Top 3 grossing movies of all time, reasons

The three highest grossing movies of all time (at time of writing) are Avatar, Titanic and Marvel's The Avengers (as if you didn't already know). The top ten highest grossing movies of all time have all been released in the past 10 years (of course with the exception of Titanic).

So my question is this, how did this happen? Are we going to the cinema more than ever? Are marketing strategies for movies becoming more effective? Is the use of social networking going a long way to adding to a movie's box office gross with little to no cost of extra advertising? Or, are we (not all of us) becoming more susceptible to big blockbusters with little thought being given to them in comparison to low budget independent movies?

IMDB.com lists The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II as the highest RATED movies of all time but, even with adjusting for inflation, they don't even appear in the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time.

So therefore more people have paid to see movies that just aren't considered as highly as the top three but again, rate others that they haven't presumably seen in the cinema.

I know that over time movies will become more famous, more people will see Avatar, Titanic and Marvel's The Avengers. So one day maybe we'll be looking at the highest grossing movies in a better light, but for now I'd like to know what people think about the 3 highest grossing movies and maybe compare their box office success with their critical success.

Discuss

Inflation.

In the US the movie with the record for most tickets sold is from 1939. The year with the greatest number of tickets sold in the US was 1946. In Japan the year of peak ticket sales was 1958.

Converted for inflation in Europe, US and Japan, movie theaters achieved peak revenues in the 1950's.

Today in emerging economies like China, India, Russia and Brazil, that movie theaters have achieved increasing revenues but in the mature economies of Europe, US and Japan, the film industry is stagnant or growing very slowly.

It's been discussed relatively recently.

If you look at a list of top grossing movies adjusted for inflation, e.g.

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

you'll get a different top ten and see that Mary Poppins and 101 Dalmations rightly outsold The Avengers.

Jinx.

yes ok, adjusting for inflation Gone With The Wind beats Avatar, Star Wars and Titanic according to this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...grossing_films but it still doesn't appear in the top 10 highest RATED films on IMDB. I guess what I'm asking is, what makes a good movie? and is there a direct correlation between critical and financial success?

Is there necessarily a direct correlation between an IMDB rating and a quality film?

You just changed the whole subject. I can't figure out what IMDB ratings have to do with movie grossings.

Some time there is, some time there isn't.

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Inflation plus increased ticket costs of 3-D movies.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Box office gross does not equal quality. Case in point.

why not? and if it could how could it be achieved?

There is little correlation between how good a movie is and how well it does at the box office. Box office success is a reflection of appealing to the largest segment of the general public, and since the general public is mostly stupid and at the very least ignorant to cinema they tend to gravitate towards generic nonsense like sexy actors/actresses, explosions, special effects, etc.
Case in point: you mention that Avatar/Titanic/Avengers are the top 3 all-time but those movies would be nowhere close to anybody's top 3 greatest films of all-time. And I mean NOWHERE close!

agreed, it's nice playing devil's advocate every now and then though

In my honest opinion the best movies ever made are those that combine box office success with critical success. Movies that film critics love but the public hates tend to suck as well as films the public loves and critics hate.

Some movies that combined box office might with critical success:

- Seven Samurai (highest grossing Japanese film of 1954 and all time up to 1954)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (highest grossing film of 1957)
- Ben-Hur (highest grossing film in 1959)
- North by Northwest (3rd highest grossing film of 1959)
- Some Like it Hot (4th highest grossing film of 1959)
- Psycho (2nd highest grossing film of 1960)
- The Graduate (highest grossing film of 1967)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (highest grossing film of 1968)
- The Godfather (highest grossing film of 1972)
- The Godfather II (5th highest grossing film of 1974)
- Star Wars (highest grossing film of 1977 and all time up to 1977)
- Apocalypse Now (4th highest grossing film of 1979)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1st grossing film of 1980)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1st grossing film of 1981)
- Back to the Future (1st grossing film of 1985)
- Princess Mononoke (highest grossing Japanese film of all time up to 1997)
- Spirited Away (currently the highest grossing Japanese film of all time)
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy (grossed 3 billion dollars in 2001-2003, each installment was among the top 1-3 highest grossing films in each year)

These movies show up very constantly in favorites lists and they are mighty blockbuster movies. I think that the great blockbuster movie tend to a very special creature, combining top notch entertainment value with emotional and thematic richness, being true classics and not only hip arthouse movies that film critics admire more than actually enjoy (the great film that is hard to watch) or the blockbuster that is entertaining but lacking in substance (most recent example: Iron Man 3).

