | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | $619,000,000–664,000,000 | [# 259][# 271] |
| 1993 | $701,000,000‡ | [# 321] | |
| 1993[66] | Jurassic Park | $912,667,947 | [# 84] |
| 1998[94] | Titanic | $1,843,373,318 | [# 7] |
| 2010[95][96] | Avatar | $2,743,577,587 | [# 1] |
| $2,788,416,135‡ | |||
| 2019[97][98] | Avengers: Endgame | $2,797,501,328 | [# 3] |
| 2021[99] | Avatar | $2,847,397,339‡ | [# 1] |
| 2025 | $2,923,710,708‡ |
RDistributor rental.
‡Includes revenue from re-releases. If a film increased its gross through re-releases while holding the record, the year in which it recorded its highest gross is also noted in italics.
Prior to 2000, only sevenfilm series had grossed over $1 billion at the box office:James Bond,[100]Star Wars,[101]Indiana Jones,[102]Rocky,[103][104][105]Batman,[106]Jurassic Park,[107] andStar Trek.[108] Since the turn of the century, that number has increased to over a hundred.[109] This is partly due to inflation and market growth, but it is also due to Hollywood's adoption of thefranchise model: films that have built-in brand recognition such as being based on a well-known literary source or an established character. The methodology is based on the concept that films associated with things audiences are already familiar with can be more effectively marketed to them, and as such are known as "pre-sold" films within the industry.[110]
A franchise is typically defined to be at least two works derived from a commonintellectual property. Traditionally, the work has a tautological relationship with the property, but this is not a prerequisite. An enduring staple of the franchise model is the concept of thecrossover, which can be defined as "a story in which characters or concepts from two or more discrete texts or series of texts meet".[111] A consequence of a crossover is that an intellectual property may be utilized by more than one franchise. For example,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice belongs to not only theBatman andSuperman franchises, but also to theDC Extended Universe, which is ashared universe. A shared universe is a particular type of crossover where a number of characters from a wide range of fictional works wind up sharing a fictional world.[112] The most successful shared universe in the medium of film is theMarvel Cinematic Universe, a crossover between multiple superhero properties owned byMarvel Comics. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also the highest-grossing franchise, amassing over $32 billion at the box office.
TheSpider-Man films are the highest-grossing series based on a single property, earning over $11 billion at the box office (although theEonJames Bond films have earned over $19 billion in total when adjusted to current prices).[a] The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had the most films gross over $1 billion, with eleven. The fourAvengers films, the twoFrozen films, and the twoAvatar films are the only franchises where each installment has grossed over $1 billion, although theBlack Panther andInside Out series and theFengshen Cinematic Universe[b] have averaged over $1 billion per film.
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SShared universes for which some properties also have their own entries.
*Canada and U.S. gross only.
RDistributor rental.
Most pictures would likely receive 20% to 25% of theatrical box office gross for two prime-time network runs.
Gross: $2,176,120
2020 Re-release: $1,281,204; 2021 Re-release: $57,995,770; 2022 Re-release: $76,012,917; 2025 Re-release: $4,682
$343,550,770
2017 Re-release: $691,642; 2020 Re-release: $71,352; 25 Year Anniversary: $70,157,472
2020 Re-release: $516,969; 2022 Re-release: $2,834,590
Distributor rentals: It is also important to know and recognize the difference between the distributor's gross receipts and the gross rentals. The term "rentals" refers to the aggregate amount of the film distributor's share of monies paid at theatre box offices computed on the basis of negotiated agreements between the distributor and the exhibitor. Note that gross receipts refers to amounts actually received and from all markets and media, whereas gross rentals refers to amounts earned from theatrical exhibition only, regardless of whether received by the distributor. Thus, gross receipts is the much broader term and includes distributor rentals. The issue of film rentals (i.e., what percentage of a film's box office gross comes back to the distributor) is of key importance...More current numbers suggest that distributor rentals for the major studio/distributor released films average in the neighborhood of 43% of box office gross. Again, however, such an average is based on widely divergent distributor rental ratios on individual films.
Rentals are the distributors' share of the box office gross and typically set by a complex, two-part contract.
Film Rentals as Percent of Volume of Business (1939): 36.4
To rekindle interest in the movies, Hollywood not only had to compete with television but also with other leisure-time activities...Movies made a comeback by 1955, but audiences had changed. Moviegoing became a special event for most people, creating the phenomenon of the big picture.
