The following are six ways to respond to disappointments:

1. Reflect. I know this seems very unpractical and I am all about taking action but sometimes we need to stop and think about how we got to where
we got to in the first place. Reflecting allows us to see where we could have made a difference and where circumstances beyond our control simply
got the best of us. Reflecting, in some sense, can give us closure.

2. Do something active. I know this may seem silly but exercise does give you endorphins. (When you exercise, your body releases chemicals
called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a
positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine) The mere release of emotions from being physically active is also healthy for you. Freedom
from frustration in disappointments is sometimes found in a 5-mile run or an hour strength-training session or yoga or swimming or just talking a
long walk somewhere.

3. Get (more) spiritual. Well, I’m Catholic so for me daily mass is pretty much available if I ever just feel my spirit is restless. Taking all the
institutionalization aside, one of the places I truly find peace of mind is in church. I know people may disagree, but I think spirituality is very
important, however once chooses to practice it. And when you’re disappointed, your soul needs food. Feed it.

4. Do something of service. It may seem pretentious to want to give to others when you feel disappointed. But I think serving others reminds us all
that however much we think we have, we are all ultimately in want, sometimes in need. And that is humbling. Moreover, when we serve those who
are not as fortunate as we are, we understand that our disappointments are really not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

5. Take a day off. Sometimes we need a day off especially if it just seems little disappointments keep knocking us to the ground. Many of us are
much stronger than we think but there are days we will have where even getting out of bed seems like too much to ask. In our go-go society, we
obviously can’t have too many of these days. But if you need it, just take a day off and sleep and eat and be. You’re a human being not a machine.

6. Be with someone you love. Facing disappointments can be hard if we’re doing them alone. Whether it’s calling your parents who will always
remind you of how wonderful you are or calling a good friend who you can viciously vent to or being held by a significant other, you’re reminded
that whatever you’re facing, someone out there loves you and is rooting for you. And with that, take your disappointments in your stride and let
them make you stronger but not bitter, better but not conceited, and always wanting to bring more love and goodness into the world despite
whatever pain life’s little disappointments might have left you with.
The 25 Most Influential Directors of All
Time
By Jennifer M. Wood on July 7, 2002
11
As time passes, new models inevitably emerge. In art, politics and history, each generation finds
its own heroes.
In the motion picture industry, though, is that really the case?
The innovators who shaped the art form are the ones still asserting
the most influence on moviemakers today. Or so says a stellar assembly
of directors, writers, actors, critics and others we polled with
this question: Who are the 25 most influential directors of all
time?
The question is an important one. Influence is defined as that intangible power which can affect a
person, thing or course of events. Many believe that motion pictures,
more than any other art form in the past century, have had a profound
influence on modern life. If one also accepts the generally held
premise that directors, more than any other creative force in the
film industry, are responsible for steering and shaping motion pictures,
then perhaps film directors as a group have had a vastly underestimated
effect on the way society thinks and behaves.
But who has had the most influence on other
directors, as well as the public? In the past 100 years,
which directors have made an indelible impact on our lives, and
on the face of the movie industry? In what ways have these directors
helped to define cinema as we know and see it today? With the help
of some of our most celebrated moviemakers and industry professionals,
we have counted down the directors who made the most difference—and
continue to do so today.
1. Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980)
Alfred Hitchcock did not invent modern cinema, but
for much of the past century he has defined it. Inarguably the
most imitated motion picture artist of all time, a slew of spine-tingling
hits including Rebecca, Rear Window, Vertigo and North
by Northwest brought international acclaim to the London-born
director, earning him the moniker “The Master of Suspense.”
While Hitchcock’s work certainly tended toward the
thrilling, it was not as much his ability to keep audiences on
the edge of their seats as it was to pull them out of their chairs
that made him a legend—drawing moviegoers into his films and challenging
the role of viewer as detached spectator. Widely hailed as his
masterpiece, 1960’s Psycho took audiences into the recesses
of a disturbed mind, making use of a fast-paced, adrenaline-inducing
editing style and a succession of POV shots. With a perfectly
measured combination of style and innovation and seamlessly blended
bits of humor and romance throughout his work, Hitchcock’s films
are a whole experience, usually playing upon a variety of human
emotions.
Though he was considered a legend in his own time,
making more than 65 films in a career that spanned over half a
century, the only Academy Award Hitchcock ever won for directing
was an honorary one given in 1976, when he made history once again
by uttering the briefest speech in Oscar history: “Thank you.”

2. D.W. Griffith (1875 – 1948)

There are two sides to every film—the story, and the
technique used to tell it. While success on both parts is the
test of any director’s talent, it’s not always the case that even
the most influential directors triumph on both counts. While the
techniques employed by D.W. Griffith serve as the foundation of
moviemaking, for many critics of cinema the stories he told are
now best forgotten.

Considered the father of modern moviemaking, Griffith

made over 450 short films while employed at American Biograph
in the early 1900s. With this prolificacy came the opportunity
to experiment with the mechanics of film. His collaborations with
cinematographer Billy Bitzer yielded the discovery of such editorial
innovations as crosscutting and flashbacks, elevating the medium
of film to one of true storytelling capabilities.

With 1915’s The Birth of a Nation, Griffith

made the film that would change his career. Though audiences poured
into theaters to see it, the film’s overt racism and heroic depiction
of the Ku Klux Klan were deemed inappropriate, and the film was
banned in eight states. Though the controversy continues today
(in 1999, the Directors Guild of America renamed the D.W. Griffith
Award, their highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, citing
that Griffith “helped foster intolerable racial stereotypes”),
there is no denying his impact on the industry.
Says critic David Sterritt: “He made many a bad
movie, and his career petered out when his storytelling sense
failed to keep pace with his formal ingenuity—and with new generations
of spectators bored by the Victorian formulas he obstinately mistook
for real experience. Still, his name remains solidly linked with
techniques and devices taken for granted to this day, from the
artful use of close-ups and flashbacks to the complexities of
parallel editing and multiple narrative. His most ingenious movies,
from the best Biograph shorts to features like Intolerance and the notorious Birth of a Nation,
remain a source of
ideas and inspiration for open-minded auteurs as different as
Oliver Stone and Wong Kar-Wai, to mention just two who have clearly
benefited from his brilliance.”
3. Orson Welles (1915 – 1985)
What D.W. Griffith invented, Orson Welles perfected.
With no previous film experience, Welles was given a contract
with RKO Pictures (that included final cut) when his 1938 “War
of the Worlds” broadcast sent radio listeners into a state of
panic. The result: Citizen Kane, the most studied film
in history of cinema.
Unlike the innovators before him, the techniques
employed by Welles and his Kane team (including DP Gregg
Toland and editor Robert Wise) seem contemporary even by today’s
standards. The film’s unique cinematography, accomplished through
the use of a “deep focus” lens created by Toland specifically
for the film, reevaluated the impact a single image could have.
Bringing every person, prop and nuance of a scene into focus,
deep focus widened the canvas on which Welles could paint his
picture, so that each viewing could offer up something new for
the audience.
For the larger part of his post-Kane career
Welles floundered. He pushed several ideas to various stages of
development, but ran into walls each time when he couldn’t find
the financial backing. Though a pariah in Hollywood, Welles has
continued to influence each new crop of moviemakers, regardless
of genre. Documentarians Albert and David Maysles were struck
by Welles’ philosophy of film when they spent a week with him
in Madrid in the early 1960s. Their nine-minute recording of that
time shows Welles talking about an upcoming project (that would
become The Other Side of the Wind). He tells the
Maysles that “Some of the greatest moments in film have been divine
accidents.” Recalls Albert today, almost 30 years after the taping,
“As documentarians, that hit us right between the eyes. I’ve always
remembered that.”
Regardless of the place he came to hold in an industry
always looking for the next big thing, the interminable influence
of Citizen Kane is no accident. Even if Welles’ legacy
is defined by that first brilliant film, the influence of Kane is so vast that the director’s place in
film history is guaranteed
for the generations to come. Each viewing of Citizen Kane yields
a new cinematic innovation and a deeper understanding of a genius
at work.
4. Jean-Luc Godard (1930 -)
He wasn’t the first of the French New Wave directors,
but he was the most celebrated. His 1960 film Breathless heralded
a new kind of moviemaking—one that was free from studio constraints
and continues to permeate the very heart of independent film today.
Armed with an exhaustive knowledge of film history
and a 16mm camera, Godard gave permission to later moviemakers
to break the rules when it came to story, structure and process.
Says Toronto Film Festival Director Piers Handling: “Godard challenged
the accepted notions of how a film was constituted. His innovations
included jump cuts, direct address to camera, the long take, disjunction
of sound and image and an innovative use of the actor—all of which
have become completely integrated in a variety of ways into contemporary
film, music videos and commercials. His famous statement ‘A film
should have a beginning, a middle and an end—but not necessarily
in that order’ revealed his modus operandi. He had an enormous
influence on the emerging national cinemas of the ’60s in Latin
America, Africa and Eastern Europe, and no major filmmaker in
America or Europe could ignore his radical challenge to established
film grammar. Quentin Tarantino named his production company A
Band Apart after Godard’s Bande à part, while Aki and Mika
Kaurismäki’s unit was called Villealfa after Alphaville.
Jason Kliot, of Open City Pictures and Blow Up Films,
puts it more succinctly: “Godard to modern film is what Picasso
is to modern art—the ultimate daredevil and pioneer, the man who
had no fear, the man willing
to try anything in any genre and push it to its limits.”

5. John Ford (1894 – 1973)

John Ford was a man of few words. Honest and straightforward
in personality and technique, he was an all-American director
who influenced a diverse slate of moviemakers from Martin Scorsese
to Satyajit Ray. With film school not an option
until much later in the 20th century, John Ford’s films became
moviemaking class for budding directors the world over.

Ford was one of the most prolific directors in the

history of cinema, and one of the few to be just as successful
in the silent era as he was in the talkies. Though many consider
his crowning achievement to be The Searchers, nearly his
entire filmography attests to his genius. Primarily remembered
for his westerns, Ford tried—and succeeded—at various genres. Stagecoach and The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are
considered great westerns, but his romance The Quiet Man, his
adaptation of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and his
documentaries The Battle of Midway and December 7th were also widely revered.
Technically, Ford was the master of the long shot.
His long, sweeping epics helped establish setting as a primary
character. Says director Allison Anders: “For me the impact of
seeing John Ford’s westerns was the use of space and American
landscape. And presenting the land itself as powerful as it is
on the screen, he was forced to also reveal several things: American
mythology, the existential condition of the individual and, eventually
and inevitably, the relationship of the Native American to the
land we call America. That impact—his use of space and landscape
and how that alone spoke volumes for the core of the American
experience and myth—continues to be felt in every filmmaker who
attempts to create a film about non-urban America.”

6. Stanley Kubrick (1928 – 1999)

Unlike other directors whose backgrounds are pulled
apart to create a psychological profile meant to better understand
their work, Stanley Kubrick never let on much about his past.
His interest was based on aesthetics, making his contribution
to the cinema relatively undiluted. And yet it was his confessional
style that revealed vulnerability: he was using film to express
emotion, and did so better than any contemporary director. Rather
than have the audience watch an experience, Kubrick invited
them to be part of it. Audiences felt the exhilaration of space
travel gone awry with 2001, were horrified by the violence
entrenching “their” city in A Clockwork Orange, experienced
the psychosis of desolation in The Shining and tasted the
appeal of adultery in Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick’s films are
not voyeuristic: they’re all-sensory adventures. But his films
at not always love at first sight, either. Deeply layered in metaphorical
meaning, they often require a certain digestion period—if not
a second viewing—to fully realize their implications. Says editor
Steve Hamilton: “[Kubrick is] the master of big (really big) budget
art movies.”
Though he worked in many different genres, tackling
horror, sci-fi, literary adaptations and war with just as much
ingenuity, Kubrick never made a straight ‘genre’ film. Like the
work of Hitchcock, Kubrick’s work displayed a full range of emotion.
What could be horrifying one moment could become bitingly funny
the next. His work was too complex to fit neatly into any one
category, and he went about reinventing each new genre he touched,
in essence making “A Kubrick Film” its very own label.

7. Sergei Eisenstein (1898 – 1948)

With only seven completed films on his resume, Sergei
Eisenstein’s influence may stem more from his theories—both written and
demonstrated—on the possibilities of film than from his body of
work itself. Released 10 years after The Birth of a Nation,
Eisenstein’s landmark The Battleship Potemkin was directly
inspired by Griffith’s advancement of the medium.
Potemkin’s 10-minute Odessa steps sequence
is one of the most powerful testaments to the importance of editing
and montage in film, and to the emotion such devices are capable
of rendering. Brian De Palma “borrowed” the scene directly for
1987’s The Untouchables, when Elliot Ness and his men confront
a group of Al Capone’s associates at a train station.
Intended as a showcase for montage editing, Potemkin was just that. But when the
rest of the world wanted to know
more, Eisenstein was forced to reveal his secrets. Though his
discoveries are often overlooked as a basic part of moviemaking,
Eisenstein’s theories continue to affect the changing world of
motion pictures.
Says critic J. Hoberman “As the best known of the
Soviet montage theorists, Eisenstein has come to stand for the
powerful (and basic) notion that cinematic meaning is a factor
of editing—specifically the dynamic juxtaposition that is only
possible with movies. In his writings, Eisenstein argued that
it was possible to use montage scientifically to direct an audience
to think and/or feel in a particular way. He not only anticipates
propagandists of all political persuasions, but also Alfred Hitchcock
(and his multitude of followers), as well as the makers of TV
commercials and theatrical trailers.”

Though each of his films employed the same techniques

as Potemkin, it only took that one film for Eisenstein
to claim his place in cinema history. Alongside Griffith and Welles,
Eisenstein is one of the major contributors to moviemaking technique,
using innovation to heighten the audience’s visual and emotional
relationship to film.
8. Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977)
In the transition from silent films to talking pictures,
there were few survivors. Charlie Chaplin was an exception to
the rule. As both actor and director, he was one of Hollywood’s
first superstars, drawing record number audiences to the theater—and
bridging the gap that existed between entertainment for children
and adults.

But Chaplin also succeeded in making movies with

meaning. As a physical comedian, he stands as one of history’s
greatest, with the ability to express an extensive range of emotions
without the benefit of words. At the same time, Chaplin aimed
to say something with his movies, to talk about social
and political injustices, but with a sugar coating to attract
the largest audience. He’s still doing so, informing the work
of everyone from Woody Allen to midnight movie king Lloyd Kaufman.
Says Kaufman, “I don’t know about other contemporary
filmmakers, but Chaplin certainly influenced my movies. It is
no coincidence that the Toxic Avenger’s ‘significant other,’ Sarah,
is blind—City Lights is the obvious source. I could write
a book about how Chaplin has influenced my movies, scripts, characters
and themes.”
Not content to work around studio restrictions,
Chaplin also pioneered the role of director as businessman. Continues
Kaufman “Instead of being exploited by a studio as a contracted
director like fellow geniuses Buster Keaton and Preston Sturges,
Chaplin owned all his movies and benefited from the revenue derived
from them.” Chaplin also saw the potential for a relationship
between merchandising and film, emblazoning the image of The Little
Tramp on clothing and toys—making a fortune and leading the way
for future director-moguls like George Lucas.

9. Federico Fellini (1920 – 1993)

In a country marked by the documentary-like films
of the neorealism directors, it could be considered ironic that
Italy’s most famous director is one teeming with surrealism. But
Federico Fellini is not so far removed from the work of Vittorio
De Sica, Luchino Visconti and the neorealists before him: Fellini
began his career as a writer, collaborating with Roberto Rossellini
on the scripts for Paisan and Open City, two landmarks
of the movement. But the inspiration for his own work came from
life experience.
Fellini’s brief stint with a circus and early work
as a caricaturist and cartoonist certainly informed his playful
style. Though anchored in personal history, the impetus for his
work was based more on his dreams—both waking and sleeping—than
in any sort of day-to-day reality. As such, Fellini’s work is
marked by a chimerical quality where everything and everyone is
big and exaggerated. Yet, for the most part, his stories were
quite accessible, helping him attain his status as a true visionary.

Unlike other directors who dared to be different

by executing a new kind of simplicity, the work of Fellini magnified
and enlarged all that had been attempted in cinema before. Though
many have tried to imitate his style, his vision is too large
to duplicate. The most one can hope for is to be deemed “Fellini esque.”
10. Steven Spielberg (1946 – )
The “blockbuster” originated in 1976, when Steven
Spielberg’s Jaws packed a record number of moviegoers into
theaters around the country. Ever since, studios have been scrambling
to one up each other for bragging rights at the box office.
More than 25 years after Jaws, Spielberg
continues to deliver more big-budget successes than any other
director, remaining prolific and popular at the same time. Probably
the most bankable moviemaker working today, of the five highest
grossing films of all time, two bear his directorial stamp. But
success does have a price tag. For Spielberg, it’s the pressure
of appealing to the largest possible audience, which occasionally
means having to compromise. Though his Schindler’s List is no doubt
one of cinema’s most powerful documents, films
like the Indiana Jones series and Jurassic Park exemplify
“entertainment” in its purest form.
Says MM’s Rustin Thompson: “It’s unfortunate that
the blockbuster mentality that has gripped the movie industry
since the summer of Jaws has superseded the influence of
Spielberg’s talents. His craft has always been deft and elegant,
but in recent years, buoyed by the knowledge that he can get away
with just about anything, his films have been self-indulgent,
lazy and sentimental. None of his post-’70s work bears up under
scrutiny; none of it has the exuberant economy of Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws or Close
Encounters
of the Third Kind. It’s sad to realize that the very freedoms
that allowed him to make those films have been bigfooted by today’s
box office myopia. His influence cannot not be found in a director’s
homage to classic Spielberg manipulations of light and off-screen
space in Close Encounters, his precocious use of foreground
in Duel, nor in the precise editing of the beach scenes
in Jaws. Instead, one need only look at the ads for the
latest dumb, must-see, comic-book extravaganza to realize the
monster—much more voracious than a great white—that Spielberg
quite unintentionally created.”
11. Martin Scorsese (1942 – )
Part of the “new Hollywood” generation that emerged
in the 1970s, Martin Scorsese is at the forefront of contemporary
cinema, certainly one of the living masters, able to easily infuse
a strong dose of reality into each installment of his work. His
work measures the difference—both geographically and mentally—between
Hollywood and New York.

