Avengers: Endgame has made more money than any movie ever, but it hasn't sold the most
tickets — in fact, it isn't even in the top 15.
From romantic epics to horror hits, here's a look at all the blockbusters from years
past whose crowd sizes would have impressed even Thanos.
"Impossible."
The first film on our list is Ben-Hur.
No, we aren't talking about the infamous 2016 bomb that lost Paramount a mind-numbing $120
million.
Younger filmgoers may not have known it, but that recent Ben-Hur was based on a 1959 multimillion-dollar
epic that was one of the biggest hits of all time.
The film starred Charlton Heston, one of Hollywood's most popular and successful actors.
Still, with a then-astronomical budget of $15 million, Ben-Hur was a massive gamble
by MGM, which was hoping that the movie could pull it out of impending bankruptcy.
If Ben-Hur was their last hope, it answered all their prayers.
Fortunately for the studio, the epic made $74 million domestically, which is $883 million
in today's money.
All told, the blockbuster saved MGM from bankruptcy and became acknowledged as a classic that's
still being talked about today.
In 1977, the original Star Wars, also known as A New Hope, more than conquered the box
office.
It forever changed the movie landscape and popular culture, in general.
"You know, sometimes I amaze even myself."
Naturally, its first sequel was highly anticipated — so much so that 1980's The Empire Strikes
Back opened to nearly $5 million in just 126 theaters during its initial limited run, and
$10 million once it expanded to 823 theaters.
Even today, with our multiplex culture, those numbers would be impressive, but when adjusted
for inflation, they would be earth-shaking.
All told, Empire's initial run earned more than $209 million, but it wasn't finished.
The film was re-released several more times.
In today's numbers, its total domestic gross stands at $884 million, beating out Avengers:
Endgame by $30 million.
"Guess what, Cap?
We lost."
Everyone loves dogs, Disney, and cartoons, so it's no surprise that 1961's 101 Dalmatians,
which combines all three, was a huge moneymaker.
The film is a classic from the tail end of Disney's golden era, with a quirky story,
some catchy tunes, and an iconic villain in Cruella de Vil.
It was a big hit in its initial run but the film made most of its money in subsequent
re-releases.
In fact, the 1991 re-release, celebrating the movie's 30th anniversary, made $60 million.
Clearly, the spotted pups had more staying power than its initial release would have
suggested.
All told, 101 Dalmatians has made $144 million domestically, or just over $900 million when
adjusted for inflation.
And we know… we're dropping a lot of numbers on you but when it comes to this classic movie,
there's only one number that really matters.
“Let's see now, that's 84, add 15 plus 2… a hundred and one!”
“A hundred and one?"
The Force Awakens is the seventh film in the extremely popular Star Wars franchise, and
the first sequel to the original series in more than 30 years, bringing Harrison Ford,
Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill back to the roles that made them famous.
Even for a Star Wars movie, expectations were extremely high.
"People are counting on us.
The galaxy is counting on us."
The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars film to open during the holiday season and
it turned out to be a stroke of genius.
While it had a record-breaking first weekend, if you look closely at the numbers, the movie's
true accomplishment came in the months that followed.
After opening like a summer blockbuster, it played like a holiday hit, continuing to earn
millions week after week.
By the end of its explosive run, The Force Awakens had earned $936 million domestically.
Adjusted for inflation, that's $974 million today.
Disney has enjoyed a remarkable run of box office success in the 21st century, but its
all-time biggest ticket-seller didn't come from Marvel, Lucasfilm, or Pixar.
No, their biggest hit comes from the golden age of animation.
In fact, it's their oldest movie — the animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Hollywood thought Walt Disney was nuts when he set out to release a feature-length animated
film.
Less than a decade after Mickey Mouse debuted in "Steamboat Willie," cartoons were strictly
the domain of shorts that played before the main feature.
Disney changed all that — and the movie business too — with Snow White.
The animated classic earned impressive numbers during its initial release in 1937, becoming
the top-grossing film that year.
Snow White was re-released eight times, culminating in a total domestic gross of more than $184
million, which would add up to $982 million today.
From an animated, family-friendly classic to a Satanic horror film in which an innocent
young girl turns into a head-spinning, bile-spewing, demonic little monster.
Well, at least you can say American moviegoers have eclectic tastes.
One of the most influential horror films ever, The Exorcist is still shocking and terrifying
today — but in 1973, its shock factor was near scandalous.
And all that scandal helped The Exorcist scare up a ton of cash.
Combining its initial run and a later re-release, The Exorcist has now made more than $230 million
domestically, which rises up to $996 million when adjusted for inflation, making it the
all-time top ticket-seller among R-rated movies.
The Exorcist isn't the highest-grossing, however.
The R-rated film with that honor, ironically enough, is The Passion of the Christ.
Doctor Zhivago is the very definition of an epic historical romance, a genre that doesn't
get a lot of love from movie studios anymore.
Why's that?
Well, for one they're incredibly expensive.
They're also very risky.
Most problematic, you can't turn them into a franchise.
That said, when they hit, they hit big.
Doctor Zhivago definitely qualifies.
It features stunning visuals, captivating melodrama, and beautiful leads playing lovers
whose doomed romance is torn asunder by the winds of history.
Based on Russian novelist Boris Pasternak's book, and directed by the king of the epic,
David Lean, Doctor Zhivago stars Omar Sharif and Julie Christie as people in love with
each other, but married to others, during the Russian Revolution.
It proved a significantly bigger hit than Lean's other epics, earning $111 million — or
an adjusted gross of over $1 billion.
