This is perhaps one of the toughest questions you can ask when it comes to the film industry. Things like inflation have changed things so much since film and cinema began you can’t just grab a Marvel film and say there you go!
You also need to consider the cost of an entry ticket. It might cost you $10 or £5 to gain entry now but in the 60’s it was just £0.36 in the UK or $0.50 in the US.
Sadly it was really hard finding out the number of cinemas and outlets at the time of the film, or the number of tickets sold, so we were pretty damned before we started. It would be fair to estimate that the amount of cinemas now compared to 1960 are at least 100 fold at the very least.
With the help of certain online sources, a calculator and plenty of coffee, here is our top five grossing films adjusted for inflation starting last to first!
5) Avengers: Endgame
Well there had to be one Marvel film in the list didn’t there! Endgame was hugely popular in 2019 following its build up from Infinity Wars but the total gross has been calculated to match that of 2020 so it could be debated.
$2,811,000,000
If Avengers: Endgame had been released, say, the same time as James Bond’s From Russia With Love in 1963 – a rough gross would have been $306,947,426.10 – but bear in mind, in 1963 there were less places to watch films, less places to see an advertisement and less ways of getting to the cinema to watch in the first place.
4) Star Wars: A New Hope
The most popular of all the Star Wars films, this was a big one back in 1977, I even recall my uncle saying he remembers watching it whilst smoking! Anyway, Star Wars was very popular, and its worldwide gross was appx $200m better than Avengers above
$3,059,000,000
3) Titanic (1997)
Who would have thought that so many people would spend so much money watching a ship hit and ice berg and sink? James Cameron obviously did, or at least he thought Di Caprio’s good looks would bring in some extra millions. At number three it’s adjusted figure is:
$3,096,000,000
Only a smidgen above Star Wars but with 20 years difference you can see why it would have pipped the George Luca sci-fi.
2) Avatar (2009)
I recall Avatar vividly. There was a HUGE advertising campaign. You couldn’t get away from it. It’s gross is astonishing nonetheless but you take away it’s budget and advertising costs of $246m and you end up with the second figure.
$3,273,000,000
$3,027,000,000 (net) includes marketing/advertising.
I’m aware this is based on adjusted figures but it does give a flavour of where films could be when you take out costs. A little more on that as we reach number one…
1) Gone With The Wind (1939)
Gone With The Wind was simply a beast at the time and still is. You recall we mentioned the budget for Avatar at appx $246m – well, the Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh classic, when adjusted for inflation comes in at $81,475,900 for costs, $3.85m if you ignore inflation.
Given Gone With The Wind was released on the start of World War 2, and with so little cinemas compared to now, it’s actual box office gross even back then of $390m+ is something very special.
$3,724,000,000
It’s impossible to calculate the exact figures. Some of the films in this list would likely not even make the top five if it could be worked out 100% correctly by a super computer. The next time you hear of a film breaking box office records, bear a thought for the films of the past which quite rightly would have smashed the current box office hit be it not for some lazy maths.
Some other honourable mentioned that we found on wikipedia are The Sound of Music, E.T., Doctoer Zhivago and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Have you seen these?
