I'm really amazed to see The Sound of Music on this list. All the other ones are pretty much what you'd expect the list to look like. Huge modern blockbusters, the greatest movie of all-time, big classic epics. But a musical is a surprising entry on the list. Just like The Exorcist's position on the domestic list adjusted for inflation. These must have been huge hits that nobody expected. Kind of like Bohemian Rhapsody shocked everyone with how much it earned last year but x1000.
Some of those films, particularly Gone with the Wind, is on the list because back in '39 there weren't as many theaters or movies released. So when a film with the scope of GWTW came out, it was truly an event for the entire nation. Also, home video release wouldn't become available until decades later, incentivizing folks to catch the film in theaters because that may be the only chance they would have to view it.
Kind of reminds me of the late great singer Bing Crosby's ridiculous statistics. Just wikipedia Bing Crosby; 396 chart singles, including roughly 25 No. 1 hits. He had 24 separate popular singles in 1939 alone. He may have been the best selling recording artist with up to 1 billion units sold. ---Bing was an amazing singer, one of the best--but his gawdy number are a result of the time--the medium was in its infancy and he was one of the first major players.
None ofthe other ones shock me... actually not even The Sound of Music "shocks" me because they're all-time classics. You can make excuses why they sold so many tickets (ticket prices were much lower, less competition in entertainment) but at the end of the day a movie's popularity is based on how many people have seen it and there was no bigger hit in human history than Gone with the Wind. It's an all-timer for many generations, people watch it till this day. It's timeless the same way that The Wizard of Oz is, or Casablanca.
The Sound of Music might be a pleasant surprise for me that it's THAT high on the list but in no way is it shocking considering the movie's status in cinema history.
I know that the adjusted for inflation numbers aren't perfect because they don't consider many other factors, but they're still a much better insight into what films have dominated popculture throughout history than the regular box office list which obviously skews the numbers in favor of most recent films.
Some of those films, particularly Gone with the Wind, is on the list because back in '39 there weren't as many theaters or movies released. So when a film with the scope of GWTW came out, it was truly an event for the entire nation. Also, home video release wouldn't become available until decades later, incentivizing folks to catch the film in theaters because that may be the only chance they would have to view it.
That's not at all the reason why GWTW is #1. Sure it was popular when it came out, but it earned all of that money because of a shit ton of theatrical re-releases.
If there was a list for the amount of tickets sold during a films initial theatrical run, GWTW would not even be close to top ten. Neither would The Sound of Music.
Fun fact: Avatar was also re-released in August 2010 as a special edition and grossed an additional $10M as the result. Don't say Cameron didn't try the same thing.
Fun fact: Avatar was also re-released in August 2010 as a special edition and grossed an additional $10M as the result. Don't say Cameron didn't try the same thing.
What exactly did he try? He was already way at the top of the mountain then.
Try to earn even more money and further the gross of his film, which is a perfectly fine thing to do. Point is, it's not cheating with Disney re-releasing Endgame when it has been done with Avatar as well.
Try to earn even more money and further the gross of his film, which is a perfectly fine thing to do. Point is, it's not cheating with Disney re-releasing Endgame when it has been done with Avatar as well.
Not the same. Avatar re-released a fully expanded film because it was a fully expanded film, End Game did it to cross a certain line and beat Avatar in the process. Now, I’m not in the ‘evil Disney cheating’ boat cause that’s silly and I do believe End Game deserves this fully and I’m glad we’re finally over the frankly embarassing re-release (unfinished VFX scenes? Lol), and it definitely was that. The why shouldn’t be the issue here since it was always so damn close, but how. Now this final push? Congrats, like I said - finally. Honestly didn’t expect it. Helps that it’s a bloody good blockbuster event of the decade.
