Ongoing Process » Blog Archive » The actual most popular US movies of all time

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The actual most popular US movies of all time

There’s much buzz around Avatar becoming the highest grossing film of all time in only a few weeks. This buzz is well earned in many ways because it’s a landmark movie, but the more astute among you may say “Ah, but adjusted for inflation, it’s nowhere near the top!”. This is true, it comes in 26th when looked at that way (still a remarkable feat given how briefly it’s been out). But when you really think about it, money doesn’t directly measure the popularity of a movie: the number of tickets sold does. But just as the dollars need to be adjusted for inflation for a more accurate measurement, the ticket sales must be adjusted to reflect changes in population (selling 100 million tickets in a population of 150 million is a very different thing than in a population of 300 million!). So, based on estimated domestic ticket sales from Box Office Mojo and estimated population from the US Census Bureau, I present to you the actual most popular movies of all time.

Gone with the Wind still holds a record that is hard to imagine being broken. At almost twice the popularity of its nearest competitor, every single citizen in the entire nation saw this movie an astonishing one and a half times!

Even with this more realistic picture of popularity, Avatar is still doing incredibly well at 68th place. And it’s still steadily cranking out the sales, so I don’t doubt that its rank will climb much higher than that before it finishes its run.

It’s interesting to note that there hasn’t been a new top-10 movie in 28 years. That means that most people currently alive in the country have never personally experienced a genuine cinematic phenomenon (especially not also being old enough to really appreciate it). And in the last decade, Avatar aside, the best we’ve managed to do is 72nd. Let’s hope that Avatar is a sign of better things to come!

Note that ticket sales were taken from a list ultimately based on money made, so an unusual ratio of tickets to money could have resulted in some movies being excluded from this list, especially near the bottom. Also, any movie re-released in a year with a substantially different population will have a skewed result (I’m looking at you, Star Wars).

Rank	Movie Title	Ticket Sales	Release Year	Current Population	Tickets per Citizen
1	Gone with the Wind	202,044,600	1939	130,879,718	1.5437
2	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	109,000,000	1937	128,824,829	0.8461
3	Star Wars	178,119,600	1977	220,239,425	0.8088
4	The Ten Commandments	131,000,000	1956	168,903,031	0.7756
5	The Sound of Music	142,415,400	1965	194,302,963	0.7330
6	Doctor Zhivago	124,135,500	1965	194,302,963	0.6389
7	Fantasia	83,043,500	1941	133,402,471	0.6225
8	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	141,854,300	1982	231,664,458	0.6123
9	Jaws	128,078,800	1975	215,973,199	0.5930
10	Ben-Hur	98,000,000	1959	177,829,628	0.5511
11	101 Dalmatians	99,917,300	1961	183,691,481	0.5439
12	The Exorcist	110,568,700	1973	211,908,788	0.5218
13	Pinocchio	67,403,300	1940	132,122,446	0.5102
14	Titanic	128,345,900	1997	267,783,607	0.4793
15	Bambi	63,712,400	1942	134,859,553	0.4724
16	The Bells of St. Mary’s	62,745,100	1945	139,928,165	0.4484
17	The Empire Strikes Back	98,180,600	1980	227,224,681	0.4321
18	The Graduate	85,571,400	1967	198,712,056	0.4306
19	The Sting	89,142,900	1973	211,908,788	0.4207
20	Sleeping Beauty	72,676,100	1959	177,829,628	0.4087
21	The Robe	65,454,500	1953	160,184,192	0.4086
22	Mary Poppins	78,181,800	1964	191,888,791	0.4074
23	Return of the Jedi	94,059,400	1983	233,791,994	0.4023
24	The Best Years of Our Lives	55,000,000	1946	141,388,566	0.3890
25	Thunderball	74,800,000	1965	194,302,963	0.3850
26	Raiders of the Lost Ark	88,141,900	1981	229,465,714	0.3841
27	Around the World in 80 Days	64,615,400	1956	168,903,031	0.3826
28	The Greatest Show on Earth	60,000,000	1952	157,552,740	0.3808
29	The Godfather	78,922,600	1972	209,896,021	0.3760
30	The Jungle Book	73,679,900	1967	198,712,056	0.3708
31	Duel in the Sun	51,020,400	1946	141,388,566	0.3609
32	Sergeant York	48,123,200	1941	133,402,471	0.3607
33	Cleopatra (1963)	67,183,500	1963	189,241,798	0.3550
34	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	70,557,900	1969	202,676,946	0.3481
35	Grease	76,921,800	1978	222,584,545	0.3456
36	Goldfinger	66,300,000	1964	191,888,791	0.3455
37	Love Story	69,998,100	1970	205,052,174	0.3414
38	Lady and the Tramp	55,734,900	1955	165,931,202	0.3359
39	Jurassic Park	86,205,800	1993	257,782,608	0.3344
40	Airport	66,111,300	1970	205,052,174	0.3224
41	The Bridge on the River Kwai	54,400,000	1957	171,984,130	0.3163
42	House of Wax	50,531,900	1953	160,184,192	0.3155
43	My Fair Lady	60,000,000	1964	191,888,791	0.3127
44	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	84,825,800	1999	272,690,813	0.3111
45	American Graffiti	65,714,300	1973	211,908,788	0.3101
46	Rear Window	50,354,700	1954	163,025,854	0.3089
47	West Side Story	55,970,300	1961	183,691,481	0.3047
48	Forrest Gump	78,545,600	1994	260,327,021	0.3017
49	Ghostbusters	70,730,600	1984	235,824,902	0.2999
50	Swiss Family Robinson	53,808,000	1960	180,671,158	0.2978
51	Lawrence of Arabia	55,383,600	1962	186,537,737	0.2969
52	The Lion King	77,231,800	1994	260,327,021	0.2967
53	Blazing Saddles	63,227,500	1974	213,853,928	0.2957
54	The Towering Inferno	61,375,700	1974	213,853,928	0.2870
55	Beverly Hills Cop	67,150,000	1984	235,824,902	0.2847
56	It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	53,875,400	1963	189,241,798	0.2847
57	Home Alone	67,734,200	1990	249,464,396	0.2715
58	National Lampoon’s Animal House	59,890,300	1978	222,584,545	0.2691
59	M.A.S.H.	53,684,200	1970	205,052,174	0.2618
60	The Poseidon Adventure	54,902,000	1972	209,896,021	0.2616
61	Independence Day	69,268,900	1996	265,228,572	0.2612
62	Smokey and the Bandit	56,832,900	1977	220,239,425	0.2581
63	Superman	57,358,100	1978	222,584,545	0.2577
64	Batman	62,954,600	1989	246,819,230	0.2551
65	The Rocky Horror Picture Show	55,069,400	1975	215,973,199	0.2550
66	Rocky	55,040,000	1976	218,035,164	0.2524
67	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	55,575,500	1977	220,239,425	0.2523
68	Avatar	76,421,400	2009	307,006,550	0.2489
69	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	53,685,400	1975	215,973,199	0.2486
70	Back to the Future	59,050,700	1985	237,923,795	0.2482
71	Tootsie	56,903,900	1982	231,664,458	0.2456
72	The Dark Knight	74,282,100	2008	304,059,724	0.2443
73	Shrek 2	71,050,900	2004	293,655,404	0.2420
74	Spider-Man	69,484,700	2002	287,941,220	0.2413
75	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	53,532,800	1984	235,824,902	0.2270
76	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest	64,628,400	2006	299,398,484	0.2159
77	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	61,538,100	2003	290,788,976	0.2116
78	The Sixth Sense	57,579,100	1999	272,690,813	0.2112
79	Ghost	51,465,200	1990	249,464,396	0.2063
80	Twister	54,688,100	1996	265,228,572	0.2062
81	Aladdin	52,442,300	1992	255,029,699	0.2056
82	Spider-Man 2	60,158,700	2004	293,655,404	0.2049
83	Mrs. Doubtfire	52,684,400	1993	257,782,608	0.2044
84	Men in Black	54,616,700	1997	267,783,607	0.2040
85	The Passion of the Christ	59,704,800	2004	293,655,404	0.2033
86	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	49,416,500	1989	246,819,230	0.2002
87	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	57,630,400	2002	287,941,220	0.2001
88	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	59,324,600	2005	296,507,061	0.2001
89	Top Gun	47,651,400	1986	240,132,887	0.1984
90	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone	55,913,000	2001	285,102,075	0.1961
91	Finding Nemo	56,337,500	2003	290,788,976	0.1937
92	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	48,656,400	1991	252,153,092	0.1930
93	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	54,703,900	2001	285,102,075	0.1919
94	The Lost World: Jurassic Park	49,910,000	1997	267,783,607	0.1864
95	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	53,468,500	2002	287,941,220	0.1857
96	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	56,004,400	2009	307,006,550	0.1824
97	Toy Story 2	47,836,500	1999	272,690,813	0.1754
98	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	50,648,900	2003	290,788,976	0.1742
99	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	48,106,800	2000	282,192,162	0.1705
100	Spider-Man 3	48,914,300	2007	301,621,157	0.1622