The average entertainment value of big budget blockbuster movies tends to be higher than of the average 3 million dollar indie movie, though it also tends to be more predictable (specially the more recent blockbusters).

Also, the average IQ of a film critic or the film buff is probably not higher than the average IQ of the filmgoer (there isn't any reason for it to be). The taste of the film critic is more "refined" due to a dramatic increase in exposure to film and a bit of brainwashing by film school and influence by their peers.

I only really go to the movies to watch blockbusters - movies that are better on the big screen. More subtle movies are more enjoyable at home IMO. I think this has an influence on box office figures.

There also tends to be a little bit of intellectual or artistic elitism in regards to movies. We tend to think that the opinion of a few hundred movie buffs is more important than that of the masses. I loved Avatar and The Avengers but not as much as, say, Grave of the Fireflies which I just watched. But really, my opinion is no more valid than the millions of people who love Titanic.

Movies can be great for different reasons. Blockbusters can be great if they are spectacular and exciting. I might like a bit more depth in my movies but I know lots of people who don't - they want escapism and entertainment.

Avatar, Titanic and The Avengers fully deserve to be the highest grossing movies because they got people to pay to watch them and I know that if I was to poll the 70 people who I worked with in my last job, those three would be in the top five favourites. Again, my opinion is not more valid than theirs.

Well said, I have certainly changed my tune in recent years. I could very easily get into an argument with certain people as to why the movie they just saw wasn't the best movie seen that year and why I absolutely hated it but in the end their opinion is just as important as mine (maybe even more so).

I have a friend who is probably the best critic I know, he has no preconceived ideas as to what makes a good movie, he watches a movie then forms an opinion on it once he has seen it. His favourite movie last year was The Sweeney, fair play to him.

Ok,I can agree with inflation but I believe that cinema's are now more accessible,there are more built,maybe even the tendency to go to the movies is more popular.

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So in comparison to these high grossing and arguably well respected and remembered movies, how does a movie in the 21st Century gross a billion dollars or more?

Spirited Away didn't gross that much but is still well respected. Also, not allowing for inflation, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King grossed over a billion dollars but is still only 6th on the highest grossing movies of all time.

For arguments sake I'd like to stick to the top 3 grossing movies of all time. What makes them so special as to be in the top three?*

*argument can be expanded to include those movies that allow for inflation i.e. Gone With The Wind, Avatar and Star Wars

Spirited Away grossed 15% of the national box office, this is titanic. No Hollywood movie ever made except Star Wars achieved similar market penetration.

Not grossed much, please, that's horrendous ignorance.

Corrected for inflation is Star Wars, Gone With the Wind and The Sound of Music. If you don't correct for inflation or for the size of the national market (since Hollywood movies are made for the largest market (US before 1980, most of the World since 1980) they tend to gross more, so you should also adjust for market size in order to understand the relative popularity of non-hollywood movies), your argument is meaningless. Spirited Away, for instance, is more popular than Avatar, Titanic and The Avenger, adjusted for the size of their target market.

Titanic, Avatar and The Avengers are not special movies if you adjust for inflation and for the size of the markets they were made for. Indian movies, for instance, sell a lot of tickets in India and the Indian film industry is hugely influential over there but ticket prices in India are 12 times lower than in the US, so you should correct for that factor as well.

Adjusted for ticket price the Indian box office gross is 21 billion dollars, twice the size of the aggregate US and Canadian box office.

http://www.jekyllislandproductions.c...et-movies.html

Check that out... it's another list made up of most profitable films of all time.

#1 being a film I've mentioned many a time in these Top Film discussions before... and one of the worst films I've seen in the past 20 years.

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