Scorsese elevates the Freudian needs of sex and

aggression to a heightened sensibility. He does not glorify violence,
but he does beautify it. It would be hard to argue that the boxing
scenes from Raging Bull aren’t some of the most exquisite
caught on film. And the haunting conclusion to Taxi Driver is memorable not just for the actions
that take place, but
for the perfectly rendered image of insanity and disillusionment—a
visual expression of a societal contention.
Though most often associated with his work in the
gangster genre with films like Mean Streets and GoodFellas, it is not the intense action that
makes Scorsese’s films so
immensely watchable. Whether immediately recognizable or not,
it is the spirit of his films as much as the visual stimulation
that appeals to audiences. Says writer-director Jim McKay: “He’s
one of the few veteran directors who has kept his passion and
his artistic curiosity at the forefront. Decades into his craft,
he’s still exploring, learning and taking chances. His work, unfortunately,
affects today’s moviemakers much more in the stylistic realm (copycats
pay “homage” to the grit, attitude and technical flair) than in
the spiritual and artistic realm, which is where, I think, his
brilliance lies.”
12. Akira Kurosawa (1910 – 1998)
One need look no further than John Sturges’ The
Magnificent Seven (based on The Seven Samurai), Sergio
Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (a remake of Yojimbo)
or George Lucas’s Star Wars (inspired by Hidden Fortress)
to give credit where it’s due.
In a Time remembrance at Akira Kurosawa’s
death, director Zhang Yimou said that “Other filmmakers have more
money, more advanced techniques, more special effects. Yet no
one has surpassed him.”
Says Facets’ Ray Privett, “Kurosawa
was one of the first ‘foreign’ filmmakers whose work
I encountered. His drawing on texts I already knew— Macbeth,
King Lear and so forth—provided an entry point into a rich
and dynamic body of work. But his situating of these texts in
a world I didn’t know—Japan—helped me reach beyond familiar reference
points in my cinephilia.”
Such is the mystery of Kurosawa: a man who made
films in his native Japan, but was more greatly appreciated in
the west. He made movies for the people of his country, but was
criticized for alienating Japanese audiences. He was a director
revered in America when relatively few of his 30 films ever made
it to the continent. Yet he remains one of our greatest storytellers,
mastering the art of effecting a cultural tale with worldwide
significance.

13. Ingmar Bergman (1918 – )

With a team of regular collaborators,
including actress Liv Ullmann and cinematographer Sven Nykvist,
Ingmar Bergman brought the raw emotion of the stage to film, enchanting
audiences around the globe. Working first as a playwright, Bergman’s
unflinching interest in the pathos of his characters transcended
language, affording him one of the most respected careers in cinema
history.

Autobiographical in nature, his films display keen

observations of the human condition, whether dealing in comedy
or drama. Bergman’s scripts are intellectual and introspective,
allowing a stellar group of actors to display more range in one
performance than other actors have in their entire careers. Ignoring
special effects, Bergman instead employed lighting as his tool
of choice. Through constant collaboration, he and Nykvist innovated
ways in which lighting could move the story forward: displaying
emotion and revealing the hidden secrets of the characters. He
easily transitioned the rules of theater to the medium of film,
donating a uniquely uncomplicated—albeit not easily duplicated—style
to the world of cinema.

As distributor Emily Russo says, “Bergman is quite

simply an extraordinarily gifted artist; his originality blazed
a trail and left an indelible mark on the cinematic landscape
which continues to inspire and be emulated by countless filmmakers
who follow him today. His concerns reached the depths of human
emotion and spirit and proved to be universal in their language.
No serious list of influential directors can fairly omit him.”
14. John Cassavetes (1929 – 1989)
In his introduction to The Films of John Cassavetes:
The Adventures of Insecurity, BU Film Professor and Cassavetes
enthusiast Ray Carney asks: “Do any American feature films work
harder to prevent viewers from reclining into their La-Z-Boys
of the imagination? Cassavetes’ scenes deliberately swerve away
from dependable courses and outcomes. Every time a scene is about
to congeal into a predictable tone, Cassavetes will give it a
stir; every time a relationship is about to stabilize, he’ll give
it a push. Just when the audience thinks it’s figured out the
relationship between two characters, a new piece of information
or an emotional adjustment forces viewers to reevaluate everything.”
Therein lies the inspiration in Cassavetes’ work, and the reason
why his films never reached the wider consciousness of mainstream
moviegoers: they require work.
Taking a cue from the French New Wave, Cassavetes
could well be crowned the pioneer of the American independents.
A successful Hollywood actor, he used the money he received from
his television and film acting gigs to finance his first foray
into film, 1960’s Shadows. Shot on 16mm without a script,
the film touched upon many social taboos of the day, most notably
that of interracial relationships.
Though seemingly chaotic, his films are meant to
represent the true range of human emotions. His films require
patience, just like real life. He favored actors as the rulers
on set, letting their emotions get the best of them and taking
the story where they wanted it to go. In doing so, he created
some of the most realistic stories in contemporary cinema, and
the most genuine characters—flaws and all—in the history of film.

15. Billy Wilder (1906 – 2002)

It could be considered ironic that Hollywood’s most
beloved writer-director was actually born in Austria, never speaking the
English language until he came to America in the 1930s. But perhaps
it was his outsider perspective that made him such a keen observer
of American behavior. With a slate of films, covering all genres,
Wilder set his wit loose on America, and we have yet to recover.
Few have managed to match his success in the business, nor his
dedication to the occupation. Up until his recent passing, Wilder
continued to go to his office each day and work on new ideas.

Says MM Editor at Large Phillip Williams: “In film

after film—Lost Weekend, Stalag 17, Double Indemnity, Sunset
Boulevard, The Apartment—Billy Wilder got audiences to fall
in love with characters that, on a good day, might be considered
loveable losers. The Wilder leading man—whether fallen drunk,
cynical opportunist, kept writer or lovesick accountant—was always
digging himself out of some self-generated pit. [His characters
were] fully human and fully realized”. They were also wholly American.
16. Jean Renoir (1894 – 1979)
Never did the worlds of art and film collide as
closely—or literally—than in the work of Jean Renoir. Employing
the same masterful visual stimuli as his father, Auguste Renoir,
did in his paintings, Jean Renoir discovered that simple adjustments
to lighting, location, focus and camera angle could add new and
exciting dimensions to a film. Selling some of his father’s paintings
to finance his work, Renoir was a renegade moviemaker—too far
ahead of his time to be fully appreciated.

Though he’s best known for Grand Illusion, about

a WWI prisoner camp, Renoir’s most powerful work was probably The Rules of the Game, a
satirical take on a high-society
country weekend, originating the vein in which films like The
Celebration and
Gosford Park have been created.
Says Slamdance Film Festival founder Peter Baxter:
“Renoir is film’s great humanist. His perspective trapped the
essence of the real world for the spectator—a human viewpoint
that integrated actors, objects and space that expressed the relationship
between individuals and society as one mutual tie-in.”

17. Francis Ford Coppola (1939 – )

Though in recent years he seems to have settled
comfortably into the role of director-for-hire, in the 1970s,
Francis Ford Coppola was responsible for almost single-handedly
resurrecting genres that had long been considered dead by Hollywood
decision-makers. First with The Godfather and The Godfather
Part II, he brought the gangster genre back to life, infusing
it with humanity and paving the way for such later films as Martin
Scorsese’s GoodFellas and Casino. Though war films
had seen a bit of a resurgence with Michael Cimino’s The Deer
Hunter and Hal Ashby’s Coming Home, Coppola’s Apocalypse
Now was the one film that confronted the act of war and its
effect on those involved. It was Apocalypse, more than
any other film, the allowed directors like Oliver Stone to make Platoon and Born on the Fourth of
July in the following
decade.
18. Howard Hawks (1896 – 1977)
In a time when the studios called the shots, Howard
Hawks proved that you could still be successful even if you didn’t
play by the rules. As a novice director, he signed on with Fox
Films to direct, but learned that the seemingly mandatory studio
contract was one reason many directors and actors were being pigeonholed
into certain genres, expiring early in Hollywood. Hawks refused
to be put into such a position, and made sure his first contract
was the only one he ever signed.

As a result, he proved to be one of the industry’s

most versatile directors, genre-jumping throughout his career,
almost always to great success. Though he is often associated
with the screwball comedy—with films like Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday—Hawks was just
as at home with
film noir (The Big Sleep), westerns (Red River),
gangster films (Scarface), war movies (Sergeant York)
and literary adaptations (To Have and Have Not).
19. François Truffaut (1932 – 1984)
Though generally considered less important than
Godard in the French New Wave brigade, François Truffaut kicked
off the movement when The 400 Blows premiered at Cannes in 1959. Originally entering the
industry
as a critic with the influential journal Cahiers du Cinema, Truffaut published the infamous (and industry-

changing) article

“A Certain Tendency in the French Cinema” during his tenure. The

article caused a stir among film critics and theorists—claiming
that true innovation in film would only be achieved if the director
asserted him/herself as the driving force behind it.
Not one to hide behind his words, Truffaut set about
proving his theory, creating the autobiographical The 400 Blows.
Like many other directors cited here, the enormous—and immediate—triumph
of his freshman effort proved a difficult feat to live up to in
later years. Though he had enormous success with such later films
as Jules and Jim, Day for Night, Farenheit 451 and The
Last Metro, the style he had helped to pioneer had become
commonplace by the time his later efforts arrived, reducing Truffaut
to—like many cinema innovators—constantly having to defend his
later works.
20. Buster Keaton (1895 – 1996)
It is difficult to make mention of Buster Keaton
without also mentioning his biggest rival, Charlie Chaplin, as
their intended demographic was essentially the same. But even
in the 1920s, audiences were split between the two camps. Those
who know both of the comedians’ work know that, though the on-screen
image was similar, their methodology and intentions were completely
different. Born into a family of vaudevillians, Keaton was first
put on the stage as a child, becoming the third player in his
parents’ act, which revolved around disciplining a misbehaved
young boy.
In 1917, Keaton moved from stage to screen, starring
in a slate of Fatty Arbuckle shorts, and bringing the physical
comedy that had been instilled with him. But unlike Chaplin, Keaton
was willing to take physical risks for his comedy, performing
all of his own (often life-threatening) stunts, including jumping
onto a moving train and setting up a house to fall on top of him,
all in pursuit of a laugh.

Says actor Bruce Campbell: “Buster was the ballsiest

of all the silent era guys, bar none. His genius was very simple:
he used the magic of movies to showcase his outrageous physical
abilities better that anyone else. It’s one thing to be a great
physical comedian, but it’s another thing to know how to capture
that on film."

21. Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976)

Though he backed out as the director of The Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari, his work on the script and subsequent directorial
efforts bear the imprint of a pioneer in the world of German expressionism.
Lang was able to make the leap from silent films to talkies unharmed,
and further managed to shape the history of film in two countries—in
Lang’s case, Germany and America.
Long before the term was coined, Lang was making
some of the greatest film noirs ever to exist, including The
Blue Gardenia (1953), Human Desire (1954) and While
the City Sleeps (1956). Interest in Lang’s work further increased
when his landmark sci-fi film, Metropolis, was re-released
in the 1980s—this time pitted against a contemporary rock soundtrack.
Even without the aid of dialogue, Lang preferred to tell stories
on a grand scale—epic fantasies and horrific legends—and did so
easily within the limitations of the technology. He was resourceful
and ahead of his time.
22. John Huston (1906 – 1987)
Says writer-director Mika Kaurismäki of
the life of John Huston: “John Huston’s film career lasted at
least 57 years, more than the half of the first century of cinema.
He started acting at the end of the 1920s, writing scripts in
the beginning of the ’30s, and made his directorial debut in 1941
with the excellent The Maltese Falcon, that renewed the
whole genre of detective films. The Asphalt Jungle is one
of the classics of film noir; it inspired many directors, including
Kubrick, who five years later made The Killing and Jean-Pierre
Melville, who said that it was the most important American film
of all time.
Huston was able to change with time and some of
his later films (Fat City, The Life and Times of the
Judge Roy Bean, Wise Blood and Prizzi’s Honor)
were absolutely modern films that achieved the critical acclaim
normally associated with promising
debut filmmakers. He was a painter, boxer, bullfighter, poet,
hunter, soldier, gambler and filmmaker. He adored life and took
risks. This can be seen in his films; no genre was impossible
for him. The African Queen, Moulin Rouge, Moby Dick, The Misfits,
Freud, The Night of the Iguana, The Bible, Casino Royale, Reflections
in a Golden Eye, The Man Who Would be King are just a few
examples of his range.
Huston was a storyteller whose films were always
both well conceived and strongly character-driven, even to the
extent that his ‘directorial style’ was often invisible. As James
Agee says: “a wonderful breath of fresh air, light, vitality and
freedom goes through every one of his issues/47/images.”

23. Woody Allen (1935 – )

Woody Allen is one of the few directors who has
successfully turned imitation into an art form. With an encyclopedic
knowledge of film history and theory, Allen has used the discoveries
and innovations of some of cinema’s greatest masters to come up
with a conglomerate style of his very own.

His films combine the physical comedy of Chaplin

and cerebral wit of The Marx Brothers with the psychological exposition
of Bergman and the haphazard camera technique of Godard. He is
paradoxically comedic and intellectual—able to espouse his philosophical
or political beliefs in an entertaining way or choreograph a pratfall
just as easily. Though his films have rarely been moneymakers
in the United States, Allen is one of America’s most recognizable
directors, with an enormous following the world over.

Says screenwriter Alan Sereboff: “Quite simply,

Allen is 50 years into his film career and still making the movies
he wants to make, taking lessons from the finest that preceded
him in developing a style distinctly his own. Some of the more
influential directors on the list have become so at the price
of alienating a portion of their audience—such is the price of
genius. He has remained an auteur, true to himself and his audience.
And, perhaps most importantly, he made it okay for a writer to
be neurotic and successful.”
24. Luis Buñuel (1900 – 1983)
Though he chose moviemaking as opposed to fine art,
Luis Buñuel’s kinship with Salvador Dalí was evidenced in his
work, as he elevated surrealism in film to a new level. In fact,
it was this same friendship that would ultimately jumpstart Buñuel’s
career. With assistance from Dalí, he made his first film, the
short Un Chien Andalou. Praised for its surrealistic attributes,
it was with the support of various art patrons that Buñuel would
go on to make his feature debut with the scathing L’Age d’Or.
Unlike many other directors on this list, Buñuel’s
career would make its deepest impression in its latter part, beginning
with 1964’s Diary of Chambermaid, a film he made at the
age of 64. It would be followed by his most renowned—and austere—surrealistic
undertakings, including Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of
the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire, films
that combined the worlds of fantasy and reality, always leaving
viewers to anticipate the unexpected.
25. Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947)
“Hitchockian” and “Felliniesque” are two common
adjectives in the English language. But the one director
who left an entire phrase as part of his legacy is Ernst
Lubitsch.

Though some contend that “The Lubitsch Touch” was

a phrase concocted as a publicity stunt—an attempt to ‘brand’
the director and increase his popularity—the term stuck. It has
come to signify a certain bit of sophistication, wit and intelligence
in film, making it possible for a director not to bend the rules
of cinema, but find a way around them. Like Billy Wilder (whom
he collaborated with on Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife and Ninotchka), Lubitsch’s razor-sharp
observations of America were probably
due in large part to his standing as an outsider, having only
left his native Germany in 1922. Says writer-director Sherman
Alexie: “I wish his love of spoken language was more common in
contemporary movies. The people in his movies were so damn smart,
so clever, so biting and satiric, yet were capable of being foolish
and vain. I wish more movie directors used dialogue to convey
character, rather than relying on image and action.”
Sticking mainly to comedies, Lubitsch relied on
superb writing and strong actors to bring his stories
to life, leaving camera experimentation and tricks to others.
As a result, his “touch” is not seen in any heavy-handed visual
style, but rather in the overall emotion of such films as Trouble
in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be and Heaven Can Wait.
Whether the list provokes agreement or dissension,
it is meant to encourage serious discussion about film. It is
also meant as an educational tool. In the digital age, new movie
fans and moviemakers are often looking to be led where technology
takes them, resulting in an interest in film that is inclined
toward newer works. Yet cinematic innovation was equally—if not
more—present in cinema’s nascent years than it is today. While
time has passed, many of these landmark works have been forgotten
and pushed aside in the video stores for one of the 300 remaining
copies of the latest summer blockbuster. As a result, legendary
directors like John Ford, Sergei Eisenstein and Jean Renoir are
bypassed. Perhaps a survey such as this will spark a renewed interest
in the work of these and other pioneer artists.