...there exists a very precise production accountant's statement, drawn up some time after the picture was finished, previews had been held and release prints struck. This document shows that the negative cost of the picture was precisely $385,906.77...
The year's top–grossing movie,Aloma made $3 million in the first three months and brought Gray back to Milwaukee for its opening at the Wisconsin Theatre.
But they had previously succeeded in showing how musicals could centre on ordinary people withSunny Side Up (1929), which had grossed $2 million at the box office and demonstrated a new maturity and ingenuity in the staging of story and dance.
According to the studio's booksIt Happened One Night brought in $1 million in film rentals during its initial release, but as Joe Walker pointed out, the figure would have been much larger if the film had not been sold to theaters on a block-booking basis in a package with more than two dozen lesser Columbia films, and the total rentals of the package spread among them all, as was customary in that era, since it minimized the risk and allowed the major studios to dominate the marketplace.
No matter what the billing, the movie became a worldwide hit with $6.5 million in worldwide rentals, from Pappa och vi in Sweden to Vita col padre in Italy, although it booked a net loss of $350,000.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
Various accounts have cited $15 to $18 million profits during the first few years of release, while in a letter to a potential investor in the proposed sound version, Aitken noted that a $15 to $18 million box-office gross was a 'conservative estimate'. For yearsVariety has listedThe Birth of a Nation's total rental at $50 million. (This reflects the total amount paid to the distributor, not box-office gross.) This 'trade legend' has finally been acknowledged byVariety as a 'whopper myth', and the amount has been revised to $5 million. That figure seems far more feasible, as reports of earnings in the Griffith collection list gross receipts for 1915–1919 at slightly more than $5.2 million (including foreign distribution) and total earnings after deducting general office expenses, but not royalties, at about $2 million.
Since it's rarely seen today,The Singing Fool is frequently confused withThe Jazz Singer; although besides Jolson and a pervasively maudlin air the two have little in common. In the earlier film Jolson was inordinately attached to his mother and sang "Mammy"; here the fixation was on his young son, and "Sonny Boy" became an enormous hit. So did the film, which amassed a stunning world-wide gross of $5.9 million...Some sources give it as the highest gross ofany film in its initial release prior toGone with the Wind. This is probably overstating it—MGM's records show thatBen-Hur andThe Big Parade grossed more, and no one knows just how muchThe Birth of a Nation brought in. Still, by the standards of the time it's an amazing amount.
PuttingThe Birth of a Nation in fifth place is open to question, since it is generally conceded to be the top-grossing film of all time. However, it has always been difficult to obtain reliable box-office figures for this film, and it may have been even more difficult in the mid-1930s. After listing it until the mid-1970s asthe top-grosser, though finding it impossible to quote exact figures,Variety, the trade journal, suddenly repudiated the claim but without giving specific details or reasons. On the basis of the number of paid admissions, andcontinuous exhibition, its number one position seems justified.
Yet "The Ten Commandments" has earned 58 million dollars in film rentals and is expected to bring in 10 to 15 million each year it is reissued.
At the end of the 1941 general release, MGM decided to withdraw GWTW again. The prints were battered, but the studio believed one final fling for GWTW was possible. The film returned to movie theaters for the third time in the spring of 1942 and stayed in release until late 1943 ... When MGM finally pulled the film from exhibition, all worn-out prints were destroyed, and GWTW was at last declared out of circulation. MGM, which by then had sole ownership of the film, announced that GWTW had grossed over $32 million.
Jaws (1975) saved the day, grossing $104 million domestically and $132 million worldwide by January 1976.
The industry was stunned whenStar Wars earned nearly $3 million in its first week and by the end of August had grossed $100 million; it played continuously throughout 1977–1978, and was officially re-released in 1978 and 1979, by the end of which it had earned $262 million in rentals worldwide to become the top-grossing film of all time – a position it would maintain until surpassed by Universal'sE.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in January 1983.
