Top 100 Movies of All-Time (Factoring Inflation)

Measuring the success of a movie by box office sales figures may be all-important to the studios, but without adjusting for inflation, it’s a poor method of comparing the true success of films. Announcing individual ticket sales (good luck waiting on studios to do this) would be better than straight cash sales at the box office, but still not perfect, given the onset of the digital age.

Of course, it be great to somehow see a running count of the number of times a movie was watched...but there’s just no way to measure that.

So, here are the Top 100 movies of all-time, when their box office sales are adjusted for inflation, and it’s somewhat surprising results:

TOP 100 FILMS OF ALL-TIME
(Domestic Gross, Adjusted for Inflation)
(through to early May 2018)

Part 1 of 3

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. Black Panther (2018)
    The culturally-significant story of Marvel's superhero - the 18th film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe, featuring the first major black cinematic and comic book character.
    
31. Thunderball (1965)
    Sean Connery's fourth Bond movie gave fans more gadgets, more sharks and more very sexy Bond girls.
    
32. The Dark Knight (2008)
    Christian Bale's brooding Batman and Heath Ledger's scary Joker gave this comic-book movie reboot real emotional depth.
    
33. 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.

Link: http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice3.html

 

101 Dalmations? Didn't see that coming.

 

Part 2 of 3 - 34-66 (Sorry, don’t know how to format the list numbers to start at 34):

• 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.
  
• Ghostbusters (1984)
  A profitable combination of goofy ghosts and snarky ghost chasers Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.
• Shrek 2 (2004)
  Kids love the rude, stinky-but-goodhearted green troll (voiced by Mike Myers); adults identify with his nemesis in-laws.
  
• 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."
  
• Love Story (1970)
  Everybody cries at this tale of doomed young lovers (Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal). The "disease movie" of the '70s.
  
• Spider-Man (2002)
  Tobey Maguire convinces us that high-school nerd Peter Parker could become a superhero when bit by a spider.
  
• Independence Day (1996)
  The ultimate war movie for nervous times proves that no one cares when bug-eyed monsters get their alien butts kicked.
  
• Home Alone (1990)
  Precocious Macaulay Culkin foils buffoonish burglars after his parents accidentally abandon him during Christmas vacation.
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
  The Resistance (composed of forces led by General Leia Organa, and with guidance from Luke Skywalker) continues to struggles against the Forces of the First Order.
  
• Pinocchio (1940)
  Funny, action-packed and a little scary, this animated feature targets kids between Dumbo and The Lion King age.
  
• Cleopatra (1963)
  Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton front a cast of thousands and lavish sets for this big screen epic.
  
• Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
  A good cop thriller that showcases the young Eddie Murphy's signature mix of sweetness and street smarts.
  
• Goldfinger (1964)
  With Sean Connery oozing charm, a golden girl and Honor Blackman as [ussy pay] Galore, the third Bond movie is the charm.
  
• Airport (1970)
  The template for modern disaster movies has an all-star cast: Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset, Dean Martin, etc.
  
• American Graffiti (1973)
  Before George Lucas conquered the universe, he reworked his past in a coming-of-age story set in early '60s California.
  
• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• Bambi (1942)
  From the hand-drawn images to its unsentimental story of a fawn's journey to adulthood, a Disney watermark.
  
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
  The tiny western town of Rock Ridge gets a black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in Mel Brooks' rudely hilarious spoof.
  
• Batman (1989)
  Thanks in part to Jack Nicholson's Joker, the Michael Keaton reboot of the superhero legitimizes comic-book movies.
  
• The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
  An easy-going priest (Bing Crosby) and a feisty nun (Ingrid Bergman) save a faltering Catholic school.
  
• 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 Ringsmovie tops the awards and box office.
  
• 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).
• The Towering Inferno (1974)
  Following Airport's lead, this disaster movie trots out big names like Paul Newman, Fred Astaire, and Steve McQueen.
• 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.
• 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.
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
  This sequel which adds Doc Oc (Alfred Molina) to Spidey's problems more than holds its own.
  
• My Fair Lady (1964)
  Audiences thrill to Audrey Hepburn's transformation from guttersnipe to elegant lady in the ultimate makeover movie.
  
• 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.
• National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
  Comedian John Belushi raucously celebrated rude fraternity hijinks.
• 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.
  
• 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.

 

Post 3 of 3, Top 100: 67 - 100

• Back to the Future (1985)
  Eighties teen heartthrob Michael J. Fox meets his parents when they were teens themselves in this time travel comedy.
  
• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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?
  
• Superman (1978)
  Pitched between camp and cute, this fantasy put an old-fashioned hero (Christopher Reeve) in a brave new world.
• 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.
• 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.
• Beauty and the Beast (2017)
  Disney's live-action version of the oft-filmed classic fairy tale.
  
• 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.
  
• West Side Story (1961)
  This Romeo and Juliet musical on Manhattan's mean streets somehow made dancing gang members dangerously cool.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977/1980)
  New Ageism meets UFOlogy when regular guy Richard Dreyfuss' life is turned upside down by extraterrestrials.
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
  Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman made the first Harry Potteradaptation downright respectable.
  
• Lady and the Tramp (1955)
  A pampered cocker spaniel and a mangy mutt find love in Disney's first CinemaScope animated feature.
  
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  This stunning, psychologically rich bio of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) inspired Steven Spielberg to make movies.
  
• 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.
  
• Rocky (1976)
  Struggling actor Sylvester Stallone writes himself a good part which leads to the biggest boxing movie franchise in history.
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  Post-WWII sentiment gave this drama about veterans adjusting to civilian life a timely relevance.
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  A cavalcade of stars -- Shelley Winters, Gene Hackman and Leslie Nielsen -- seeks to escape an upended cruise ship.
• 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.
• Twister (1996)
  Professional storm chasers (Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton) with complicated personal lives track extreme weather outbreaks.
• 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.
• 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.
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
  The robots that turn into cars and guns return in a sequel that outperforms the original.
• 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.
• Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
  A shipwrecked family pulls together to survive natural hardships and vicious pirates in this live-action Disney hit.
  
• 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.
• M*A*S*H (1970)
  Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould helm Robert Altman's dark comedy about Korean-War medics.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
  
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
  Wacky hijinks ensue when divorced dad Robin Williams masquerades as a frumpy housekeeper to be near his kids.
  
• Aladdin (1992)
  Allegations of cultural insensitivity didn't stop this Arabian Nights-inspired Disney feature from enchanting American kids.
  
• 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.
  
• Ghost (1990)
  Romantics swoon over this fantasy about a murdered man (Patrick Swayze) who defies death to become visible to his girlfriend (Demi Moore).

 

Man, did I love watching Swiss Family Robinson as a kid.

 

I may have missed it but highlight titles, personal favorites?

Edit: Nevermind, I see those are links.

 

To complicate the numbers further, these appear to be based on domestic sales only. Worldwide numbers for Captain America: Civil War beat Finding Dory and Rogue One at the box office for the same year, and it doesn't make this list. I know, 'merica and all, but the global appetite for movies has grown and will shape what we see in theaters in the future.

 

Excellent point.

 

To further complicate matters, not all films had the same run times. Gone with the Wind ran for almost a year on first release, at a price twice of that of other main features at the time (1 dollar, which is 18 dollars today). It was then released a total of 4 more times over the next 15 years, and then a fifth time in 1998.

In other words, it has had more time at the box office than anything else, which further skews this.

 

I wonder how much the small limited release of classics figure into this, not that it matters all that much. Gone with the Wind and Back to the Future, just to name a couple on the list, have been shown at the theater on single night engagements over the last year. Bringing them back for weeks at a time obviously does, but I wonder if single nights figure in at all.

 

This is somewhat offset by how many screens showed the older movies, but I would imagine getting number of screens from back then to create some sort of ratio to balance all of this out. Another factor is how the 20-30% or so premium for 3D showings factor into this.

 

Yep.

 

Staying in theaters longer and being re-released doesn’t complicate the issue for me. There’s a reason they aren’t going to do a 20th anniversary special edition Kazaam.

 

I think the best indication of a "Top movie" is it's lasting cultural impact and familiarity with the daily public. Gone with the Wind obviously is one of the most culturally impactful movies, in many way. And the top 50 all seem to belong.

 

Unlikely that a modern movie will crack the top tier of this list going forward.

Far more options competing for your entertainment dollar than there were in decades past.

 

I did not see The Big Lebowski or Shawshank Redemption, the list is null and void.

 

See, the big lebowski has a bigger cultural footprint than some of the others on that list.

 

I thought Goldfinger might have been a little higher. Was surprised Thunderball was above it. My dad said when Goldfinger came out it was a very big deal and there really hadn't been action movies like that before.

 

Kind of hard to measure as we weren't around for the release of a lot of those. Lebowski has a decent footprint now, but I doubt it will be anything more than most movies on that list in time.

 

True. But these super hero movies fade fast.