Finally, reviewing film history’s influential people

and moments helps to put in perspective the current state of moviemaking—both
in America and abroad. The snapshot that emerged from our findings
tells us three important things: first, that the lack of diversity
in the 25 directors cited shows how far we need to go in incorporating
more women and other minorities into the film industry. The second
implication this list makes is that success—and influence—on the
industry is a matter of quality over quantity. The fact that Sergei
Eisenstein could crack the top 10—with only seven films to his
credit—proves that the momentum from one film alone can extend
generations into the future. And although Orson Welles, François
Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard have much larger filmographies, their
inclusion is due, in large part, to the impact of a single early
work.

Finally, and most importantly, the ordering shows

that the film industry is a place where anarchy rules. Studios
have always tried to lure all moviemakers into an established
“system,” but it is those who have decided to break the rules—the
true cinema mavericks—who have succeeded in being the most remembered
and revered. Many claim that the current state of moviemaking
is stagnant; it’s a statement that could be corroborated by the
current slate of sequels and remakes that are littering the box
office. But as the preceding list of directors proves, it’s in
the times of homogenization that true creativity often asserts
itself, leaving hope that the next great cinema renegade will
heed the call. MM

uly 10, 2016

How movies make money: $100m+

Hollywood blockbusters
 This is an article I have wanted to research and write for a long, long
time. I finally had a moment to sit down and crunch the numbers – I hope it helps in the understanding of
Hollywood economics. It’s a lengthy one, so grab a cup of tea.
Every six months or so, someone on my Facebook feed will share a list of “The Most Profitable Movies
of All Time”. These lists normally use the budget of the movie and the amount of money it collected in
cinemas worldwide to conclude how much “profit” the movies made. For example, “Paranormal Activity
cost $15,000, grossed $193 million and so made a profit 1,286,566%“. Another popular fallacy is that
when a movie with a $100 million budget crosses $100 million at the box office it is considered to
have “recouped”.
While I understand why people fall for such over-simplifications, they have no real connection with how
movies actually make money. Therefore, in an effort to demystify the film recoupment process I’m going
to write a few articles looking at how movies make a profit. In the coming weeks, I’ll look at movies with
smaller budgets but let’s start with the big ones – Hollywood blockbusters.
“We’re going to need a bigger boat”

Almost as long as there have been movies, Hollywood has relied on

huge-scale productions to bring in the big bucks. Movies like Gone With The Wind, Ben-
Hur and Cleopatra attracted large cinema audiences with a promise of cinematic spectacle.
However, the first ‘blockbuster’ in the modern sense was Jaws (1975). The film broke box office records
and created the modern summer blockbuster as we know it today. Its wide national release supported
by blitz advertising created the first ‘event movie’ and became the template for later blockbusters
including Star Wars (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial(1982).
In the past few decades, Hollywood studios have sought to perfect the model, and in so doing have
massively increased the cost of making and promoting such movies. Modern blockbusters are often
referred to as ‘tentpole movies’ as they represent the most important products in a studio’s release
calendar. As the films have grown, so too have the spoils on offer. Last year, Jurassic World earned a
whopping $1.67 billion in cinemas worldwide; quite a haul for a movie which cost $150 million to make.
But after they recouped the original budget, how much of the remaining $1.52 billion turns into profit?
For today’s data, I am using a dataset of 29 Hollywood blockbusters, all of which cost over $100 million
to make. The financial figures come from a few different sources within Hollywood studios, which I
discuss in the Epilogue section at the end of this article. For now, just know that these figures are real-
world, correct and relate to Hollywood movies released in the past ten years which cost over $100
million to make. (Note: The images and posters used in this article do not relate to the movies in my
dataset – I’ve picked them because they’re nice images which seem to fit in well with the text).

What’s the average cost of making and selling a Hollywood

blockbuster?

Before we can get to the numbers, here are some key phrases you’ll
need to know to understand Hollywood economics…
 Domestic – The release of the film in America and Canada, also known as “North America”.
 International – The release of the film in the rest of the world combined. In some cases,
studios will only have the rights to release a movie domestically, with another company picking up
the international rights (or vice verse). For example, Paramount have the rights to distribute The
Adventures of Tintin domestically while Sony controls the international rights.
 Theatrical – Relating to the cinema release (i.e. in movie theatres).
 Home Entertainment (or “Home Video” or “Home Ent”) – The release of the film on DVD, Blu-
Ray, previously VHS and online streaming services.
 Pay TV – Subscription television channels. In the UK this includes Sky Cinema and in the US
cable networks such as HBO.
 Free TV – Free to air television, typically either public service broadcasting or ad supported. In
the UK this includes the BBC and in the US ABC.
 Video on Demand (VOD) – Online streaming services (such as iTunes, Netflix and Amazon
Prime).
 Pay Per View (PPV) – An old form of VOD which is still active in some places involving the
viewer paying to watch an encrypted, scheduled transmission of the movie.
Ok, enough terminology – let’s start our journey into what Hollywood blockbusters cost and what they
make back.
The first huge cost – The budget

The starting point for working out the final costs of releasing a
movie is to look at how much it cost the studio to shoot the film (i.e. the film’s budget). In the industry,
this is often called the ‘Negative Cost’ as it’s the cost of producing the very first version of the film (which
used to be a film negative). This includes…

 Development – Getting to a final script

 Pre-production – Building a team and planning the shoot
 Production – Shooting the movie
 Post-production – Editing, visual effects, sound design and music.
It will include most of the cast and crew’s wages but probably not the full amount paid to key personnel,
such as the director or lead actors. These people may get additional money based on how well the film
performs (known as “Contingent Compensation”) or a share of the money leftover once all the bills are
paid (known as “Profit Participation”).
Budgets have been rising in recent decades, well above inflation. In the ten years between 1995 and
2004, there were 60 Hollywood movies released which cost over $100 million. In the following ten years
(2005-14) this rose to 197.

The studios found themselves in an ever-increasing spiral whereby blockbusters were getting more
expensive to make, meaning that they needed to spend more on marketing to offset the risk, which
meant they needed to ensure their films are the biggest of the season, which inflated the budgets and
the circle continues to turn.
Many feel that this cycle is not sustainable and a few years ago some industry watchers felt that a huge
crash was imminent (Steven Spielberg and George Lucas both predicted an industry ‘implosion’). In the
end, it seems that Hollywood has just reigned in spending with 2014 and 2015 having just 21 movies
apiece, far below 2011’s high of 34.

Discovering the size of a film’s budget

Although technically a secret, a film’s total budget often leaks out

and they are easy to find online (for example, Googling the phrase “Jurassic World budget” reveals that it
reportedly cost $150 million to make). The information available online is normally a mix of true figures
which have leaked and educated guesses by industry experts.
The studios often try to hide the true cost of a movie, in order to make themselves seem thriftier, smarter
or more in control than they actually are. I performed a quick check for the 29 blockbusters I have inside
data on compared with their budgets listed on Wikipedia. 90% of the films cost more than their
Wikipedia budget with only three costing less than is declared on Wikipedia.

So the average $100m+ Hollywood blockbuster actually cost $19 million more than is stated on
Wikipedia (i.e. 12.5% more).

For reference, the average budget for the blockbusters in my dataset was $150,567,000.
Other costs of making a movie

Releasing a Hollywood blockbuster involves far more than just

creating 90 to 120 minutes of footage. Some of the other costs involved in making and releasing a film
include…

 Marketing – It could be argued that success in the business of Hollywood blockbusters is more
dependent on the art of marketing than the art of filmmaking. This is the biggest category of costs
for a movie, outside of the budget. Most Hollywood blockbusters only have one or two weeks
when they are ‘The Big Movie’ in cinemas, so studios need to build and channel the awareness /
excitement for a movie to ensure that everyone goes to see it during this period.
 Prints – The physical copies of the films which are given to cinemas. Historically, they were on
35mm celluloid film but today most countries use a hard drive with a specially encoded digital
video file called a Digital Cinema Print (DCP). This hard drive has a huge copy of the film (10s or
100s of Gigabytes) and a tiny file which controls the permissions to the large video file. This
means that hard drives can be shipped to cinemas in advance, without worry that the film will be
viewed ahead of its official release. Complex permissions can be set, permitting screenings only
at certain times or on certain digital projectors. Also, copies of the film in other formats will need
to be created to give to third parties distributors and exhibitors, such as TV stations who broadcast
the film.
 Residuals – Unions for the cast and crew have agreed deals with Hollywood studios which
ensure that their members receive additional payments from the income the film generates.
 Financing costs – These can include costs involved with borrowing money to make the film
(interests and brokerage fees) and currency conversions (for overseas shoots).
 Overhead – Studios charge their own productions an overhead fee which covers the time studio
staff spend on the project, the costs of deals which apply to all films the studios make and the
benefit a production is regarded as receiving from operating under the studio brand. It may seem
strange to charge oneself money but these costs come off before “profit” is calculated, meaning
that productions which pay an overhead have smaller official profits, meaning that the studio has
smaller cheques to cut to people with profit participation deals. The old joke in Hollywood is that
the studios charge overhead on interest and interest on overhead (and if you find that funny you
really are down the rabbit hole of Hollywood economics!)
Looking at my dataset we can see the average costs breakdown below…
To give you a little more detail and context, below are some notes on each of the main cost areas…

Marketing costs

Is it often claimed that marketing a Hollywood movie can cost up to

twice of the cost of the film’s budget, however from the numbers above we can see that this is untrue.
Across my dataset of $100m+ movies, the average budget was $150.6 million and the average
combined marketing spend was $121.1 million (i.e. 81% of the budget).
When expressed as a percentage of the total costs involved with making and selling a movie, marketing
accounts for an average of 29% of costs. Across my dataset, the largest proportion of total costs going
towards marketing was 40% and the lowest was 24%. It seems that the larger a movie’s budget, the
smaller a percentage marketing makes of the total cost. While this may at first seem strange (we
normally associate bigger movies with having bigger marketing budgets), consider that even films on the
lower end of my dataset have budgets over $100 million and so their marketing efforts will be pulling no
punches. In short, once you make a movie over $100 million you’re already using saturation marketing
tactics so if you double a movie’s budget you can’t really double the marketing spend.

Physical delivery costs

The physical costs of creating and shipping prints to cinemas and

of creating and shipping physical media to stores account for an average of $67.8 million. Judging the
correct number of prints and units to manufacture is a key part of the planning done by the studios. If
they order too few then cinemas and stores will have to turn away customers in the all-important first
few weeks of release. If they over-order then their costs increase and they are left with annoyed cinema
owners and large quantities of unsold units. Most units are sold on a ‘Sale or Return’ basis meaning that
if studios over order then it’s their problem, not the stores.

In 2005, Dreamworks overestimated the number of Shrek 2 DVDs they would sell in the US by 5 million
units. This caused the studio to missing their quarterly earnings target by 25% and their shares fell as a
result.
Profit participation

The average $100m+ Hollywood blockbuster will spend $36.6

million on contingent compensation and profit participation. This typically goes to the key
‘creatives’ involved in making the film – namely the director, producer(s), writer(s) and key cast.

Giving these people a share of the income is a good way for the studio to hedge against poor box office
performance and it also defers the moment they have to pay up. Key talent often
seek ‘participation points’ as a way of increasing their income and to share the spoils if a film performs
much better than expected.
On the flipside, studios have got rather good at using creative accounting techniques to show that they
made a loss on paper in order to get out of paying such fees. In 2010, a leaked profit participation
report from the fifth Harry Potter film showed that two years after the film’s release, Warner Brothers
was claiming that the picture had lost $167 million. Other movies hit with such claims are the three Lord
of the Rings films (which combined grossed almost $3 billion in cinemas worldwide), My Big Fat Greek
Wedding, Spider-Man, Return of the Jedi, Coming To America, JFK, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Forest Gump, to
name but a few.
The movie in my dataset which gave the largest share of income to participants gave 18%. It’s worth
noting that participation isn’t always dependent on there being profits. As people get wise to the
studios’ game of creative accounting they are asking for more than just “a share of the profits”. The
biggest names will demand ‘First Dollar Gross‘ deals, which give them a share of every dollar earned,
calculated before costs are taken off. On average, the films which lost money in my dataset still paid out
5% of their income to participants (profitable films spent an average of 9% of their income on
participants).

How do Hollywood blockbusters earn money?

With each “$100m+” Hollywood blockbuster costing an average of $417 million to make, there had
better be some serious income to reach profitability. Fortunately, Hollywood is rather good at squeezing
every penny out of a movie, ensuring that the target customer is given many chances to pay to see it.
Before we look at the financial figures, let’s talk briefly about the journey a movie goes on to earn its
money.

Movies may start in cinemas but they are far from the only place they earn money. Each stage at which
a movie reaches a new type of platform (i.e. DVD, TV, etc) is called a “Release Window”. In recent years
release windows have shifted around (including the elimination of a previously-profitable exclusive
window called “Video Rental” – remember renting a VHS at Blockbusters, anyone?) but most Hollywood
movies follow the same path.
 Theatrical – Once you’ve gone to the time and expense of
creating a blockbuster you’ll want to ensure you pick a release timetable which maximises possible
returns and so studios carefully plan each movie’s release strategy. Studios announce their cinema
release dates way in advance in order to claim coveted release spots, such as Warner Brothers
who announced a release date for their superhero movie ‘Cyborg‘ 1,411 days ahead of time (it’s out
in America on 3rd April 2020). I don’t have time to go into the cinema scheduling patterns of
blockbusters here but I have written about release calendars in the
past stephenfollows.com/hollywood-movie-release-pattern.
 Airlines and Hospitality – After the theatrical window, the movie will appear on airlines and
premium Pay Per View (PPV) services such as in hotels. If you’re rather well-off then you can get
access to this release window by forking out$35,000 for a Prima box and $500 per 24-hour movie
rental. However, most of us mere mortals need to wait for the all-important third window – Home
Entertainment.
 ‘Home Entertainment’ used to be split into a rental window and then a retail window, however
currently they tend to appear on shelves at the same time. The length of time between the
 Theatrical and Home Entertainment windows is a hot topic in the industry. Studios want to reduce
the time it takes for movies to move from cinemas to stores in order to capitalise on marketing
efforts and to make sure the DVD is on sale when the movie is still fresh in the minds of
consumers. However, cinemas saw what happened to the rental window (which was chipped away
to nothing, leading to the destruction of the video rental store industry) and so they guard their
exclusive period viciously. In 2015, the average release window between theatrical and Home
Entertainment was 3 months and 23 days.

 Video on Demand is the new hope which the industry is

counting on to replace falling DVD income. Research I conducted last year, showed that the
amount of time between the DVD and VOD release of the top 100 grossing movies has fallen
considerably in recent years. In 2009, VOD consumers had to wait an average of 74 days after the
DVD release but by 2014 this had fallen to just 14 days.
 Television is the largest single source of income for British films, mostly thanks to the collapse
of the DVD market in recent years (see more on this in my article from January this
year stephenfollows.com/television-income-for-films). Hollywood studios agree details with
broadcasters called ‘Overall Deals’ (also called ‘Output deals’) which cover all of their movies over
a certain period for a fixed, pre-agreed fee. This gives the studios a reliable income and gives the
 broadcasters a steady supply of hot new content which their rivals can’t screen. At first, movies
appear on premium channels (known as ‘Pay TV’), then they move their way to free-to-air channels
and finally end up in Syndication on minor digital channels. Some premium Pay TV channels pay
extra for the rights to screen a movie before it’s available on DVD or VOD and so the studios will be
careful to craft a release pattern which maximises income.
 Merchandising – A final major source of income for Hollywood Blockbusters is ‘Consumer
Products’ (or merchandising). This involves the studios licencing the rights to use aspects of the
movie’s world (such as characters, items and places). An offshoot of this is Product
Placement where the studios charge brands to feature their products in the movie. Sometimes this
will appear as cash in the income of a movie but more often it’s a way of saving money within the
film’s budget or getting access to requirement elements for free (such as Michael Bay’s deal with
Ford who supply 100s of cars to destroy for each of his exposition-heavy crash-fests).

How much money do Hollywood blockbusters make?