Worldwide: $2,923,710,708; Original Release: $2,743,577,587; 2010 Special Edition: $44,838,548; 2020 Re-release: $1,281,204; 2021 Re-release: $57,995,770; 2022 Re-release: $76,012,917; 2025 Re-release: $4,682
Worldwide: $2,343,096,253; Original Release: $2,320,250,281; 2025 Re-release: $22,845,972
Worldwide: $2,187,615,730; Original release: $1,843,373,318; 2012 3D Release: $343,550,770; 2017 Re-release: $691,642
2020 Re-release: $71,352
2023 Re-release: $70,219,746
All Releases: $1,922,598,800; Original Release: $1,912,233,593
Worldwide – $1,274,219,009 (total as of August 8, 2014; including Japanese gross up to August 3, Spanish gross up to July 27, UK gross up to June 8, German gross up to March 30, and omitting Nigerian gross)
$1,046,515,409
$924,317,558
Worldwide: $1,033,928,303; Original Release: $912,667,947; Production Budget: $63 million
Mexico: $270,700
$3,336,227
On page 130, the list hasJurassic Park at number one with $913 million, followed byThe Lion King...
The Birth of a Nation, costing an unprecedented and, many believed, thoroughly foolhardy $110,000, eventually returned $20 million and more. The actual figure is hard to calculate because the film was distributed on a "states' rights" basis in which licenses to show the film were sold outright. The actual cash generated by The Birth of a Nation may have been as much as $50 million to $100 million, an almost inconceivable amount for such an early film.
Various accounts have cited $15 to $18 million profits during the first few years of release, while in a letter to a potential investor in the proposed sound version, Aitken noted that a $15 to $18 million box-office gross was a 'conservative estimate'. For yearsVariety has listedThe Birth of a Nation's total rental at $50 million. (This reflects the total amount paid to the distributor, not box-office gross.) This 'trade legend' has finally been acknowledged byVariety as a 'whopper myth', and the amount has been revised to $5 million. That figure seems far more feasible, as reports of earnings in the Griffith collection list gross receipts for 1915–1919 at slightly more than $5.2 million (including foreign distribution) and total earnings after deducting general office expenses, but not royalties, at about $2 million.
The film eventually cost $110,000 and was twelve reels long.
Intolerance was the most expensive American film made up until that point, costing a total of $489,653, and its performance at the box ... but it did recoup its cost and end with respectable overall numbers.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
It was a low budgeter—$120,000—but it grossed world-wide over $3 million and made stars of Chaney and his fellow-players, Betty Compson and Thomas Meighan.
The negative cost was about $986,000, which did not include Fairbanks' own salary. Once the exploitation and release prints were taken into account,Robin Hood cost about $1,400,000—exceeding bothIntolerance ($700,000) and the celebrated "million dollar movie"Foolish Wives. But it earned $2,500,000.
The film had a production cost of $930,042.78—more than the cost of D.W. Griffith'sIntolerance and nearly as much as Erich von Stroheim'sFoolish Wives (1922).
...earning somewhere between $18 and $22 million, depending on the figures consulted
The top grossing silent film was King Vidor'sThe Big Parade (US 25), with worldwide rentals of $22 million.
The film brought in $2.6 million in worldwide rentals and made a net profit of $1,196,750. Jolson's follow-up Warner Bros. film,The Singing Fool (1928), brought in over two times as much, with $5.9 in worldwide rentals and a profit of $3,649,000, making them two of the most profitable films in the 1920s.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
The Singing Fool: Negative Cost ($1000s): 388
It earned $4.4 million in worldwide rentals and was the first movie to spawn sequels (there were several until 1940).In:Block & Wilson 2010.
Although costing $1250000—a huge sum for any studio in 1929—the film was a financial success. Karl Thiede gives the domestic box-office at $1500000, and the same figure for the foreign gross.
Hughes did not have the "Midas touch" the trade press so often attributed to him.Variety, for example, reported thatHell's Angels cost $3.2 million to make, and by July, 1931, eight months after its release, the production cost had nearly been paid off. Keats claimed the picture cost $4 million to make and that it earned twice that much within twenty years. The production cost estimate is probably correct. Hughes worked on the picture for over two years, shooting it first as a silent and then as a talkie. Lewis Milestone said that in between Hughes experimented with shooting it in color as well. ButVariety's earnings report must be the fabrication of a delirious publicity agent, and Keats' the working of a myth maker. During the seven years it was in United Artists distribution,Hell's Angels grossed $1.6 million in the domestic market, of which Hughes' share was $1.2 million. Whatever the foreign gross was, it seems unlikely that it was great enough to earn a profit for the picture.