Incredibly, it wasn't even the biggest hit of 1965… but more on that later.
For now, it's safe to say that Doctor Zhivago was the Titanic of its time, full of romance
and tragedy… just without any unfortunate catch phrases.
"I'm king of the world!"
When Jaws popped up in 1975, it practically invented the summer movie season, breaking
box office records — and frightening people away from beaches, lakes, ponds, and even
a few pools.
Based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name, the problem-plagued production nearly
ended relative newcomer Steven Spielberg's career, but ultimately, all the technical
snafus forced the young director to get inventive.
By creating a theater of the mind, he made movie history, delivering suspenseful moments
that were far more effective because he was forced to keep his toothy antagonist offscreen
for much of the film.
Spielberg's improvisation worked: Jaws opened on June 20, 1975 and quickly blew up to an
inflation-adjusted gross of $1.153 billion.
By any measure, calling that a boatload of cash would be an understatement.
"You're going to need a bigger boat."
Director Cecil B. DeMille's name is practically synonymous with "epic," as his lavish productions
achieved a scope and grandeur that will simply never be matched by the CGI pumping up today's
blockbusters.
He was also a risk-taker, and The Ten Commandments is proof.
Who else but DeMille would remake one of the biggest movies of all time, especially when
he was the one who directed the original version in 1923?
More than thirty years later, the film industry was facing stiff competition from TV and movies
had to get bigger to compete.
And thanks to DeMille, The Ten Commandments is as big as it gets.
It opened on October 5, 1956, and earned $85 million by the end of its run, easily becoming
the highest-grossing film of the year and one of the most enduring biblical portraits
in the history of cinema.
When you think of Moses on film, you think of DeMille's The Ten Commandments.
Well… you might also think of this...
"Lord Jehovah has given unto you, these fifteen… oy… these ten, ten commandments!”
If you were alive in the late 1990s, you'll always remember Titanic.
Costing a record-breaking $200 million to produce, the film was viewed by many as a
career-sinking folly for director James Cameron — and those predictions seemed to be confirmed
when it opened to an unimpressive $28 million on December 19th, 1997.
But then something strange happened: Titanic didn't sink… well, the movie didn't.
The next weekend, the film made 24 percent more than the weekend before — and it just
kept on selling tickets, as millions of people would tackle the 194-minute runtime to see
it again and again.
By the time it was all said and done, Titanic made what was then an unfathomable $600 million
domestically.
The film was later re-released in 3D and a 20th anniversary reissue followed in 2017.
While Titanic's box office ship has sailed, its total haul now stands at $659 million,
or $1.221 billion when adjusted for inflation.
Film buffs will argue over Steven Spielberg's defining masterpiece for decades to come.
What isn't up for debate is his biggest hit — E.T.
The Extra-Terrestrial.
In a career full of box office glory, including one record-breaking mega-hit after another,
the fact that E.T. is Spielberg's biggest blockbuster says a lot.
It opened to $11 million on June 11th, 1982, and much like Titanic, kept making money.
It holds the record for most non-consecutive weekends at No. 1 and fluctuated between the
first and second positions on the box office charts for five solid months.
By the end of its first theatrical run, E.T. had earned $359 million, passing Star Wars
as the highest-grossing film ever.
E.T. earned another $70 million in re-releases, bringing its total to $435 million, or $1.278
billion adjusted for inflation—which is something you'd definitely want to phone home
about.
"E.T. phone home."
The 1960s are remembered as an era of rebellion, experimentation, and free love.
But when it came to movies, the biggest hits were the ones you could watch with your parents
and that was never more true than in 1965.
Doctor Zhivago was enormously successful with its mix of history and romance...but it was
beat out by The Sound of Music, the most successful movie musical of all time.
The film is based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic 1959 play, and while it took six years
to go from Broadway to the big screen, the movie's producers were not disappointed.
The Sound of Music was a blockbuster, opening wide on March 2nd, 1965 and ultimately earning
approximately $159 million through all of its releases for a total of $1.283 billion
in today's dough-re-mi.
Star Wars is arguably the most popular franchise ever.
It's second only to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in total box office numbers.
As mentioned previously, the phenomenon began in 1977 with Star Wars: A New Hope.
Initially, only a handful of theaters ordered the movie.
In fact, it opened in only 43 venues on the same weekend as a surefire summer hit, Smokey
and the Bandit.
Fox was convinced that their sci-fi swashbuckler would be crushed by the competition.
History had other ideas.
Star Wars earned $1.5 million in its opening weekend.
Fox broadened its release to meet demand, which kept growing.... and growing.
During its first 18-month run, the film stayed on target to make a mind-boggling $307 million,
which grew with five re-releases over the course of 20 years.
All told, Star Wars earned $460 million, and after we adjust that for inflation, it equals
$1.604 billion dollars.
"If money is all that you love, then that is what you'll receive."
There can be only one winner, and it's hard to fathom that any movie will ever sell more
tickets than Gone with the Wind.
Based on Margaret Mitchell's bestselling novel of the same name, with a pretty substantial
budget of $3.9 million, and starring the King of Hollywood himself, Clark Gable, everybody
knew Gone with the Wind was going to be a hit… it was just a matter of how big.
MGM got its answer when 300,000 people arrived for the premiere in Atlanta on December 15,
1939.
Its initial run earned mammoth numbers, inspiring multiple re-releases through several decades.
All told, the movie has earned $200 million.
That's more than most releases today, but it's truly mind-boggling considering its adjusted
gross would be $1.822 billion… which should be extremely impressive to anyone.
“Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
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