Using my dataset of $100 million+ movies, I can share how much each of the sources of income
contribute towards the bottom line.
 Theatrical is the largest income driver for films, although
not the most profitable. The average movie in my dataset grossed $129.9 million domestically (i.e.
the US and Canada) and $243.3 million internationally (i.e./ everywhere else), leading to a total box
office gross of $373.2 million. This is the figure you will hear reported on the news (i.e. “$100
million movie grosses $373 million – what a success!”). However, before the studios can see any of
that money, two big costs needs to be deducted – sales taxes and the cinema’s share. Studios
 received an average of 53% of the box office gross domestically and 41% of the
international gross. So that $373 million gross has already shrunk down to $169 million. When we
remove the average theatrical marketing costs of $98 million we’re left with a margin of $70 million
(i.e. 42% of the income). Other costs apply (see above) but already we can see how a $373 million
gross can dwindle away fast.
 Home Entertainment earns $100m+ Hollywood blockbusters an average of $134.3 million per
movie. The margin is higher that the theatrical window, with an average Home Ent marketing
spend of $21.9 million, leaving an 84% margin after marketing. Obviously, Home Ent has higher
manufacturing costs, but these are an average of $30.5 million, making Home Ent a richer vein
than theatrical. Now you can see why the studios are so worried by the fall in DVD sales!
 Television generates an average income of $86.9 million for $100 million+ movies and does so
with little to no direct costs. Studios typically still charge a distribution fee to cover their time and
lawyers but this is minute in comparison with the marketing and manufacturing costs of Theatrical
and Home Ent. Within North America, the Pay TV window generates a slightly higher income than
Free TV (average of $14.6m versus $13.3 million, respectively).
 Video on Demand performed very poorly for these blockbusters, with almost half of the films
earning under 1% of their total income from VOD. That said, my dataset spans ten years and the
studios were slow to build serious VOD operations. Looking just at the films released since 2011
reveals that 4.1% of their income came from VOD.
 Merchandising generated an average of $11.5 million per
movie in my dataset but this hides some big variations between titles. Only a third of
movies earned over $1 million and almost two-thirds of the merchandising money generated from
all 29 movies combined came from just two movies. It seems that the biggest Hollywood
blockbusters can get up to half of their budget back in merchandising alone.
 Airline and Music income can be viewed in one of two ways. It could be regarded as pretty
inconsequential (totalling as it does just $2.7 million per movie) or it could be viewed as among the
easiest deals with little to no costs associated.

Do Hollywood movies make money?

Of the 29 Hollywood blockbuster movies I studied, 14 generated a profit and 15 lost money. It’s
impossible to know if these stats hold true for mega-movies in all of Hollywood but I suspect they do,
due to the way my dataset was created (see Epilogue).
Note: The following discussion of profit uses this formula: all revenue received by the studios from a
particular movie minus all costs they internally attribute to that production. This is an important
distinction as a movie which has only officially broken even could still have provided a large amount of
income for the studio via the charging of distribution fees, overhead and financing costs (see above for
the section on Hollywood’s creative accounting).
The smallest movies within my dataset (i.e. those budgeted between $100m and £125m) had the
poorest record of profitability, with just a third making money. Conversely, three-quarters of the movies
with the biggest budgets ($200m upward) generated a profit.
So rather than looking at individual films, let’s look at the big picture. Imagine you are an investor who
put in 1% to all the films in my dataset in return for 1% of the profits. For ease, we’ll assume that you’re
contributing towards all costs, you receive a share of all income and that the studios have taken pity on
you and (for some unknown reason) decided to be honest with you about the numbers. Would you have
made a smart investment?

Here are the combined financial figures for all 29 Hollywood

blockbusters (budgeted over $100m)…

 Total combined budgets: $4.37 billion

 Total combined costs (including budgets, marketing and all other costs): $11.52 billion
 Total combined income (from all revenue streams): $11.95 billion
 Profit across all movies: $428.9 million
 An average profit of $14.8 million per movie
That means for your 1% investment you would have spent $115.2 million, received $119.5 million back
and made a profit of $4.3 million (i.e. a profit margin of just 3.7%). Considering that there is a delay
between when you put the money in and when all revenue has been recouped, I think it’s certainly
possible to imagine that you would lose this ‘profit’ to inflation.

If instead of playing with Hollywood you invested that same money in a standard high street bank paying
3% annually, over ten years your $115 million would become $156 million (an increase of 35%). And I
am sure this is a fairly low return for that kind of cash.
Maybe instead of taking 1% of all the movies combined, you could try and spot the winners ahead of
time. Let’s have a look at how the profit splits between the individual films…
So if you managed to put all of your money into ‘Movie 1’, then you would have a return of 122% (i.e. a
$265.3 million return on an $119.5 million investment). The only problem is – how do you spot the hits?
Hollywood currently employs the smartest, best informed and most profit-focused people in an effort to
exclusively make profitable movies and yet half of their movies lose money. In fact, their combined best
efforts only produce a 3.7% profit margin.

Correlations and curiosities

Before we leave the mad, mad economics of Hollywood blockbusters, let’s have a look at some
interesting questions. (If you have a question not listed below, leave it in the comments at the bottom of
the page and I’ll do my best to answer it from the data).

Q1: Are the films that make money better than those that lose money?
Yes, but only by a very small margin. The average Metacritic score (i.e. average of film critics out of 100)
for profitable films was 55 and for unprofitable movies it was 49. Similarly, IMDb audiences rated the
profitable films an average of 6.5 out of ten and the loss-making films an average of 6.1.
So it doesn’t seem as though the Hollywood studios have any financial incentive to make their films
better. Shame.
Q2: Does the amount they spend on marketing correlate with financial success?
In answering this question we have to be careful not to fall foul of the Statisticians’ Mantra that
‘Correlation is not causation‘. Studios don’t have to lock in their marketing commitments until they get
close to the movie’s release date and so it could be that they choose to double down on the marketing
when they know they have a film which is likely to perform well. Likewise, if they think they have a real
turkey on their hands they could dial back the marketing spend so as not to throw good money after bad.
From this data, we can’t tell why the correlation exists.
However, we can say that, yes, movies with the biggest marketing budgets do seem to gross the highest
amounts at the box office.

Q3: How important is the international market, compared to North America?

Hollywood makes blockbusters for global consumption and in recent decades the share of the money
the studios have received from countries outside the US and Canda has grown considerably. In theory,
increased international business comes with increased charges as much of the international film
business is conducted through third parties, which adds cost and complexity. Added to this, studios are
less likely to make missteps on their home turf as they can be on-hand to scrutinise everything to a
greater extent. So, does this ‘home advantage’ make the domestic market more lucrative?
Well, it depends on which part of the process you look at. Below you can see the origin of revenue and
costs for the blockbusters in my dataset.

As you can see, the majority of the money collected at the box office does indeed come from countries
outside of the US and Canada. However, studios spend a higher proportion of their marketing money in
North America. This could be for a number of reasons including the higher cost of advertising in
America, the temptation to spend more in the country which studio execs actually live in and because
 the US is often the first place a movie is released and the media enjoy reporting on huge opening
weekends (and decrying massive flops).

What’s fascinating is that once you deduct the release and marketing costs (known as the “Prints and
Advertising” or “P&A”) almost all (i.e. 99.1%) of the theatrical margin left over comes from outside North
America. This is the result of high fixed costs involved in releasing and marketing a movie in North
America, the paper thin margins in the business (as we saw above, it’s under 4% across all these movies)
and the more reliable nature of international returns. Together, they mean that only 12 of my 29 movies
made money at the domestic box office, whereas 20 made money at the international box office.
Alongside this, the losses at the domestic theatrical market were much worse than internationally. The
poorest performing movie at the domestic theatrical market lost $49.3 million whereas the poorest
performing film at the international theatrical market only lost $14.8 million.

So Hollywood looks to the international market with glee because…

1. It’s cheaper to market movies internationally, with the average movie in my dataset costing $55
million to market in the US and Canada and $44 million for every other country the film was released in
 combined. For a sense of scale, IMDb lists release dates for Avatar in 69 countries, and I suspect the
real number is slightly higher.
2. The margin is more reliable and less prone to huge theatrical losses. As we saw above, the risk
associated with releasing a big movie in North America is far greater than that associated with its
international release.
3. It has the most potential for growth in the near future as the North American market is saturated
with cinemas and movies. For example, between 2009 and 2013, cinema admissions in China rose by
239%, whereas in the US over the same period they shrunkby 5%. You can read more about the
enormous growth in the movie business in China here stephenfollows.com/film-business-in-china
Q4: Is there a rule of thumb for guessing which Hollywood blockbusters are in profit?

In the UK, the BFI developed a rule of thumb which stated that a
movie was reasonably likely to be ‘profitable’ if it generated twice its budget at the global box office.
They reached this conclusion by studying the full financial records of the movies they were involved with
and also checking their hypothesis with independent professional film financiers. But their dataset
would have included few (if any) films budgeted over $100 million, and so it’s interesting to see if it also
applies to my dataset of Hollywood blockbusters.
So the question is… If we only had two pieces of information – the global box office gross (as reported
on Box Office Mojo) and the production budget (as reported on Wikipedia) – how accurately could we
guess how many $100m+ movies made money?

Well, you’d be right 83% of the time. Using this rule, I was able to correctly identify all of the profit-
making films and correctly identify ten as loss-making, however, this system incorrectly marked five loss-
making movies as being profitable. (I also tested the theory against the true budget figures due to the
fact that Wikipedia budgets are mostly inflated, as previously discussed, but this only improved accuracy
to 86%). In short, the rule works in around four out of five cases. Not as reliable as one might have liked
(and way below the accuracy the BFI found when the rule is applied to smaller films) but certainly
interesting.

So far, I’ve been using a dataset of 29 movies in my investigations. But what happens if we apply this
BFI rule to all $100m+ Hollywood blockbusters? I used just the published budget and box office gross to
look at the 263 $100m+ movies released between 2000 and 2015.

This rule suggests that 70% of Hollywood blockbusters budgeted over $100m and released between
2000-15 were profitable. Since 2004, the percentage of movies in profit has been slowly increasing, from
46% in 2004 to 76% of those released in 2015. Most interestingly, it doesn’t seem that the huge number
of releases in 2011 hurt profitability.
Epilogue

So there you have it – a rather long (sorry!) look at how movies

make money and why when a $100 million movie makes $100 million in cinemas it’s not automatically in
profit. I hope this has helped shed light on how Hollywood works and why the media’s traditional view of
movie profitability is frustratingly wrong.

The biggest question some readers may have at this stage is – how did he get this data? Most of the
raw data for today’s research is already publicly available via releases and leaks from major Hollywood
studios, it’s just that I have spent the time to piece it together. I was also helped by a few well-placed
friends in the industry who were able to fill in the blanks and confirm the veracity of some of the data
points. I also used data from IMDb, Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Metacritic and Wikipedia.
I am completely confident that the information in this article is a true representation of how these
Hollywood blockbusters make money. The reason I am being a bit cagey about exactly where the data
is from is partly to protect sources/ friends but also to avoid inviting lawsuits. The purpose of this site is
educational and my sole intention is to help explain how our industry works. In the past, I have been
contacted by lawyers for various companies, trying to prevent the sharing of key data points relating to
their business. So far, I have managed to avoid lawsuits and also to avoid having to take any articles
down, but if I were to offer the full figures as a download (or details of how to do the same piecing
together I have) then I suspect I would get the wrong kind of attention.

So, if you want to know any more about these movies, please add your question in the comments below.
I’ll do my best to answer them all, including going back to the dataset if needed.

Next week I will look at movies costing under $100 million.

ll-Time (Domestic) Box-Office Hits and Top Films By Decade and Year:

Box-office earnings have often been a great predictor of the feature-length films that have been the most favorite,
successful, and popular. However, they do not necessarily reflect the best (or greatest) films of the year or decade.
They also provide a window into the era when the film was originally released. Although box-office records are often
contradictory, spotty, unreliable and sometimes non-existent (the further you go back in cinematic history), it has been
possible to compile listings of the top domestic hits all the way back to 1913 - both by decade (beginning with the
silents and the 1920s) and by individual year, up to the present year.

Rankings of the top US feature-length films by decade (based on domestic gross revenue) are presented below.
Also, rankings of the top films by year are included. In earlier days stretching from the 1920s to the 1940s,
exact dollar grosses for films at the box-office were often tallied differently, and therefore remain
somewhat unreliable.

Note: Complications in determining accurate box-office totals include the fact that many films have had multiple
releases (such as Disney animated feature films), re-issues or re-releases, special editions, director's cuts, and
subsequent 3-D and IMAX releases - a situation that can have a significant impact on standings. For some films,
there are two figures: domestic gross revenue and lifetime domestic gross revenue.
 Box-Office Index
Top 100 (Domestic) | Top 100 (Inflation-Adjusted) | Top 100 (Worldwide) | Film Franchises - Box-Office | Summer Blockbusters
Top Films (By Decade and Year) | Highest-Grossing Films By Genre Type | Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters, and Flops

THE 1920s (Mostly Silent) DECADE

TOP FILMS OF SILENT ERA TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)
AND 1920s 1913: Traffic in Souls (1913)
(estimated) 1914: The Million Dollar Mystery (1914)
1. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) 1915: The Birth of a Nation (1915)
2. The Big Parade (1925) 1916: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
(1916)
3. The Singing Fool (1928) 1917: A Romance of the Redwoods
(1917), and Cleopatra (1917)(lost film)
4. The Birth of a Nation (1915) 1918: Mickey (1918)
1919: The Miracle Man (1919)
5. Napoleon (1927, Fr.) (aka Napoléon vu par 1920: Something to Think About (1920)
Abel Gance) 1921: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
1922: Robin Hood (1922)
6. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1923: The Covered Wagon (1923)
(1921) 1924: (nothing substantial)
1925: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
7. Something to Think About (1920)
1926: Aloma of the South Seas (1926)
8. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1927: Napoleon (1927, Fr.) (with re-release), The
(1916) Jazz Singer (1927), (Wings 1927, unknown gross)
1928: The Singing Fool (1928)
9. Mickey (1918) 1929: Welcome Danger (1929)

10. The Covered Wagon (1923)

11. The Jazz Singer (1927)
12. The Kid (1921)

13. The Gold Rush (1925)

14. Way Down East (1920)

15. The Ten Commandments (1923)

16. The Million Dollar Mystery (1914)

17. Welcome Danger (1929)

18. His People (1925)

19. Sunnyside Up (1929)

20. The Miracle Man (1919)

21. Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920)

22. Aloma of the South Seas (1926)

23. The Broadway Melody (1929)

24. Robin Hood (1922)

25. The Road to Ruin (1928)

26. Oliver Twist (1922)

27. What Price Glory? (1926)

 THE 1930s DECADE
TOP FILMS OF 1930s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. Gone With The Wind (1939) 1930: Tom Sawyer (1930)
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 1931: Frankenstein (1931)
1932: Shanghai Express (1932)
3. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 1933: King Kong (1933)
1934: It Happened One Night (1934)
1935: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
4. Frankenstein (1931) 1936: Modern Times (1936)
5. Tom Sawyer (1930) 1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
6. King Kong (1933) 1939: Gone With The Wind (1939)

7. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

8. Hell's Angels (1930)

9. Cavalcade (1933)

10. Saratoga (1937)

11. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

12. A Star Is Born (1937)

13. Modern Times (1936)

14. Ingagi (1930)

15. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

16. San Francisco (1936)

17. Shanghai Express (1932)

18. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) (tie)

19. City Lights (1931) (tie)

20. Three Smart Girls (1936)

21. I'm No Angel (1933)

22. Boys Town (1938)

23. The Sign of the Cross (1932)

24. The Kid From Spain (1932)

25. It Happened One Night (1934)

26. Test Pilot (1938)

27. Whoopee! (1930)

28. One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)

29. 42nd Street (1932)

30. Grand Hotel (1932)

31. You Can't Take It With You (1938)

32. She Done Him Wrong (1933)

33. Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)

34. Emma (1932)

35. Top Hat (1935)

 THE 1940s DECADE
TOP FILMS OF 1940s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. Bambi (1942) 1940: Pinocchio (1940)
2. Pinocchio (1940) 1941: Sergeant York (1941)
1942: Bambi (1942)
3. Fantasia (1940) 1943: This Is the Army (1943)
1944: Going My Way (1944)
4. Song of the South (1946) 1945: Mom and Dad (1945)
1946: Song of the South (1946)
5. Mom and Dad (1945) 1947: Forever Amber (1947)
1948: The Snake Pit (1948)
6. Samson and Delilah (1949) 1949: Samson and Delilah (1949)

7. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

8. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

9. This Is the Army (1943)

10. Duel in the Sun (1946)

11. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

12. Sergeant York (1941)

13. Going My Way (1944)

14. Forever Amber (1947)

15. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

16. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

17. Battleground (1949)

18. Random Harvest (1942)

19. The Snake Pit (1948)

20. The Lost Weekend (1945)

THE 1950s DECADE

TOP FILMS OF 1950s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. The Ten Commandments (1956) 1950: Cinderella (1950)
2. Lady and the Tramp (1955) 1951: Quo Vadis (1951)
1952: The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
3. Peter Pan (1953) 1953: Peter Pan (1953)
1954: Rear Window (1954)
4. Cinderella (1950) 1955: Lady and the Tramp (1955)
1956: The Ten Commandments (1956)
5. Ben-Hur (1959) 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
1958: South Pacific (1958)
6. Sleeping Beauty (1959) 1959: Ben-Hur (1959)

7. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

8. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

9. This is Cinerama (1952)

10. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

11. Rear Window (1954) (tie)

12. South Pacific (1958) (tie)

13. The Robe (1953)

14. Giant (1956)

15. Seven Wonders of the World

(1956) (Cinerama feature)

16. From Here to Eternity (1953)

17. White Christmas (1954)

18. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

19. Sayonara (1957)

20. Cinerama Holiday (1955)

21. Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)

22. Peyton Place (1957)

23. Some Like It Hot (1959)

24. Quo Vadis (1951)

25. Auntie Mame (1958)

THE 1960s DECADE

 TOP FILMS OF 1960s
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. The Sound of Music (1965)
2. 101 Dalmatians (1961)
3. The Jungle Book (1967)
4. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
5. The Graduate (1967)
6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969) (tie)
TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1960: Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
1961: 101 Dalmatians (1961)
1962: How the West Was Won (1962)
1963: Cleopatra (1963)
1964: Mary Poppins (1964)
1965: The Sound of Music (1965)
1966: The Bible: In the Beginning (1966) and Hawaii
(1966)(virtual tie)
1967: The Jungle Book (1967)
1968: Funny Girl (1968)
1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