Chaplin's negative cost for City Lights was $1,607,351. The film eventually earned him a worldwide profit of $5 million ($2 million domestically and $3 million in foreign distribution), an enormous sum of money for the time.
Kid from Spain: $2,621,000 (data supplied by Eddie Cantor)
Sources: Eddie Mannix Ledger, made available to the author by Mark Glancy...
1933 release: $1,856,000; 1938 release: $306,000; 1944 release: $685,000
1952 release: $2,500,000; budget: $672,254.75
According to a modern source, it had a gross earning of $2,250,000 on the North American continent, with over a million more earned internationally.
The worldwide rentals of over $3 million keep the lights on at Paramount, which did not shy away from selling the movie's sex appeal.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
The reaction to West's first major film, however, was not exclusively negative. Made for a mere $200,000, the film would rake in a healthy $2 million in the United States and an additional million in overseas markets.
Although Columbia's president, Harry Cohn, had strong reservations aboutIt Happened One Night, he also knew that it would not bankrupt the studio; the rights were only $5,000, and the budget was set at $325,000, including the performers' salaries.
Considered a highly risky gamble when the movie was in production in the mid-1930s, by the fiftieth anniversary of its 1937 premiereSnow White's earnings exceeded $330 million.
In only 2 months after the 1987 re-release, the film grossed another $45 million—giving it a total gross to date of about $375 million!
North American box-office: $46,594,719
North American box-office: $41,634,791
You Can't Take It With You received excellent reviews, won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1938 Academy Awards, and earned over $5 million worldwide.
The film quickly became a smash nationwide, making a profit of over $2 million on worldwide rentals of $4 million.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
$3.981 million.
Once the confusion cleared, however, the film blossomed into a commercial success, with a profit of $978,000 on worldwide rentals of $3.6 million.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
The film's negative cost was $2.6 million, more than $1 million higher thanSnow White's.
Boom Town ($4.6 million).
Mrs Miniver was a phenomenon. It was the most popular film of the year (from any studio) in both North America and Britain, and its foreign earnings were three times higher than those of any other MGM film released in the 1941–42 season. The production cost ($1,344,000) was one of the highest of the season, indicating the studio never thought of the film as a potential loss-maker. When the film earned a worldwide gross of $8,878,000, MGM had the highest profit ($4,831,000) in its history.Random Harvest nearly matched the success ofMrs Miniver with worldwide earnings of $8,147,000 yielding the second-highest profit in MGM's history ($4,384,000).Random Harvest was also the most popular film of the year in Britain, where it proved to be even more popular than Britain's most acclaimed war film,In Which We Serve.
Mrs. Miniver's galvanizing effect on Americans spawned a record-breaking ten-week run at Radio City Music Hall and garnered a $5.4 million take in domestic rentals (makingMrs. Miniver 1942's top grosser), with a $4.8 million profit on worldwide rentals of $8.9 million.
Despite the early furor over the novel being "pro-red and immoral," the film opened to strong and favorable reviews and brought in $11 million in worldwide rentals in its initial release.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
According to M-G-M studio records at the AMPAS Library, the film had a negative cost of $2,627,000 and took in $5,363,000 at the box office. When the picture was re-issued for the 1955–56 season, it took in an additional $150,000.
Leading the pack of postwar sex hygiene films wasMom and Dad (1944), which would become not only the most successful sex hygiene film in history but the biggest pre-1960 exploitation film of any kind. At the end of 1947, theLos Angeles Times reported thatMom and Dad had grossed $2 million. By 1949Time had estimated thatMom and Dad had taken in $8 million from twenty million moviegoers. And publicity issuing fromMom and Dad's production company indicated that by the end of 1956 it had grossed over $80 million worldwide. Net rentals of around $22 million by 1956 would easily place it in the top ten films of the late 1940s and early 1950s had it appeared on conventional lists. Some estimates have placed its total gross over the years at up to $100 million, and it was still playing drive-in dates into 1975...The film was made for around $65,000 with a crew of Hollywood veterans including director William "One Shot" Beaudine, cinematographer Marcel LePicard, and a cast that sported old stalwarts Hardie Albright, Francis Ford, and John Hamilton.
This was that rare sequel that did even better at the box office than the original, bringing in a $3.7 million profit on $11.2 million in worldwide rentals.
Still, the film wound up grossing $3.3 million...