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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at
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2 Responses to “The actual most popular US movies of all time”

Travis Says:

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January 31st, 2010 at
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Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in /homepages/10/d160031109/htdocs/ongoingprocess.net/wp-includes/functions.php on line 26
6:55 pm
Interesting way to think about it. But I don’t think you can truly put together any real list of “most popular” movies because all those old movies at the top of your list didn’t have to compete with video games, DVD’s, and modern “cinema quality” TV programs. When a movie came out back then, there was no “I’ll just wait for the DVD” option. You couldn’t download a pirated copy. You either saw it at the theater, or you might never see it at all. Back then, movies were truly a national pastime, whereas today they are only one form of available entertainment.

Also, Gone With the Wind came out during a definite “lightning in a bottle” time frame. Americans flocked to the movie theater as a cheap way to escape from the troubles of the Great Depression. Britons went to it as a way to (figuratively) escape from Hitler’s bombs. It was a true “event” movie that allowed people to escape from the horrors of modern war and poverty to a more romantic (though fictional) time. It played for four straight years in the theaters. Nothing like that could possibly happen today because people have countless avenues to escape their everyday lives–and many avenues to see movies without going to the theater.

Also, if you’re going to call out Star Wars for being re-released, call out Gone With the Wind, too. It was re-released on several occasions: 1947, 1954, 1961, 1967, 1971, 1989, and 1998.

My point being (if I have one): Movies such as Avatar, Titanic, LOTR, Harry Potter, and even poor little Spider-Man 3 at the bottom of your list are, I think, doing astonishingly well considering all the other entertainment options they’re competing against. To say any of them is less “popular” than the really older movies is problematic, no matter how many numbers you crunch.
Chris Says:

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January 31st, 2010 at
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7:18 pm
You do make a good point (and I had no idea GWTW had so many releases!). The culture of entertainment has changed so much, and in particular at breakneck speed over the last decade or two, that it’s hard to make comparisons. But I do so love crunching numbers. And even if it’s not as much a definite measure of popularity, it’s interesting to see how it plays out. And yes, a number of modern movies are doing incredibly well by any standard!