7. Mary Poppins (1964) (tie)

8. My Fair Lady (1964)
9. Thunderball (1965)
10. Funny Girl (1968)

11. Cleopatra (1963)

12. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

13. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

14. The Love Bug (1968)

15. Goldfinger (1964)

16. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

17. How the West Was Won (1962)

18. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

19. The Dirty Dozen (1967)

20. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

21. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

22. The Odd Couple (1968)

23. Valley of the Dolls (1967)

24. West Side Story (1961)

25. You Only Live Twice (1967)

THE 1970s DECADE

TOP FILMS OF 1970s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope 1970: Love Story (1970)
(1977) 1971: Billy Jack (1971)
2. Jaws (1975) 1972: The Godfather (1972)
1973: The Exorcist (1973)
1974: Blazing Saddles (1974)
3. The Exorcist (1973)
1975: Jaws (1975)
4. Grease (1978) 1976: Rocky (1976)
1977: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
5. The Sting (1973) 1978: Grease (1978)
1979: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
6. (National Lampoon's) Animal House (1978)
7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

8. The Godfather (1972)

9. Superman (1978)
10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977/80)
11. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

12. Blazing Saddles (1974)

13. Rocky (1976)
14. The Towering Inferno (1974)

15. American Graffiti (1973)

16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

17. Love Story (1970) (tie)

18. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (tie)
19. Saturday Night Fever (1977)

20. The Amityville Horror (1979)

21. Young Frankenstein (1974)

22. Every Which Way But Loose (1978) (tie)
23. Rocky II (1979) (tie)
24. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

25. Apocalypse Now (1979)

26. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
27. Jaws 2 (1978)

28. Heaven Can Wait (1978) (tie)

29. M*A*S*H (1970) (tie)

30. Alien (1979)

THE 1980s DECADE

TOP FILMS OF 1980s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 1980: Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes
2. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi Back (1980)
(1983) 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
1982: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
1983: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
3. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes
(1983)
Back (1980)
1984: Ghostbusters (1984)
1985: Back to the Future (1985)
4. Batman (1989) 1986: Top Gun (1986)
1987: Three Men and a Baby (1987)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 1988: Rain Man (1988)
1989: Batman (1989)
6. Ghostbusters (1984)
7. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
8. Back to the Future (1985)
9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984) (tie)

11. Top Gun (1986) (tie)

12. Tootsie (1982)

13. Crocodile Dundee (1986)

14. Rain Man (1988)

15. Three Men and a Baby (1987)

16. Fatal Attraction (1987)

17. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

18. Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
19. Gremlins (1984)

20. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

THE 1990s DECADE

TOP FILMS OF 1990s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. Titanic (1997) 1990: Home Alone (1990)
2. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1991: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
(1999) 1992: Aladdin (1992)
1993: Jurassic Park (1993)
3. Jurassic Park (1993) 1994: The Lion King (1994)
1995: Toy Story (1995)
4. The Lion King (1994) 1996: Independence Day (1996)
1997: Titanic (1997)
5. Forrest Gump (1994) 1998: Saving Private Ryan (1998)
1999: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
6. Independence Day (1996) (1999)

7. The Sixth Sense (1999)

8. Home Alone (1990)

9. Men in Black (1997)

10. Toy Story 2 (1999)

11. Twister (1996)

12. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

13. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

14. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

15. Ghost (1990)

16. Aladdin (1992)

17. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

18. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

(1999)

19. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

20. Armageddon (1998)
21. Toy Story (1995)

22. Dances With Wolves (1990)

23. Batman Forever (1995)

24. The Fugitive (1993)

25. Liar Liar (1997)

THE 2000s DECADE

TOP FILMS OF 2000s TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals) (unadjusted domestic gross totals)
1. Avatar (2009) 2000: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
2. The Dark Knight (2008) 2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
2002: Spider-Man (2002)
3. Shrek 2 (2004) 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(2003)
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2004: Shrek 2 (2004)
(2006) 2005: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
(2005)
5. Spider-Man (2002) 2006: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
(2006)
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) 2007: Spider-Man 3 (2007)
2008: The Dark Knight (2008)
7. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2009: Avatar (2009)
(2005)

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the

 King (2003)

9. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
10. The Passion of the Christ (2004)

11. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

(2002)

12. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

13. Finding Nemo (2003)

14. Shrek the Third (2007)

15. Transformers (2007)

16. Iron Man (2008)

17. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

18. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull (2008)

19. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the

Ring (2001)

20. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

(2002)

THE 2010s DECADE

 TOP FILMS OF 2010s
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)
(tentative only)
1. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
(2015)
2. Jurassic World (2015)
3. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
5. Finding Dory (2016)
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
TOP FILMS BY YEAR
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)
2010: Toy Story 3 (2010)
2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
(2011)
2012: Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
2013: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
2014: American Sniper (2014)
2015: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
(2015)
2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
2017: Beauty and the Beast (2017) (tentative)

7. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

8. Beauty and the Beast (2017)

9. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

10. Toy Story 3 (2010)

11. Iron Man 3 (2013)

12. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

13. The Hunger Games (2012)

14. Frozen (2013)

15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

(2011)

16. The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

17. Despicable Me 2 (2013)

18. The Jungle Book (2016)

19. Deadpool (2016)

20. Inside Out (2015)

21. Furious 7 (2015)

TOP 100 FILMS OF ALL-TIME

(Domestic Gross, Adjusted for Inflation)
(through to mid-April 2017)

1. Gone With the Wind (1939)

This Civil War-era love story with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh has seduced generations of moviegoers.

2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

George Lucas' space western with aliens, revolutionaries and high-tech effects spawned sci-fi's biggest
franchise of six films.

3. The Sound of Music (1965)

Julie Andrews headlines the von Trapp family saga that celebrates the triumph of good over Nazism.

4. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Spielberg enchants audiences by showing how suburban kids could help a magical, little alien get back
home.

5. Titanic (1997)
Romance, life-or-death stakes and spectacular effects make household names of director James Cameron
and star Leonardo DiCaprio.

6. The Ten Commandments (1956)

Sex, violence, religion and Charlton Heston as Moses fuel a Biblical epic that's become an Easter tradition
on TV.

7. Jaws (1975)
Spielberg defines summer blockbuster with a shark flick featuring one of the most memorable theme songs
in movie history.

8. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

 Julie Christie and Omar Sharif make love as Russia explodes into war in this epic romance.

9. The Exorcist (1973)

A pop-cultural touchstone: Cursed set, pea soup puke, and young Linda Blair making heads turn --
including her own.

10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Arguably Walt Disney's best, this animated feature combines sentiment and timeless storytelling
seamlessly.

11. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

The seventh installment in the franchise's series, set three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire,
with forces of the Resistance battling the First Order.

12. 101 Dalmatians (1961)

A fashionista wants a spotted coat made of puppy hides. Sounds creepy but this animated pic is actually
fun.

13. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

A suave Billy Dee Williams gets added to the canny Star Wars recipe of old-school drama and gee-whiz sci-
fi trappings.

14. Ben-Hur (1959)

A little history, a dash of religion, a thrilling chariot race, and Charlton Heston ripped and ready for
redemption.

15. Avatar (2009)

3-D visuals make James Cameron's sci-fi spin on "cold civilization vs. nature-loving natives" fresh again.

16. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Jabba the Hutt, Carrie Fisher in a bikini and Luke's showdown with Darth Vader wraps the first Star
Wars trilogy.

17. Jurassic Park (1993)

Everyone loves Spielberg's stars, not Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, but those awesome CGI dinosaurs.

18. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Fans rush back to the future, giving Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman a thumbs up and Jar Jar Binks a big
 thumbs down.

19. The Lion King (1994)

Disney reclaims its reputation for first-rate animated features with this coming of age story and its Elton
John score.

20. The Sting (1973)

A clever caper with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in their prime making this Depression-era comedy a
hit.

21. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Spielberg's vintage adventure tale turns the dashing archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) into a
modern-day hero.

22. The Graduate (1967)

Fresh out of college, a young Dustin Hoffman tries to decide what to do when not distracted by the cougar
Mrs. Robinson.

23. Fantasia (1940)

After 30 years, this union of Mickey Mouse, dancing hippos and classical music turns a profit and then
some.

24. Jurassic World (2015)

The follow-up blockbuster to the trilogy of earlier Jurassic franchise films from 1993 to 2001.

25. The Godfather (1972)

Marlon Brando and Al Pacino help Francis Ford Coppola turn a Mario Puzo's novel into the ultimate
gangster pic.

26. Forrest Gump (1994)

Gump appeals to heart and head thanks to technology that inserts Tom Hanks' simple character into great
historic moments.

27. Mary Poppins (1964)

What kid doesn't want a sly Julie Andrews for a nanny after seeing Disney's musical ode to non-traditional
families?

28. Grease (1978)

1950s nostalgia transforms this high-school musical, showcasing Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta,
 into a sweet treat.

29. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

The highly-anticipated 3-D superhero tale produced by Disney-owned Marvel Studios brought together,
under Nick Fury's peace-keeping S.H.I.E.L.D, a team of superhumans (Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and
Captain America) to save the Earth from Loki and his army.

30. Thunderball (1965)

Sean Connery's fourth Bond movie gave fans more gadgets, more sharks and more very sexy Bond girls.

31. The Dark Knight (2008)

Christian Bale's brooding Batman and Heath Ledger's scary Joker gave this comic-book movie reboot real
emotional depth.

32. The Jungle Book (1967)

This animated flick about a feral child and his animal friends is voiced by George Sanders and Louis Prima
among others.

33. Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Almost ten years in the making, Disney's third princess movie remains a favorite of 12-year-old girls of all
ages.

34. Ghostbusters (1984)

A profitable combination of goofy ghosts and snarky ghost chasers Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold
Ramis.

35. Shrek 2 (2004)

Kids love the rude, stinky-but-goodhearted green troll (voiced by Mike Myers); adults identify with his
nemesis in-laws.

36. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

One part Western, two parts star power (Paul Newman and Robert Redford), one part "Raindrops Keep
Falling on My Head."

37. Love Story (1970)

Everybody cries at this tale of doomed young lovers (Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal). The "disease movie" of
the '70s.

38. Spider-Man (2002)

 Tobey Maguire convinces us that high-school nerd Peter Parker could become a superhero when bit by a
spider.

39. Independence Day (1996)

The ultimate war movie for nervous times proves that no one cares when bug-eyed monsters get their alien
butts kicked.

40. Home Alone (1990)

Precocious Macaulay Culkin foils buffoonish burglars after his parents accidentally abandon him during
Christmas vacation.

41. Pinocchio (1940)

Funny, action-packed and a little scary, this animated feature targets kids between Dumbo and The Lion
King age.

42. Cleopatra (1963)

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton front a cast of thousands and lavish sets for this big screen epic.

43. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

A good cop thriller that showcases the young Eddie Murphy's signature mix of sweetness and street
smarts.

44. Goldfinger (1964)

With Sean Connery oozing charm, a golden girl and Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, the third Bond
movie is the charm.

45. Airport (1970)

The template for modern disaster movies has an all-star cast: Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset, Dean
Martin, etc.

46. American Graffiti (1973)

Before George Lucas conquered the universe, he reworked his past in a coming-of-age story set in early
'60s California.

47. The Robe (1953)

Pomp, piety, and pop psych (and CinemaScope) lure moviegoers to an epic about a Roman (Richard
Burton) who won Christ's robe.

48. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

 This sequel adds a monster, a ghost ship and the tentacle-bearded Davy Jones to Johnny Depp's Jack
Sparrow.

49. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

A little Jules Verne adventure, a lot of globe-trotting locations and an avalanche of movie-star cameos.

50. Bambi (1942)

From the hand-drawn images to its unsentimental story of a fawn's journey to adulthood, a Disney
watermark.

51. Blazing Saddles (1974)

The tiny western town of Rock Ridge gets a black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in Mel Brooks' rudely hilarious
spoof.

52. Batman (1989)

Thanks in part to Jack Nicholson's Joker, the Michael Keaton reboot of the superhero legitimizes comic-
book movies.

53. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

An easy-going priest (Bing Crosby) and a feisty nun (Ingrid Bergman) save a faltering Catholic school.

54. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Building on the success of the first two installments, the last Lord of the Rings movie tops the awards and
box office.

55. Finding Nemo (2003)

A sad clownfish stops at nothing to find his missing son in this animated feature (also one of the bestselling
DVDs ever).

56. The Towering Inferno (1974)

Following Airport's lead, this disaster movie trots out big names like Paul Newman, Fred Astaire, and Steve
McQueen.

57. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

The continuing epic sci-fi tale of resistance forces of the Rebel Alliance fighting against the evil Empire, with
a risky effort to steal the plans for the powerful weapon the Death Star.

58. Cinderella (1950)

Disney's musical animated classic of the Grimm's fairy tale about dreams coming true - a young girl at the
 mercy of her mean and cruel stepsisters and stepmother was aided by a Fairy Godmother, attended a ball,
fell in love with Prince Charming, and escaped from servitude.

59. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

This sequel which adds Doc Oc (Alfred Molina) to Spidey's problems more than holds its own.

60. My Fair Lady (1964)

Audiences thrill to Audrey Hepburn's transformation from guttersnipe to elegant lady in the ultimate
makeover movie.

61. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Cecil B. De Mille's Oscar-winning circus spectacular stars Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton and James
Stewart as a sad clown.

62. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Comedian John Belushi raucously celebrated rude fraternity hijinks.

63. The Passion of the Christ (2004)

While traditional religious movies glorify transcendence, Mel Gibson's Aramaic-language drama zeroes in
on Jesus' pain and agony.

64. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

The last of three Star Wars prequels, Revenge of the Sith benefits from being the final link between old and
new.

65. Back to the Future (1985)

Eighties teen heartthrob Michael J. Fox meets his parents when they were teens themselves in this time
travel comedy.

66. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

The first Rings sequel turns the Tolkien hit about Frodo the Hobbit into a cultural phenomenon.

67. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

In the last of director Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, the caped superhero Dark Knight battled a
masked villain to save Gotham City.

68. The Sixth Sense (1999)

How many didn't guess the twist ending of this thriller about troubled shrink Bruce Willis and a child (Haley
 Joel Osment) who sees ghosts?

69. Superman (1978)

Pitched between camp and cute, this fantasy put an old-fashioned hero (Christopher Reeve) in a brave new
world.

70. Tootsie (1982)

"I was a better man… as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man," says a cross-dressing
Dustin Hoffman.

71. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

On initial release, only Star Wars out-grossed Burt Reynolds' southern-fried action comedy, fueled by the
CB radio fad.

72. Finding Dory (2016)

Blue tang fish Dory, afflicted with short-term memory loss, has since childhood been looking for her lost
parents, with help from her friends Nemo and Marlin.

73. West Side Story (1961)

This Romeo and Juliet musical on Manhattan's mean streets somehow made dancing gang members
dangerously cool.

74. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman made the first Harry Potter adaptation downright
respectable.

75. Lady and the Tramp (1955)

A pampered cocker spaniel and a mangy mutt find love in Disney's first CinemaScope animated feature.

76. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977/1980)

New Ageism meets UFOlogy when regular guy Richard Dreyfuss' life is turned upside down by
extraterrestrials.

77. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

This stunning, psychologically rich bio of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) inspired Steven Spielberg to make
movies.

78. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Perverse alien Dr. Frank-n-furter (Tim Curry) corrupts innocent sweethearts Susan Sarandon and Barry
 Bostwick in a glam sci-fi musical.

79. Rocky (1976)

Struggling actor Sylvester Stallone writes himself a good part which leads to the biggest boxing movie
franchise in history.

80. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Post-WWII sentiment gave this drama about veterans adjusting to civilian life a timely relevance.

81. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

A cavalcade of stars -- Shelley Winters, Gene Hackman and Leslie Nielsen -- seeks to escape an upended
cruise ship.

82. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
In the first of the series, world-class actors Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, and Viggo Mortensen play
wizards, elves and warriors.

83. Twister (1996)

Professional storm chasers (Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton) with complicated personal lives track extreme weather
outbreaks.

84. Men in Black (1997)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones look like boring bureaucrats but are actually top secret agents monitoring
aliens in this ultra-snarky comedy.

85. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

During WWII, British prisoners are put to the test when ordered to build a strategically useful bridge for their
captors.

86. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

The robots that turn into cars and guns return in a sequel that outperforms the original.

87. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Nearly every star in Hollywood had a cameo in this comedy about a race to recover a fortune in California's
Santa Rosita State Park.

88. Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

A shipwrecked family pulls together to survive natural hardships and vicious pirates in this live-action
 Disney hit.

89. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

The anarchic spirit of '60s idealism is crushed by the establishment in this bitterly funny dramedy with Jack
Nicholson.

90. M*A*S*H (1970)

Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould helm Robert Altman's dark comedy about Korean-War medics.

91. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Alongside Gremlins, this boundary-pushing prequel prompted the MPAA to create its first new rating in 12
years: PG-13.

92. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

The sequel to the 2012 hit film, and the 11th film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark/Iron Man
(Robert Downey, Jr.) and other Avengers superheroes, including Captain America, Thor, The Incredible
Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, must battle the terrifying technological villain Ultron (James Spader), a
mechanical AI with the goal of human extinction.

93. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Introducing the new Luke Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) plus an opportunity to find out who the clones
are.

94. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Wacky hijinks ensue when divorced dad Robin Williams masquerades as a frumpy housekeeper to be near
his kids.

95. Aladdin (1992)

Allegations of cultural insensitivity didn't stop this Arabian Nights-inspired Disney feature from enchanting
American kids.

96. Toy Story 3 (2010)

Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys must face the fact children grow up and put away childish
things: Adults weep.

97. Ghost (1990)

Romantics swoon over this fantasy about a murdered man (Patrick Swayze) who defies death to become
visible to his girlfriend (Demi Moore).
 98. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
The popular sequel and second installment in the gripping and emotional series about Katniss Everdeen
(Jennifer Lawrence).

99. Duel in the Sun (1946)

The Western romance, aka "Lust in the Dust" takes place between a half-breed girl (Jennifer Jones) and an
anglo cowboy (Gregory Peck).

100. The Hunger Games (2012)

The big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling book was an action-packed survival story set in
a dystopian future.
Top 25 Summer Blockbusters of All-Time
(Based Upon Domestic Gross Revenue, Unadjusted for Inflation, through summer of 2016)
Rank Film/Year/Description Release Domestic Title Screen
Date Gross
Revenue
1 Jurassic World (2015) June 12, $652.3 million
In a luxury resort that was the habitat 2015
for genetically-engineered dinosaurs,
one creature escaped, followed by
others, setting off a chain reaction of
chaos. The visitors must be saved
from the prehistoric assault.

2 Marvel's The Avengers (2012) May 4, 2012 $623.4 million

The highly-anticipated 3-D superhero
tale produced by Disney-owned
Marvel Studios brought together,
under Nick Fury's peace-keeping
S.H.I.E.L.D, a team of superhumans
(Iron Man/Tony Stark, the Hulk/Bruce
Banner, Thor, the Black
Widow/Natasha Romanoff,
Hawkeye/Clint Barton and Captain
America/Steve Rogers) to save the
Earth from Loki and his army. The
 sixth installment in Marvel's Cinematic
Universe.
3 The Dark Knight (2008) July 18, $534.8 million
Christian Bale's brooding Batman and 2008
Heath Ledger's scary Joker gave this
comic-book movie reboot real
emotional depth.

4 Finding Dory (2016) June 17, $486 million

Blue tang fish Dory, afflicted with 2016
short-term memory loss, has since
childhood been looking for her lost
parents, with help from her friends
Nemo and Marlin.

5 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) May 1, 2015 $459 million

The sequel to the 2012 hit film, and
the 11th film in Marvel's Cinematic
Universe. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert
Downey, Jr.) and other Avengers
superheroes, including Captain
America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk,
Black Widow and Hawkeye battled the
terrifying technological villain Ultron
(James Spader), a mechanical AI with
the goal of human extinction.
6 The Dark Knight Rises (2012) July 20, $448.1 million
In the last of director Christopher 2012
Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, the
caped superhero Dark Knight
(Christian Bale), aka Bruce Wayne,
battled a masked villain named Bane
(Tom Hardy) to save Gotham City.

7 Shrek 2 (2004) May 19, $441.2 million

Kids loved the rude, stinky-but- 2004
goodhearted green troll Shrek (voiced
by Mike Myers). Adults identified with
his nemesis in-laws.

8 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom May 19, $431.1 million

Menace (1999) 1999
Fans rushed back to the future, giving
Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman a
thumbs up and Jar Jar Binks a big
thumbs down.
9 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead July 7, 2006 $423.3 million
Man's Chest (2006)
This sequel added a monster, a ghost
ship and the tentacle-bearded Davy
Jones to Johnny Depp's Jack
Sparrow.

10 Toy Story 3 (2010) June 18, $415 million

Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of 2010
the toys had to face the fact that
children grow up and put away
childish things: Adults wept.

11 Iron Man 3 (2013) May 3, 2013 $409 million

Another blockbuster sequel in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (the 7th),
featuring billionaire industrialist Tony
Stark and his alter-ego, Iron Man
pitted against a formidable terrorist
called the Mandarin.
12 Captain America: Civil War (2016) May 6, 2016 $408 million
Another superhero film in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe (the 13th), and
coming after Captain America: The
First Avenger (2011) and Captain
America: The Winter Soldier
(2014). The Avengers were fractured
into two groups, led by: (1) Steve
Rogers/Captain America who opposed
regulation, and (2) Tony Stark/Iron
Man who supported regulation.
13 Spider-Man (2002) May 3, 2002 $403.7 million
Director Sam Raimi reinvigorated
Marvel's superhero while Tobey
Maguire convinced us that high-school
nerd Peter Parker could become a
superhero after a spider bite, and then
battled nemesis The Green Goblin
(Willem Dafoe) and fought for Mary
Jane Watson's (Kirsten Dunst) heart
(with a unique upside-down kiss).
14 Transformers: Revenge of the June 24, $402.1 million
Fallen (2009) 2009
Robots that turned into cars and guns
returned in a sequel that outperformed
the original. Robots took to new,
cooler environments for battle and
presented quite a contrast, fighting on
the pyramids and the Brooklyn Bridge.
15 Harry Potter and the Deathly July 15, $381 million
Hallows, Part 2 (2011) 2011
The eighth and final installment found
Harry and his friends finally defeating
Lord Voldemort during a dramatic
showdown.
16 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of May 19, $380.3 million
the Sith (2005) 2005
The last of three Star
Wars prequels, Revenge of the
Sithbenefited from being the final link
between old and new.

17 Spider-Man 2 (2004) June 30, $373.6 million

This sequel with dazzling special 2004
effects delivered a great villain Doc
Ock (Alfred Molina) that Spidey (Tobey
Maguire) had to battle.

18 Despicable Me 2 (2013) July 3, 2013 $368 million

Three years after the original film, this
funny and enjoyable sequel again
featured tall and bald retired villain
Gru, his yellow oddball minions
(turned purple) and his three adopted
girls, Margo, Agnes and Edith. Gru
was recruited by the Anti-Villain
League (AVL) and Lucy Wilde to help
deal with a powerful new super
criminal named El Macho and recover
stolen mutagen serum (PX-41).
19 The Secret Life of Pets (2016) July 8, 2016 $368 million
An animated buddy comedy about
pets that tried to answer the question:
What do our pets do while we are
away all day? The comfortable life of a
Jack Russell terrier named Max,
belonging to Katie in NYC, was
jeopardized when she brought home a
large, clumsy, and slovenly sheepdog
named Duke, and the two became lost
in the city while on a walk in Central
Park.
20 E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) June 11, $359.2 million
Spielberg's classic family 1982
entertainment enchanted audiences
with its story of friendship between a
young boy and a stranded alien, and
by showing how suburban kids could
help a magical, little alien get back
home.
21 Jurassic Park (1993) June 11, $357.1 million
Everyone loved Spielberg's summer 1993
megahit and its stars, not Laura Dern
and Jeff Goldblum, but those
awesome CGI dinosaurs.

22 Inside Out (2015) June 19, $356.5 million

Pixar's/Disney hit computer-animated 2015
feature about the personification of the
emotions of young Riley Andersen
(Kaitlyn Dias) -- Joy, Sadness, Fear,
Anger, and Disgust -- during a move to
the big city.
23 Transformers: Dark of the Moon June 29, $352.4 million
(2011) 2011
In this second sequel, the interstellar
war between the Autobots and
Decepticons shifted into overdrive
following the discovery of Sentinel
Prime.

24 Finding Nemo (2003) May 30, $339.7 million

A sad clownfish stopped at nothing to 2003
find his missing son in this Pixar
animated feature (also one of the
bestselling DVDs ever).

25 Spider-Man 3 (2007) May 4, 2007 $336.5 m

Spider-Man fans turned out for this
second sequel that was star Tobey
Maguire's swan song in the franchise.

ALL-TIME BOX-OFFICE TOP 100 FILMS

(through to mid-April 2017)

TOP 100 FILMS TOP 100 FILMS TOP 100 FILMS

OF ALL-TIME OF ALL-TIME OF ALL-TIME
(Domestic Gross)* (Domestic Gross)* (Worldwide Gross)*
(Unadjusted for Inflation) (Adjusted for Inflation)
1. Star Wars: Episode VII - The 1. Gone With the Wind 1. Avatar (2009)
Force Awakens (2015) (1939)
2. Titanic (1997)
2. Avatar (2009) 2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A
3. Star Wars: Episode VII - The
New Hope (1977)
3. Titanic (1997) Force Awakens (2015)

4. Jurassic World (2015) 3. The Sound of Music (1965) 4. Jurassic World (2015)

5. Marvel's The Avengers 4. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial

 (2012)
6. The Dark Knight (2008)
7. Rogue One: A Star Wars
Story (2016)
8. Finding Dory (2016)
9. Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace (1999)
10. Star Wars: Episode IV - A
New Hope (1977)
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
12. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
13. Shrek 2 (2004)
14. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982)
15. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
16. The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire (2013)
17. Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest (2006)
18. The Lion King (1994)
19. Toy Story 3 (2010)
20. Iron Man 3 (2013)
21. Captain America: Civil War
(1982)
5. Titanic (1997)
6. The Ten Commandments
(1956)
7. Jaws (1975)
8. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
9. The Exorcist (1973)
10. Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs (1937)
11. Star Wars: Episode VII - The
Force Awakens (2015)
12. 101 Dalmatians (1961)
13. Star Wars: Episode V - The
Empire Strikes Back (1980)
14. Ben-Hur (1959)
15. Avatar (2009)
16. Star Wars: Episode VI -
Return of the Jedi (1983)
17. Jurassic Park (1993)
18. Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace (1999)
19. The Lion King (1994)
20. The Sting (1973)
5. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
6. Furious 7 (2015)
7. Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, Part 2 (2011)
9. Frozen (2013)
10. Iron Man 3 (2013)
11. Minions (2015)
12. Captain America: Civil War
(2016)
13. Transformers: Dark of the
Moon (2011)
14. The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King (2003)
15. Skyfall (2012)
16. Transformers: Age of
Extinction (2014)
17. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
18. Toy Story 3 (2010)
19. Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest (2006)
20. Rogue One: A Star Wars
Story (2016)
 (2016)
22. The Hunger Games (2012)
23. Spider-Man (2002)
24. Jurassic Park (1993)
25. Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen (2009)
26. Frozen (2013)
27. Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, Part 2 (2011)
28. Finding Nemo (2003)
29. Star Wars: Episode III -
Revenge of the Sith (2005)
30. The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King (2003)
31. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
32. The Passion of the Christ
(2004)
33. The Secret Life of Pets
(2016)
34. Despicable Me 2 (2013)
35. The Jungle Book (2016)
36. Deadpool (2016)
37. Inside Out (2015)
21. Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981)
22. The Graduate (1967)
23. Fantasia (1940)
24. Jurassic World (2015)
25. The Godfather (1972)
26. Forrest Gump (1994)
27. Mary Poppins (1964)
28. Grease (1978)
29. Marvel's The Avengers
(2012)
30. Thunderball (1965)
31. The Dark Knight (2008)
32. The Jungle Book (1967)
33. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
34. Ghostbusters (1984)
35. Shrek 2 (2004)
36. Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969)
37. Love Story (1970)
38. Spider-Man (2002)
21. Pirates of the Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides (2011)
22. Jurassic Park (1993)
23. Finding Dory (2016)
24. Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace (1999)
25. Alice in Wonderland (2010)
26. Zootopia (2016)
27. The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey (2012)
28. The Dark Knight (2008)
29. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
30. Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
31. Despicable Me 2 (2013)
32. The Lion King (1994)
33. The Jungle Book (2016)
34. Pirates of the Caribbean: At
World's End (2007)
35. Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
36. The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug (2013)
38. Furious 7 (2015)
39. Transformers: Dark of the
Moon (2011)
40. American Sniper (2014)
41. The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers (2002)
42. Zootopia (2016)
43. The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
44. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
45. Minions (2015)
46. Alice in Wonderland (2010)
47. Guardians of the Galaxy
(2014)
48. Batman v Superman: Dawn
of Justice (2016)
49. Forrest Gump (1994)
50. Suicide Squad (2016)
51. Shrek the Third (2007)
52. Transformers (2007)
53. Iron Man (2008)
54. Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
55. Indiana Jones and the
39. Independence Day (1996)
40. Home Alone (1990)
41. Pinocchio (1940)
42. Cleopatra (1963)
43. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
44. Goldfinger (1964)
45. Airport (1970)
46. American Graffiti (1973)
47. The Robe (1953)
48. Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest (2006)
49. Around the World in 80 Days
(1956)
50. Bambi (1942)
51. Blazing Saddles (1974)
52. Batman (1989)
53. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
54. The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King (2003)
55. Finding Nemo (2003)
56. The Towering Inferno (1974)
57. Rogue One: A Star Wars
37. The Hobbit: The Battle of the
Five Armies (2014)
38. Finding Nemo (2003)
39. Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix (2007)
40. Harry Potter and the Half-
Blood Prince (2009)
41. The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers (2002)
42. Shrek 2 (2004)
43. Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire (2005)
44. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
45. Ice Age: Dawn of the
Dinosaurs (2009)
46. Spectre (2015)
47. Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets (2002)
48. Ice Age: Continental Drift
(2012)
49. The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
50. Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice (2016)
51. The Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
 Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(2008)
56. The Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
57. Iron Man 2 (2010)
58. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack
of the Clones (2002)
59. Pirates of the Caribbean: At
World's End (2007)
60. Star Wars: Episode VI -
Return of the Jedi (1983)
61. Independence Day (1996)
62. Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pearl
(2003)
63. Skyfall (2012)
64. The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey (2012)
65. Harry Potter and the Half-
Blood Prince (2009)
66. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
(2010)
67. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
(2009)
68. Harry Potter and the Deathly
Story (2016)
58. Cinderella (1950)
59. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
60. My Fair Lady (1964)
61. The Greatest Show on Earth
(1952)
62. National Lampoon's Animal
House (1978)
63. The Passion of the Christ
(2004)
64. Star Wars: Episode III -
Revenge of the Sith (2005)
65. Back to the Future (1985)
66. The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers (2002)
67. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
68. The Sixth Sense (1999)
69. Superman (1978)
70. Tootsie (1982)
71. Smokey and the Bandit
(1977)
72. Finding Dory (2016)
73. West Side Story (1961)
52. The Hunger Games: Catching
Fire (2013)
53. Inside Out (2015)
54. Star Wars: Episode III -
Revenge of the Sith (2005)
55. Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen (2009)
56. The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn, Part 2 (2012)
57. Inception (2010)
58. Spider-Man (2002)
59. Independence Day (1996)
60. Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them (2016)
61. Shrek the Third (2007)
62. Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban (2004)
63. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982)
64. Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
65. Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(2008)
66. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
 Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
69. The Sixth Sense (1999)
70. Up (2009)
71. Inception (2010)
72. The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn, Part 2 (2012)
73. Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix (2007)
74. The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe (2005)
75. Man of Steel (2013)
76. Star Wars: Episode V - The
Empire Strikes Back (1980)
77. Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire (2005)
78. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
79. Home Alone (1990)
80. The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
81. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
82. The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn, Part 1 (2011)
83. Meet the Fockers (2004)
74. Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
75. Lady and the Tramp (1955)
76. Close Encounters of the Third
Kind (1977/1980)
77. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
78. The Rocky Horror Picture
Show (1975)
79. Rocky (1976)
80. The Best Years of Our
Lives (1946)
81. The Poseidon Adventure
(1972)
82. The Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
83. Twister (1996)
84. Men in Black (1997)
85. The Bridge On The River
Kwai (1957)
86. Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen (2009)
87. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad
World (1963)
88. Swiss Family Robinson
(1960)
67. Deadpool (2016)
68. Star Wars: Episode IV - A
New Hope (1977)
69. Guardians of the Galaxy
(2014)
70. 2012 (2009)
71. Maleficent (2014)
72. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
73. The Amazing Spider-Man
(2012)
74. The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
75. Shrek Forever After (2010)
76. X-Men: Days of Future Past
(2014)
77. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most
Wanted (2012)
78. Suicide Squad (2016)
79. The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe (2005)
80. Monsters University (2013)
81. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
82. Up (2009)
84. The Hangover (2009)
85. Gravity (2013)
86. Sing (2016)
87. Monsters University (2013)
88. Shrek (2001)
89. The Amazing Spider-Man
(2012)
90. Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets (2002)
91. The Incredibles (2004)
92. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch
Stole Christmas (2000)
93. Jaws (1975)
94. Captain America: The Winter
Soldier (2014)
95. The Hobbit: The Desolation
of Smaug (2013)
96. The LEGO Movie (2014)
97. Star Trek (2009)
98. I Am Legend (2007)
99. The Blind Side (2009)
100. The Hobbit: The
Battle of the Five Armies
(2014)
89. One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
90. M*A*S*H (1970)
91. Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom (1984)
92. Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
93. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack
of the Clones (2002)
94. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
95. Aladdin (1992)
96. Toy Story 3 (2010)
97. Ghost (1990)
98. The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire (2013)
99. Duel in the Sun (1946)
100. The Hunger Games
(2012)
83. Gravity (2013)
84. Captain America: The Winter
Soldier (2014)
85. The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn, Part 1 (2011)
86. Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes (2014)
87. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
(2009)
88. Transformers (2007)
89. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
(2014)
90. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
(2010)
91. Mission: Impossible - Ghost
Protocol (2011)
92. The Hunger Games (2012)
93. Mission: Impossible - Rogue
Nation (2015)
94. Forrest Gump (1994)
95. Interstellar (2014)
96. Doctor Strange (2016)
97. The Sixth Sense (1999)
98. Man of Steel (2013)
 99. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

100. Ice Age: The

Meltdown (2006)

The Three Lists:

 The Domestic, Unadjusted (for inflation) list of box-office champs is top heavy with recent films. Rankings
may change daily with every new blockbuster release. There are few films that are classics or films from
Hollywood's Golden Era in this list. Top-grossing, financially-successful films often rate lower in artistic
achievement. Blockbusters, special effects wonders, films with sequels and expensive campaign and
publicity ads fill many of the positions. (Notice that there are very few pre-1980 films in the unadjusted list.)
 The Domestic, Adjusted (for inflation) list of box-office champs - with rankings that don't vary much from
month to month (and therefore is not updated as regularly) - takes into account inflationary factors such as
ticket prices and any re-issues or re-releases, and is more reflective of a film's actual appeal. [It is inflation-
adjusted to the 2017 average ticket price of $8.65. Most pre-1980 pictures achieved their totals through
multiple releases.] The escalating price of theatre tickets would otherwise bias a list of all-time blockbuster
films to recent releases. See more details.