The film made a $5 million profit on worldwide rentals of $14.8 million.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
Forever Amber: $8 million;Unconquered: $7.5 million;Life with Father: $6.25 million
Although both films had higher than average budgets (The Red Shoes cost £505,581 andHamlet cost £572,530, while the average cost of the other thirty films for which Rank supplied information was £233,000), they resulted in high takings at home and abroad.
1947–1948: $4.03 (per British pound)
Cinderella revived its fortunes. Re-released in February 1950, it cost nearly $3 million to make but earned more than $20 million worldwide.
It cost around $2.2 million, little more than each of the two package features, Melody Time and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (as Tluo Fabulous Characters had ultimately been named), that just preceded it, but its gross rentals—an amount shared by Disney and RKO—were $7.8 million, almost twice as much as the two package features combined.
Produced at a cost of $1 million,This is Cinerama ran 122 weeks, earning $4.7 million in its initial New York run alone and eventually grossed over $32 million. It was obvious to Hollywood that the public was ready for a new form of motion picture entertainment. The first five Cinerama feature-length travelogues, though they only played in twenty-two theaters, pulled in a combined gross of $82 million.
By May 1953,Variety was reporting that the Best Picture winner had amassed $18.35 million in worldwide rentals.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
The Jungle Book $378 million; One Hundred and One Dalmatians $303 million; Lady and the Tramp $187 million
Mister Roberts sailed onto movie screens buoyed by enthusiastic reviews and receptive audiences. For pr, Fonda, Cagney, and lemmon reenacted several scenes on ed sullivan's popularToast of the Town television variety show. It returned a net profit of $4.5 million on worldwide rentals of $9.9 million, putting it in the top 5 domestic films of 1955.
Costing $15 million to produce, the film earned $47 million by the end of 1961 and $90 million worldwide by January 1989.
Negative cost: around $4 million; Worldwide film rentals gross (including 1968 American reissue) to 1970: $30 million.
Spartacus cost $12 million and grossed some $60 million at the box office, figures Kubrick rarely again matched.
With its three rereleases, it took in over $105 million in worldwide box office ($720 million in 2005 dollars).In:Block & Wilson 2010.
Worldwide Box Office: $69,995,385; International Box Office: $32,500,000
$44,824,852
In its initial run,Poppins garnered an astounding $44 million in worldwide rentals and became the company's first Best Picture Oscar contender.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
"The Jungle Book," in it's [sic] initial world-wide release, has grossed $23.8 million to date...
It was filmed at a declared cost of $4 million over a 42-month period.
2001: A Space Odyssey made $15 million on its initial U.S. release, and currently shows a worldwide gross of over $190 million.
With its initial and subsequent releases, domestic and worldwide, Kubrick's arty, intellectual film earned nearly $138 million, which was, at that time, an astounding figure.
Domestic Total Gross: $214,618; United Kingdom: $568,997
Domestic Total Gross: $135,370
Domestic Total Gross: $1,283,820; Australia: $192,457; Greece: $27,510; Netherlands: $159,068; New Zealand: $5,046; Russia: $155,841; United Kingdom: $296,525
..."Funny Girl" will gross an estimated $80 to $100 million worldwide.
While Columbia, battling Ray Stark over every dollar, didFunny Girl for around $8.8 million, a million or so over budget, Fox spent nearly $24 million onHello, Dolly!, more than twice the initial budget, and the film will thus have to gross three times as much to break even.
$102,308,525
Butch Cassidy went on to be a huge hit—by the spring of 1970 it had taken in $46 million in North America and grossed another $50 million abroad.
Bring those handkerchiefs out of retirement. ... After all, the first movie made around $80 million worldwide.
The final cost came in at $2,260,000.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
The originalGodfather has grossed a mind-boggling $285 million...
SinceThe Godfather had earned over $85 million in U.S.-Canada rentals (the worldwide box-office gross was $285 million), a sequel, according to the usual formula, could be expected to earn approximately two-thirds of the original's box-office take (ultimatelyGodfather II had rentals of $30 million).
Original release: $243,862,778; 1997 re-release: $1,267,490; 2009 re-release: $121,323; 2011 re-release: $818,333; 2014 re-release: $29,349; 2018 re-release: $21,701; Budget: $6,000,000
The Godfather catapulted Coppola to overnight celebrity, earning three Academy Awards and a then record-breaking $142 million in worldwide sales.
