The Official Billion Dollar Elite Club

As Tim Burtons film, Alice in Wonderland has become the sixth film to gross a Billion I thought it would be a good idea to create a thead dedicated to the Elite Films. Here is the list of films so far,

1 Avatar - $2,726.9 - 2009
2 Titanic - $1,843.2 - 1997
3 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - $1,119.1 - 2003
4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest - $1,066.2 - 2006
5 The Dark Knight - $1,001.9 - 2008
6 Alice in Wonderland - $1,000.1 - 2010

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Awk I feel like a spoil sport and I know Avatar and Titanic were alright movies and inivitive in terms of special effects but it makes me a bit sad to think they're the most elite. In a way, the obviously deserve to be but it doesn't really work for me.

Awh well, LOTR ftw!

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wow , guess i need to see this because it does not look like it belongs with the others

I saw that news item earlier today too, and I think the phrase "elite group" was used by the press simply to mean "the only ones" to have sold a billion bucks in tickets.

Stories like that don't do anything to move my opinions about what I like and what I value. These are relatively recent movies that have benefited by higher ticket prices, DVD sales, merchandising, and the like. I don't think the sales numbers are indicative of anything more than the way movies are financed these days. Other movies have sold more tickets over the years.

In the end, I just likes what I likes.

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Titanic is definately the best of that group, IMO

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I would say it's the worst, but I recently saw Alice in Wonderland.

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My ratings on grade and position

1 The Dark Knight - A-
2 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - A-
3 Alice in Wonderland - B+
4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest - B
5 Avatar - B-
6 Titanic - F

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I would have never thought to include my grades here because there are so many movies which have earned more money, at least domestically, adjusted for inflation and ticket price changes (which far exceed inflation). Old movies used to make some cool change around the world but nothing like the set-up which is available now. So, anyway, just so people can lower my "taste" in movies, here goes.

TRotK - A+
The Dark Knight - A-
Titanic - A-
Avatar - B (high side but not quite a B+)
DMC - B-
Alice in Wonderland - Saw this week; B-

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Avatar will eventually be surpassed by the next Cameron movie, or whichever flick manages to use 4D technology first.

To me there are many many other films worthy of making that sort of take. These 6 movies were good , but only 1 made it into my top 50 and that being The Return of the King.

Don't feel too bad; they're only the best nominally. I'm sure you know this already, but it's worth mentionting: when you factor inflation in (to say nothing of the availability of IMAX and 3D surcharges), neither is anywhere near as successful as they appear. This is why box office records are so regularly broken.

Both successful, no doubt, but the "elite" box office films are largely those which have the good fortunate of being released most recently.

The one, to me, that feels out of place is Alice in Wonderland.

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Agreed. It's the IMAX/3D prices, combined with a very strong international gross, that I think creates the disparity between how it seems in North America (a strong hit) and how it seems all over (runaway success).

If they include the price of popcorn and drinks in the tally, the billion-dollar mark would be passed by only 1 theatre during the first weekend!

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Amen to that.

What would happen if we adjusted the grosses for inflation?

Gone with the Wind sold over 200 million tickets, Star Wars almost 180 million. Avatar sold about 96 million tickets. These are domestic figures, but it still shows things with a little more perspective.

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Great post

All time USA grosses adjusted for ticket price inflation:

1. Gone With The Wind: $1,606,254,800
2. Star Wars: $1,416,050,800
3. The Sound of Music: $1,132,202,200
4. E.T.: $1,127,742,000
5. The Ten Commandments: $1,041,450,000
6. Titanic: $1,020,349,800
7. Jaws: $1,018,226,600
8. Doctor Zhivago: $986,876,900
9. The Exorcist: $879,020,900
10. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: $866,550,000

Avatar ranks as the 14th highest grossing.

Not that this really matters, it's today's money that counts. It just shows that there are movies that were a LOT more popular than Avatar.

Thats really interesting, nice one for posting it Brodinski

Gone With The Wind is always the runaway winner when you factor in inflation. It's also worth noting that the gap between GWTW and Star Wars was more before the re-release/Special Editions.

In one of those "Top 100" lists that tv is so fond of over here, I seem to recall that Random Harvest was the 2nd or 3rd most popular film over here, based on ticket sales. That was quite an interesting list, actually, as it included a good few 'forgotten' films like that.