 The Worldwide list of box-office-champs - in some cases, the gross earnings were made with multiple
releases. Currently, only about a tenth of the films were not in the decade of the 2000s or 2010s.

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

1. 99% The Wizard of Oz (1939) 109

2. 100% Citizen Kane (1941) 75

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

3. 100% The Third Man (1949) 77

4. 97% Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) 359

5. 100% All About Eve (1950) 64

6. 99% Get Out (2017) 245

7. 100% The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. 49

Caligari) (1920)

8. 98% Inside Out (2015) 319

9. 99% The Godfather (1972) 85

10. 99% Metropolis (1927) 115

11. 100% Modern Times (1936) 53

12. 98% E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 113

13. 98% It Happened One Night (1934) 52

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

14. 100% Singin' in the Rain (1952) 49

15. 97% Casablanca (1942) 74

16. 98% Boyhood (2014) 278

17. 98% A Hard Day's Night (1964) 103

18. 100% Laura (1944) 60

19. 97% Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (Nosferatu, eine 62

Symphonie des Grauens) (Nosferatu the Vampire)
(1922)

20. 98% Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 47

21. 98% Moonlight (2016) 281

22. 97% La Grande illusion (Grand Illusion) (1938) 63

23. 99% The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeri) (1967) 82

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

24. 100% North by Northwest (1959) 64

25. 100% Repulsion (1965) 60

26. 100% The Maltese Falcon (1941) 49

27. 96% 12 Years a Slave (2013) 314

28. 96% Gravity (2013) 314

29. 98% Sunset Boulevard (1950) 60

30. 98% King Kong (1933) 54

31. 100% The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 45

32. 100% Rear Window (1954) 63

33. 100% Rashômon (1951) 49

34. 96% Psycho (1960) 84

35. 96% Spotlight (2015) 303

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

36. 99% Taxi Driver (1976) 77

37. 99% Selma (2015) 228

38. 99% Toy Story 3 (2010) 290

39. 96% Argo (2012) 313

40. 100% Toy Story 2 (1999) 163

41. 100% The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 41

42. 100% M (1931) 51

43. 100% The Philadelphia Story (1940) 54

44. 98% Zootopia (2016) 243

45. 100% Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) (1956) 57

46. 100% The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 45

47. 97% Alien (1979) 102

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

48. 98% Up (2009) 285

49. 100% All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 40

50. 100% The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups) (1959) 54

51. 98% Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (1949) 56

52. 97% Army of Shadows (L'Armée des ombres) (1969) 73

53. 100% 12 Angry Men (Twelve Angry Men) (1957) 48

54. 98% A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 54

55. 98% Hell or High Water (2016) 229

56. 99% Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying 73

and Love the Bomb (1964)

57. 98% The Night of the Hunter (1955) 63

58. 100% Rebecca (1940) 48

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

59. 99% Rosemary's Baby (1968) 69

60. 100% Frankenstein (1931) 45

61. 100% The Conformist (1970) 50

62. 97% Vertigo (1958) 64

63. 99% Finding Nemo (2003) 255

64. 92% Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) 365

65. 96% Touch of Evil (1958) 70

66. 93% La La Land (2016) 340

67. 96% Manchester by the Sea (2016) 267

68. 98% The Wrestler (2008) 221

69. 99% L.A. Confidential (1997) 108

70. 94% The Dark Knight (2008) 318

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

71. 94% Arrival (2016) 313

72. 98% The Babadook (2014) 207

73. 97% The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) 68

74. 98% The Hurt Locker (2009) 256

75. 92% Logan (2017) 286

76. 98% The 39 Steps (1935) 44

77. 93% Skyfall (2012) 348

78. 94% Gone With the Wind (1939) 81

79. 100% Pinocchio (1940) 45

80. 97% Brooklyn (2015) 235

81. 100% Open City (1946) 40

82. 100% Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) (1953) 41

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

83. 96% High Noon (1952) 50

84. 95% Star Trek (2009) 333

85. 100% The Last Picture Show (1971) 51

86. 100% The Wages of Fear (1953) 40

87. 100% The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 43

88. 98% Roman Holiday (1953) 52

89. 98% On the Waterfront (1954) 60

90. 96% Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011) 310

91. 95% The Jungle Book (2016) 274

92. 100% Man on Wire (2008) 154

93. 100% Toy Story (1995) 78

94. 97% The Godfather, Part II (1974) 72

Ran No. of
k Rating Title Reviews

95. 97% Jaws (1975) 74

96. 97% It Follows (2015) 221

97. 100% Battleship Potemkin (1925) 45

98. 100% Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 42

99. 97% Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 77

100. 98% The Lady Vanishes (1938) 41

Top Rated Movies

Top 250 as rated by IMDb Users
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
9.2

2. The Godfather (1972)

9.2
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
9.0

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

8.9
5. 12 Angry Men (1957)
8.9

6. Schindler's List (1993)

8.9
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
8.9

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

8.9
9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
8.8

10. Fight Club (1999)

8.8
11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
8.8

12. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

8.7
13. Forrest Gump (1994)
8.7

14. Inception (2010)

8.7
15. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers(2002)
8.7

16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

8.7
17. Goodfellas (1990)
8.7

18. The Matrix (1999)

8.7
19. Seven Samurai (1954)
8.6

20. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

8.6
21. City of God (2002)
8.6

22. Se7en (1995)

8.6
23. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
8.6

24. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

8.6
25. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
8.6

26. The Usual Suspects (1995)

8.6
27. Léon: The Professional (1994)
8.5

28. Spirited Away (2001)

8.5
29. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
8.5

30. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

8.5
31. American History X (1998)
8.5

32. Interstellar (2014)

8.5
33. Casablanca (1942)
8.5

34. City Lights (1931)

8.5
35. Psycho (1960)
8.5

36. The Green Mile (1999)

8.5
37. The Intouchables (2011)
8.5

38. Modern Times (1936)

8.5
39. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
8.5

40. Rear Window (1954)

8.5
41. The Pianist (2002)
8.5

42. The Departed (2006)

8.5
43. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
8.5

44. Back to the Future (1985)

8.5
45. Whiplash (2014)
8.5

46. Gladiator (2000)

8.5
47. Memento (2000)
8.5

48. The Prestige (2006)

8.5
49. Apocalypse Now (1979)
8.5

50. The Lion King (1994)

8.5
51. Alien (1979)
8.4

52. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

8.4
53. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
8.4

54. The Great Dictator (1940)

8.4
55. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
8.4

56. The Lives of Others (2006)

8.4
57. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
8.4

58. Paths of Glory (1957)

8.4
59. Django Unchained (2012)
8.4

60. The Shining (1980)

8.4
61. WALL·E (2008)
8.4

62. American Beauty (1999)

8.4
63. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
8.4

64. Princess Mononoke (1997)

8.4
65. Oldboy (2003)
8.4

66. Aliens (1986)

8.4
67. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
8.4

68. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

8.3
69. Das Boot (1981)
8.3

70. Citizen Kane (1941)

8.3
71. North by Northwest (1959)
8.3

72. Vertigo (1958)

8.3
73. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi(1983)
8.3

74. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

8.3
75. Braveheart (1995)
8.3

76. M (1931)
8.3
77. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
8.3

78. Amélie (2001)

8.3
79. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
8.3

80. Like Stars on Earth (2007)

8.3
81. Taxi Driver (1976)
8.3

82. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

8.3
83. Double Indemnity (1944)
8.3

84. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

8.3
85. Amadeus (1984)
8.3

86. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

8.3
87. Logan (2017)
8.3

88. Toy Story 3 (2010)

8.3
89. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
8.3

90. Dangal (2016)

8.3
91. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
8.3

92. The Sting (1973)

8.3
93. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
8.3

94. Toy Story (1995)

8.3
95. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
8.3

96. The Kid (1921)

8.3
97. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
8.3

98. Snatch (2000)

8.3
99. 3 Idiots (2009)
8.3

100. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

8.3
101. My Father and My Son (2005)
8.3

102. Your Name. (2016)

8.3
103. L.A. Confidential (1997)
8.3

104. For a Few Dollars More (1965)

8.3
105. Scarface (1983)
8.3

106. The Hunt (2012)

8.3
107. Good Will Hunting (1997)
8.2

108. The Apartment (1960)

8.2
109. Rashomon (1950)
8.2

110. A Separation (2011)

8.2
111. Metropolis (1927)
8.2

112. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

8.2
113. La La Land (2016)
8.2

114. All About Eve (1950)

8.2
115. Yojimbo (1961)
8.2

116. Batman Begins (2005)

8.2
117. Up (2009)
8.2

118. Some Like It Hot (1959)

8.2
119. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
8.2

120. Unforgiven (1992)

8.2
121. Downfall (2004)
8.2

122. Raging Bull (1980)

8.2
123. Die Hard (1988)
8.2

124. The Third Man (1949)

8.2
125. Children of Heaven (1997)
8.2

126. Heat (1995)

8.2
127. The Great Escape (1963)
8.2

128. Chinatown (1974)

8.2
129. Ikiru (1952)
8.2

130. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

8.2
131. Inside Out (2015)
8.2

132. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

8.2
133. Ran (1985)
8.2

134. The Gold Rush (1925)

8.2
135. On the Waterfront (1954)
8.2

136. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

8.2
137. Room (2015)
8.2

138. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

8.2
139. Blade Runner (1982)
8.2

140. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

8.2
141. The Seventh Seal (1957)
8.2

142. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

8.2
143. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels(1998)
8.2

144. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

8.2
145. Incendies (2010)
8.2

146. Andrei Rublev (1966)

8.2
147. Casino (1995)
8.2

148. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

8.2
149. The Elephant Man (1980)
8.1

150. Wild Strawberries (1957)

8.1
151. V for Vendetta (2005)
8.1

152. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

8.1
153. The General (1926)
8.1

154. Warrior (2011)

8.1
155. The Bandit (1996)
8.1

156. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

8.1
157. Sunrise (1927)
8.1

158. Trainspotting (1996)

8.1
159. Gran Torino (2008)
8.1

160. Dial M for Murder (1954)

8.1
161. The Deer Hunter (1978)
8.1

162. The Big Lebowski (1998)

8.1
163. Fargo (1996)
8.1

164. Gone with the Wind (1939)

8.1
165. The Sixth Sense (1999)
8.1

166. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

8.1
167. Rang De Basanti (2006)
8.1

168. Tokyo Story (1953)

8.1
169. Finding Nemo (2003)
8.1

170. The Thing (1982)

8.1
171. A Wednesday (2008)
8.1

172. No Country for Old Men (2007)

8.1
173. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
8.1

174. Rebecca (1940)

8.1
175. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
8.1

176. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

8.1
177. There Will Be Blood (2007)
8.1

178. Come and See (1985)

8.1
179. Mary and Max (2009)
8.1

180. Into the Wild (2007)

8.1
181. Gone Girl (2014)
8.1

182. Life of Brian (1979)

8.1
183. It Happened One Night (1934)
8.1

184. Shutter Island (2010)

8.1
185. Platoon (1986)
8.1

186. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

8.1
187. Rush (2013)
8.1

188. Network (1976)

8.1
189. Wild Tales (2014)
8.1

190. The Wages of Fear (1953)

8.1
191. Stand by Me (1986)
8.1

192. In the Name of the Father (1993)

8.1
193. Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
8.1

194. The 400 Blows (1959)

8.1
195. Spotlight (2015)
8.1

196. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

8.1
197. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
8.1

198. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

8.1
199. Ben-Hur (1959)
8.1

200. Persona (1966)

8.1
201. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
8.1

202. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

8.1
203. Amores Perros (2000)
8.1

204. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

8.1
205. Jurassic Park (1993)
8.1

206. Memories of Murder (2003)

8.1
207. The Nights of Cabiria (1957)
8.1

208. Sholay (1975)

8.1
209. Stalker (1979)
8.1

210. The Princess Bride (1987)

8.1
211. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
8.1

212. Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

8.1
213. Hera Pheri (2000)
8.1

214. The Truman Show (1998)

8.1
215. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
8.1

216. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

8.1
217. Before Sunrise (1995)
8.0

218. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

8.0
219. Touch of Evil (1958)
8.0

220. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2(2011)