...further reflected by the phenomenal successes ofThe Sting,Chinatown andThe Exorcist. The latter film, which cost about $10 million to produce, has grossed over $110 million worldwide.
U.S-Canada market only $66,300,000
"Towering Inferno" did $56,000,000 overseas in billings while "The Exorcist" totted up $46,000,000
...Jaws should outstrip another MCA hit,The Sting, which had world-wide revenues of $115 million.(Online copyArchived April 4, 2023, at theWayback Machine atGoogle Books)
Domestic rentals: $48,838,000
Original Release: $260,000,000 (domestic); $210,653,000 (international); $470,653,000 (worldwide)
$280,083,300 (all-release domestic); $507,140 (2012 international); $42,864 (2019 international); $27,747 (2020 international); $532,047 (2022 international); $3,642 (2024 international); $3,352,108 (2025 international)
The budget for the firstJaws was $4 million and the picture wound up costing $9 million.
The budget was $1,075,000 plus producer's fees of $100,000.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
Its worldwide box-office gross was $619 million, toppling the record of $530 million set by Star Wars.
Despite the fact that Grease was well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie musical in the world, and eventually grossed over $341 million...
Columbia Pictures Industries is continuing to rake in the box office dollars from its Oscar-winningKramer vs. Kramer, which has topped $100 million in domestic grosses and $70 million overseas.Kramer, which cost less than $8 million to make, is now the second...
Much of this was attributable to the performance of its hit film,Kramer vs. Kramer ($94 million worldwide and the number two film in the domestic market).
$538,375,067
North America: $67,597,694; Overseas: $57,214,766
United Kingdom: $9,593,937
$3,137,879
Total: $389,925,971; North America: $212,222,025 (original run); Overseas: $141,766,000
$482,466,382
$89,388,357
$7,259,924
Original release: $229,242,989; Lifetime: $243,640,120
International: $126.0 million
2011 re-release (United Kingdom): $161,688; 2019 re-release (Asia-Pacific): $60,823; 2020 re-release (Asia Pacific): $101,133
Worldwide: $381,109,762; Production Budget: $19 million
$5,641,847
$571,778
$1,437,152
$536,629
$13,123,545
Production Cost: $19.0 (Millions of $s) ... Despite mixed reviews, it played in the top 10 for an extended period and was a huge hit, grossing almost $345 million in worldwide box office.In:Block & Wilson 2010.
That legacy is the $167,780,960 domestic box-office and $75 million foreign gross achieved by the original...
$519,843,345
Worldwide: $970,707,763; Production Budget: $45 million
Initial: $312,855,561; IMAX: $15,686,215; 3D: $94,242,001
...the original release of The Lion King made $450.6 million internationally, an additional $3.8 million with the 2002 IMAX reissue, and another $91.3 million from 2011's 3D reissue for an international total of $545.7 million.
Worldwide: $363,007,140
Foreign Total: $10,555,852
Total: $11,427,639
Worldwide: $948,945,489; Original Release: $936,689,735
North America: $531,039,412 (as of January 22, 2009); Overseas: $466,000,000; IMAX re-release: January 23, 2009
With worldwide receipts of $997 million, "The Dark Knight" is currently fourth on the all-time box office gross list, and the film is being re-released theatrically on January 23.
The Dark Knight had been hovering just shy of $1 billion for several months and reportedly sat at $997 million when Warner Bros. modestly relaunched it on Jan. 23, timed to take advantage of the announcement of the Academy Awards nominations on Jan. 22.
As of the end of 1971, GWTW stood as the all-time money-drawing movie, with a take of $116 million, and, with this year's reissues, it should continue to run ahead of the second place contender and all-timekaffee-mit-schlag spectacle.
Coppola is King Midas, the most individually powerful U.S. filmmaker ." His credits include directing the firstGodfather (worldwide earnings: $142 million, ahead ofGone with the Wind,The Sound of Music andThe Exorcist)...(Online copy atGoogle Books)
"Star Wars" has brought 20th Century-Fox approximately $250 million in film rentals ... "Star Wars" grossed $410 million, and his share was enough to allow him to finance its sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back," himself.
UK: $48,482
UK: $10,057
US: $38,014; UK: $373
US: $28,597; UK: $196
United Kingdom: $786,021
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