8.0
221. Rocky (1976)
8.0

222. Prisoners (2013)

8.0
223. Annie Hall (1977)
8.0

224. Gandhi (1982)

8.0
225. Diabolique (1955)
8.0

226. Donnie Darko (2001)

8.0
227. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
8.0

228. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

8.0
229. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
8.0

230. The Terminator (1984)

8.0
231. 8½ (1963)
8.0

232. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

8.0
233. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
8.0

234. Groundhog Day (1993)

8.0
235. Barry Lyndon (1975)
8.0

236. La Haine (1995)

8.0
237. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
8.0

238. Jaws (1975)

8.0
239. Infernal Affairs (2002)
8.0

240. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

8.0
241. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
8.0

242. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

8.0
243. The Help (2011)
8.0

244. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

8.0
245. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)
8.0

246. Zootopia (2016)

8.0
247. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
8.0

248. In the Mood for Love (2000)

8.0
 249. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
8.0

250. Fanny and Alexander (1982)

8.0

Domestic International Worldwide

Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
1 2015 Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force $936,662,225 $1,122,000,000 $2,058,662,225
Awakens
2 2009 Avatar $760,507,625 $2,023,411,357 $2,783,918,982
3 1997 Titanic $658,672,302 $1,548,943,366 $2,207,615,668
4 2015 Jurassic World $652,198,010 $1,019,442,583 $1,671,640,593
5 2012 The Avengers $623,279,547 $896,200,000 $1,519,479,547
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
6 2008 The Dark Knight $533,345,358 $469,546,000 $1,002,891,358
7 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $532,177,324 $518,811,164 $1,050,988,488
8 2017 Beauty and the Beast $488,574,249 $697,090,244 $1,185,664,493
9 2016 Finding Dory $486,295,561 $536,321,815 $1,022,617,376
10 1999 Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom $474,544,677 $552,500,000 $1,027,044,677
Menace
11 1977 Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope $460,998,007 $325,600,000 $786,598,007
12 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron $459,005,868 $945,700,000 $1,404,705,868
13 2012 The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099 $636,300,000 $1,084,439,099
14 2004 Shrek 2 $441,226,247 $495,781,885 $937,008,132
15 1982 ET: The Extra-Terrestrial $435,110,554 $357,854,772 $792,965,326
16 2013 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $424,668,047 $440,200,000 $864,868,047
17 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s $423,315,812 $642,900,000 $1,066,215,812
Chest
18 1994 The Lion King $422,780,140 $564,700,000 $987,480,140
19 2010 Toy Story 3 $415,004,880 $654,813,349 $1,069,818,229
20 2013 Iron Man 3 $408,992,272 $806,400,000 $1,215,392,272
21 2016 Captain America: Civil War $408,084,349 $743,600,000 $1,151,684,349
22 2012 The Hunger Games $408,010,692 $269,912,687 $677,923,379
23 2002 Spider-Man $403,706,375 $418,000,000 $821,706,375
24 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $402,111,870 $434,407,829 $836,519,699
25 2013 Frozen $400,738,009 $873,496,971 $1,274,234,980
26 1993 Jurassic Park $395,708,305 $643,104,279 $1,038,812,584
27 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly $381,011,219 $960,500,000 $1,341,511,219
Hallows: Part II
28 2003 Finding Nemo $380,529,370 $555,900,000 $936,429,370
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
29 2005 Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the $380,270,577 $468,728,300 $848,998,877
Sith
30 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of $377,845,905 $763,557,436 $1,141,403,341
the King
31 2004 Spider-Man 2 $373,524,485 $410,180,516 $783,705,001
32 2004 The Passion of the Christ $370,782,930 $251,558,994 $622,341,924
33 2016 The Secret Life of Pets $368,384,330 $507,573,978 $875,958,308
34 2013 Despicable Me 2 $368,065,385 $607,151,450 $975,216,835
35 2016 The Jungle Book $364,001,123 $599,900,000 $963,901,123
36 2016 Deadpool $363,070,709 $420,700,000 $783,770,709
37 2015 Inside Out $356,461,711 $497,245,870 $853,707,581
38 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon $352,390,543 $771,400,000 $1,123,790,543
39 2015 Furious 7 $351,032,910 $1,165,715,774 $1,516,748,684
40 2014 American Sniper $350,126,372 $197,200,000 $547,326,372
41 2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two $342,548,984 $592,150,661 $934,699,645
Towers
42 2016 Zootopia $341,268,248 $678,654,735 $1,019,922,983
43 2014 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - $337,135,885 $429,516,403 $766,652,288
Part 1
44 2007 Spider-Man 3 $336,530,303 $554,345,000 $890,875,303
45 2015 Minions $336,045,770 $831,199,596 $1,167,245,366
46 2010 Alice in Wonderland $334,191,110 $691,300,000 $1,025,491,110
47 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy $333,172,112 $437,951,290 $771,123,402
48 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $330,360,194 $537,800,000 $868,160,194
49 1994 Forrest Gump $330,151,138 $349,699,499 $679,850,637
50 2016 Suicide Squad $325,100,054 $421,000,000 $746,100,054
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
51 2007 Shrek the Third $322,719,944 $484,610,992 $807,330,936
52 2007 Transformers $319,246,193 $389,026,399 $708,272,592
53 2008 Iron Man $318,604,126 $266,000,000 $584,604,126
54 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s $317,575,550 $657,179,821 $974,755,371
Stone
55 2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of $317,023,851 $469,534,294 $786,558,145
the Crystal Skull
56 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The $315,544,750 $571,666,235 $887,210,985
Fellowship of the Ring
57 2010 Iron Man 2 $312,433,331 $311,128,000 $623,561,331
58 2002 Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the $310,676,740 $346,018,875 $656,695,615
Clones
59 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s $309,420,425 $654,000,000 $963,420,425
End
60 1983 Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi $309,205,079 $263,500,000 $572,705,079
61 1996 Independence Day $306,169,255 $511,231,623 $817,400,878
62 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse $305,411,224 $329,542,879 $634,954,103
of the Blac…
63 2012 Skyfall $304,360,277 $806,166,704 $1,110,526,981
64 2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $303,003,568 $714,000,000 $1,017,003,568
65 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood $301,959,197 $633,124,489 $935,083,686
Prince
66 2010 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $300,531,751 $405,571,077 $706,102,828
67 2009 The Twilight Saga: New Moon $296,623,634 $390,934,093 $687,557,727
68 2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly $295,983,305 $664,300,000 $960,283,305
Hallows: Part I
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
69 1999 The Sixth Sense $293,506,292 $379,300,000 $672,806,292
70 2009 Up $293,004,164 $438,538,457 $731,542,621
71 2010 Inception $292,576,195 $540,008,221 $832,584,416
72 2012 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, $292,324,737 $537,400,000 $829,724,737
Part 2
73 2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the $292,004,738 $650,939,197 $942,943,935
Phoenix
74 2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, $291,710,957 $428,828,615 $720,539,572
the Witch a…
75 2013 Man of Steel $291,045,518 $376,954,000 $667,999,518
76 1980 Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes $290,271,960 $243,900,000 $534,171,960
Back
77 2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire $290,013,036 $606,898,042 $896,911,078
78 2001 Monsters, Inc. $289,423,425 $270,334,294 $559,757,719
79 1990 Home Alone $285,761,243 $190,923,432 $476,684,675
80 2015 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - $281,723,902 $368,799,525 $650,523,427
Part 2
81 2003 The Matrix Reloaded $281,553,689 $457,023,240 $738,576,929
82 2011 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, $281,287,133 $408,132,918 $689,420,051
Part 1
83 2004 Meet the Fockers $279,167,575 $237,400,000 $516,567,575
84 2009 The Hangover $277,322,503 $188,441,583 $465,764,086
85 2013 Gravity $274,092,705 $421,849,092 $695,941,797
86 2016 Sing $270,329,045 $360,700,000 $631,029,045
87 2013 Monsters University $268,488,329 $475,100,000 $743,588,329
88 2001 Shrek $267,655,011 $224,157,783 $491,812,794
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
89 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man $262,030,663 $495,859,604 $757,890,267
90 2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of $261,987,880 $616,991,754 $878,979,634
Secrets
91 2004 The Incredibles $261,441,092 $353,285,660 $614,726,752
92 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas $260,044,825 $85,096,578 $345,141,403
93 1975 Jaws $260,000,000 $210,700,000 $470,700,000
94 2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier $259,746,958 $454,654,931 $714,401,889
95 2013 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug $258,366,855 $702,000,000 $960,366,855
96 2014 The Lego Movie $257,784,718 $199,944,670 $457,729,388
97 2009 Star Trek $257,730,019 $127,950,427 $385,680,446
98 2007 I am Legend $256,393,010 $329,139,674 $585,532,684
99 2009 The Blind Side $255,959,475 $49,746,319 $305,705,794
100 2014 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five $255,119,788 $700,000,000 $955,119,788
Armies
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
1 2015 Star Wars Ep. VII: The $936,662,225 $1,122,000,000 $2,058,662,225
Force Awakens
2 2009 Avatar $760,507,625 $2,023,411,357 $2,783,918,982
3 1997 Titanic $658,672,302 $1,548,943,366 $2,207,615,668
4 2015 Jurassic World $652,198,010 $1,019,442,583 $1,671,640,593
5 2012 The Avengers $623,279,547 $896,200,000 $1,519,479,547
6 2008 The Dark Knight $533,345,358 $469,546,000 $1,002,891,358
7 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars $532,177,324 $518,811,164 $1,050,988,488
Story
8 2017 Beauty and the Beast $489,331,164 $697,090,244 $1,186,421,408
9 2016 Finding Dory $486,295,561 $536,321,815 $1,022,617,376
10 1999 Star Wars Ep. I: The $474,544,677 $552,500,000 $1,027,044,677
Phantom Menace
11 1977 Star Wars Ep. IV: A New $460,998,007 $325,600,000 $786,598,007
Hope
12 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron $459,005,868 $945,700,000 $1,404,705,868
13 2012 The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099 $636,300,000 $1,084,439,099
14 2004 Shrek 2 $441,226,247 $495,781,885 $937,008,132
15 1982 ET: The Extra- $435,110,554 $357,854,772 $792,965,326
Terrestrial
16 2013 The Hunger Games: $424,668,047 $440,200,000 $864,868,047
Catching Fire
17 2006 Pirates of the $423,315,812 $642,900,000 $1,066,215,812
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
Caribbean: Dead Man’s
Chest
18 1994 The Lion King $422,780,140 $564,700,000 $987,480,140
19 2010 Toy Story 3 $415,004,880 $654,813,349 $1,069,818,229
20 2013 Iron Man 3 $408,992,272 $806,400,000 $1,215,392,272
21 2016 Captain America: Civil $408,084,349 $743,600,000 $1,151,684,349
War
22 2012 The Hunger Games $408,010,692 $269,912,687 $677,923,379
23 2002 Spider-Man $403,706,375 $418,000,000 $821,706,375
24 2009 Transformers: Revenge $402,111,870 $434,407,829 $836,519,699
of the Fallen
25 2013 Frozen $400,738,009 $873,496,971 $1,274,234,980
26 1993 Jurassic Park $395,708,305 $643,104,279 $1,038,812,584
27 2011 Harry Potter and the $381,011,219 $960,500,000 $1,341,511,219
Deathly Hallows: Part II
28 2003 Finding Nemo $380,529,370 $555,900,000 $936,429,370
29 2005 Star Wars Ep. III: $380,270,577 $468,728,300 $848,998,877
Revenge of the Sith
30 2003 The Lord of the Rings: $377,845,905 $763,557,436 $1,141,403,341
The Return of the King
31 2004 Spider-Man 2 $373,524,485 $410,180,516 $783,705,001
32 2004 The Passion of the $370,782,930 $251,558,994 $622,341,924
Christ
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
33 2016 The Secret Life of Pets $368,384,330 $507,573,978 $875,958,308
34 2013 Despicable Me 2 $368,065,385 $607,151,450 $975,216,835
35 2016 The Jungle Book $364,001,123 $599,900,000 $963,901,123
36 2016 Deadpool $363,070,709 $420,700,000 $783,770,709
37 2015 Inside Out $356,461,711 $497,245,870 $853,707,581
38 2011 Transformers: Dark of $352,390,543 $771,400,000 $1,123,790,543
the Moon
39 2015 Furious 7 $351,032,910 $1,165,715,774 $1,516,748,684
40 2014 American Sniper $350,126,372 $197,200,000 $547,326,372
41 2002 The Lord of the Rings: $342,548,984 $592,150,661 $934,699,645
The Two Towers
42 2016 Zootopia $341,268,248 $678,654,735 $1,019,922,983
43 2014 The Hunger Games: $337,135,885 $429,516,403 $766,652,288
Mockingjay - Part 1
44 2007 Spider-Man 3 $336,530,303 $554,345,000 $890,875,303
45 2015 Minions $336,045,770 $831,199,596 $1,167,245,366
46 2010 Alice in Wonderland $334,191,110 $691,300,000 $1,025,491,110
47 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy $333,172,112 $437,951,290 $771,123,402
48 2016 Batman v Superman: $330,360,194 $537,800,000 $868,160,194
Dawn of Justice
49 1994 Forrest Gump $330,151,138 $349,699,499 $679,850,637
50 2016 Suicide Squad $325,100,054 $421,000,000 $746,100,054
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
51 2007 Shrek the Third $322,719,944 $484,610,992 $807,330,936
52 2007 Transformers $319,246,193 $389,026,399 $708,272,592
53 2008 Iron Man $318,604,126 $266,000,000 $584,604,126
54 2001 Harry Potter and the $317,575,550 $657,179,821 $974,755,371
Sorcerer’s Stone
55 2008 Indiana Jones and the $317,023,851 $469,534,294 $786,558,145
Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull
56 2001 The Lord of the Rings: $315,544,750 $571,666,235 $887,210,985
The Fellowship of the
Ring
57 2010 Iron Man 2 $312,433,331 $311,128,000 $623,561,331
58 2002 Star Wars Ep. II: Attack $310,676,740 $346,018,875 $656,695,615
of the Clones
59 2007 Pirates of the $309,420,425 $654,000,000 $963,420,425
Caribbean: At World’s
End
60 1983 Star Wars Ep. VI: $309,205,079 $263,500,000 $572,705,079
Return of the Jedi
61 1996 Independence Day $306,169,255 $511,231,623 $817,400,878
62 2003 Pirates of the $305,411,224 $329,542,879 $634,954,103
Caribbean: The Curse of
the Blac…
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
63 2012 Skyfall $304,360,277 $806,166,704 $1,110,526,981
64 2012 The Hobbit: An $303,003,568 $714,000,000 $1,017,003,568
Unexpected Journey
65 2009 Harry Potter and the $301,959,197 $633,124,489 $935,083,686
Half-Blood Prince
66 2010 The Twilight Saga: $300,531,751 $405,571,077 $706,102,828
Eclipse
67 2009 The Twilight Saga: New $296,623,634 $390,934,093 $687,557,727
Moon
68 2010 Harry Potter and the $295,983,305 $664,300,000 $960,283,305
Deathly Hallows: Part I
69 1999 The Sixth Sense $293,506,292 $379,300,000 $672,806,292
70 2009 Up $293,004,164 $438,538,457 $731,542,621
71 2010 Inception $292,576,195 $540,008,221 $832,584,416
72 2012 The Twilight Saga: $292,324,737 $537,400,000 $829,724,737
Breaking Dawn, Part 2
73 2007 Harry Potter and the $292,004,738 $650,939,197 $942,943,935
Order of the Phoenix
74 2005 The Chronicles of $291,710,957 $428,828,615 $720,539,572
Narnia: The Lion, the
Witch a…
75 2013 Man of Steel $291,045,518 $376,954,000 $667,999,518
76 1980 Star Wars Ep. V: The $290,271,960 $243,900,000 $534,171,960
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
Empire Strikes Back
77 2005 Harry Potter and the $290,013,036 $606,898,042 $896,911,078
Goblet of Fire
78 2001 Monsters, Inc. $289,423,425 $270,334,294 $559,757,719
79 1990 Home Alone $285,761,243 $190,923,432 $476,684,675
80 2015 The Hunger Games: $281,723,902 $368,799,525 $650,523,427
Mockingjay - Part 2
81 2003 The Matrix Reloaded $281,553,689 $457,023,240 $738,576,929
82 2011 The Twilight Saga: $281,287,133 $408,132,918 $689,420,051
Breaking Dawn, Part 1
83 2004 Meet the Fockers $279,167,575 $237,400,000 $516,567,575
84 2009 The Hangover $277,322,503 $188,441,583 $465,764,086
85 2013 Gravity $274,092,705 $421,849,092 $695,941,797
86 2016 Sing $270,329,045 $359,614,169 $629,943,214
87 2013 Monsters University $268,488,329 $475,100,000 $743,588,329
88 2001 Shrek $267,655,011 $224,157,783 $491,812,794
89 2012 The Amazing Spider- $262,030,663 $495,859,604 $757,890,267
Man
90 2002 Harry Potter and the $261,987,880 $616,991,754 $878,979,634
Chamber of Secrets
91 2004 The Incredibles $261,441,092 $353,285,660 $614,726,752
92 2000 How the Grinch Stole $260,044,825 $85,096,578 $345,141,403
Christmas
 Domestic International Worldwide
Rank Released Movie
Box Office Box Office Box Office
93 1975 Jaws $260,000,000 $210,700,000 $470,700,000
94 2014 Captain America: The $259,746,958 $454,654,931 $714,401,889
Winter Soldier
95 2013 The Hobbit: The $258,366,855 $702,000,000 $960,366,855
Desolation of Smaug
96 2014 The Lego Movie $257,784,718 $199,944,670 $457,729,388
97 2009 Star Trek $257,730,019 $127,950,427 $385,680,446
98 2007 I am Legend $256,393,010 $329,139,674 $585,532,684
99 2009 The Blind Side $255,959,475 $49,746,319 $305,705,794
100 2014 The Hobbit: The Battle $255,119,788 $700,000,000 $955,119,788
of the Five Armies
http://piaofang.maoyan.com/dashboard

Rank Title Gross Country Year

China
1 The Mermaid 3.392 billion 2016
Hong Kong
Rank Title Gross Country Year
2 The Fate of the Furious 2.644 billion United States 2017
China
3 Monster Hunt 2.440 billion 2015
Hong Kong
4 Furious 7 2.427 billion United States 2015
United States
5 Transformers: Age of Extinction 1.978 billion 2014
China
China
6 Kung Fu Yoga 1.753 billion 2017
India
7 Mojin: The Lost Legend 1.683 billion China 2015
China
8 Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back 1.657 billion 2017
Hong Kong
9 Lost in Hong Kong 1.614 billion China 2015
10 Zootopia 1.530 billion United States 2016
11 Warcraft 1.472 billion United States 2016
12 Avengers: Age of Ultron 1.464 billion United States 2015
13 Goodbye Mr. Loser 1.442 billion China 2015
14 Jurassic World 1.421 billion United States 2015
15 Avatar 1.340 billion United States 2009
16 Lost in Thailand 1.272 billion China 2012
China
17 Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 1.247 billion 2013
Hong Kong
18 Captain America: Civil War 1.246 billion United States 2016
China
19 The Monkey King 2 1.201 billion 2016
Hong Kong
Rank Title Gross Country Year
China
20 Operation Mekong 1.184 billion 2016
Hong Kong
United States
21 The Great Wall 1.175 billion 2016
China
22 Breakup Buddies 1.170 billion China 2014
23 Jian Bing Man 1.161 billion China 2015
24 Kong: Skull Island 1.133 billion United States 2017
25 xXx: Return of Xander Cage 1.128 billion United States 2017
China
26 From Vegas to Macau III 1.118 billion 2016
Hong Kong
United States
27 Resident Evil: The Final Chapter 1.112 billion 2017
Germany
28 Transformers: Dark of the Moon 1.072 billion United States 2011
29 Duckweed 1.049 billion China 2017
China
30 The Monkey King 1.046 billion 2014
Hong Kong
31 Time Raiders 1.004 billion China 2016
United States
32 Kung Fu Panda 3 1.002 billion 2016
China
33 The Jungle Book 979 million United States 2016
China
34 From Vegas to Macau II 975 million 2015
Hong Kong
35 Monkey King: Hero Is Back 957 million China 2015
36 Titanic in 3D 946 million United States 2012
37 Mr. Six 903 million China 2015
Rank Title Gross Country Year
China
38 Skiptrace 889 million United States 2016
Hong Kong
China
39 The Taking of Tiger Mountain 882 million 2014
Hong Kong
China
40 CZ12 881 million 2012
Hong Kong
41 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation 870 million United States 2015
42 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 826 million United States 2015
43 Detective Chinatown 824 million China 2015
44 I Belonged to You 814 million China 2016
45 X-Men: Apocalypse 803 million United States 2016
China
46 Book of Love 787 million 2016
Hong Kong
47 Ip Man 3 770 million Hong Kong 2015
United States
48 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies 766 million 2014
New Zealand
49 Buddies in India 759 million China 2017
United States
50 Interstellar 755 million 2014
United Kingdom