All-Time Top 232 Movies by U.S. Theatre Attendance
This chart lists movies ranked by the number of movie tickets sold in the United States1.
The data are computed by taking box office receipt data and dividing by ticket price. This is pretty much the only way to do it for United States and United Kingdom data (and is also the method used by Lumiere2).
No effort is made to compensate for population growth. It can be argued that a film had greater influence by impacting a greater percentage of all people, rather than whether it impacts a greater (absolute) number of people. However, the data I have for older films is greatly deficient, and a population-adjusted list would be even less useful (and more misleading) than the list shown here. Readers should have little trouble computing the ratios between the numbers here and suitable demographic data3.
I have attempted to account for the fact that for any given film, not all tickets cost the same. In particular, many movies are seen by a greater number of children, or are seen more often during matinees or with discounts ("passes" or frequent buyer tickets). Such movies sell more tickets per million dollars of box office receipts than other movies showing alongside them. There are also movies that cannot be seen by children or for which the distributor has prohibited the use of discounts. I try to adjust the position of individual films by accounting for these variations.
This has become a far greater issue in recent years with movies such as Avatar (2009) that are seen primarily in 3-D. A 3-D showing costs more money and there is no reliable and public source of data for the 3D-vs-2D market share of each picture, necessary to calculate precisely how much (on average per viewer) a viewer pays to see each particular film.
United States movie fans also need to be aware that being a top-grossing movie in the worldwide market is no longer sufficient to put that movie at the top of this chart. Using Avatar as an example again, it broke a record for worldwide sales (reaching $2.7 billion by the end of the 2010 summer, which would be equivalent to about 270 million tickets at U.S. prices), but the United States only comprised 28% of that amount ($760 million). Avatar made enough worldwide that it could have placed #1 on this chart, but only if that money had all been made in the United States!
Please read the section after the chart for the list of sources I used in my research, and a brief description of how the table was created. Also I want to point out that data is incomplete for movies before the 1960's.
Current and recently-showing movies are in bold; this includes re-releases and remakes of older films, including 3-D remakes. The studio abbreviations and notes are listed at the bottom.
| Rank | Admissions (millions) | Title (year) (studio) | Director(s) | Notes |
| 1 | 225.7 | Gone With the Wind (1939) (MGM) | Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | AA M |
| 2 | 194.4 | Star Wars (Ep. IV: A New Hope) (1977) (Fox) | George Lucas | n M |
| 3 | 156.4 | The Sound of Music (1965) (Fox) | Robert Wise | AA M |
| 4 | 148.4 | ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (Univ) | Steven Spielberg | n M |
| 5 | 130.0 | The Ten Commandments (1956) (Para) | Cecil B. DeMille | n M |
| 6 | 126.3 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (BV) | David Hand | HA M |
| 7 | 121.7 | Titanic (1997) (Para) | James Cameron | AA |
| 8 | 120.7 | Jaws (1975) (Univ) | Steven Spielberg | n |
| 9 | 120.1 | Doctor Zhivago (1965) (MGM) | David Lean | n |
| 10 | 117.1 | 101 Dalmatians (1961) (BV) | Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman | M |
| 11 | 107.8 | Ben-Hur (1959) (MGM) | William Wyler | AA |
| 12 | 105.6 | The Lion King (1994) (BV) | Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff | M |
| 13 | 100.8 | Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (Fox) | George Lucas | M |
| 14 | 100.4 | Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Fox) | George Lucas | M |
| 15 | 98.9 | The Exorcist (1973) (WB) | William Friedkin | n M |
| 16 | 92.8 | Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (Para) | Steven Spielberg | n M |
| 17 | 89.3 | Mary Poppins (1964) (BV) | Robert Stevenson | n M |
| 18 | 88.4 | The Sting (1973) (Univ) | George Roy Hill | AA |
| 19 | 87.2 | Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace (1999) (Fox) | George Lucas | |
| 20 | 84.4 | Fantasia (1940) (BV) | James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norm Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Deems Taylor | M |
| 21 | 82.4 | The Jungle Book (1967) (BV) | Wolfgang Reitherman | M |
| 22 | 80.4 | Jurassic Park (1993) (Univ) | Steven Spielberg | |
| 23 | 79.4 | The Graduate (1967) (AVCO Embassy) | Mike Nichols | n |
| 24 | 78.0 | Avatar (2009) (Fox) | James Cameron | n |
| 25 | 77.4 | Sleeping Beauty (1959) (BV) | Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman | M |
| 26 | 75.0 | Bambi (1942) (BV) | David Hand | M |
| 27 | 74.1 | Forrest Gump (1994) (Para) | Robert Zemeckis | AA |
| 28 | 73.0 | The Godfather (1972) (Para) | Francis Ford Coppola | AA M |
| 29 | 72.1 | Shrek 2 (2004) (DreamWorks) | Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon | |
| 30 | 72.0 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (Columbia) | Steven Spielberg | M |
| 31 | 71.9 | Grease (1978) (Para) | Randal Kleiser | M |
| 32 | 70.9 | My Fair Lady (1964) (WB) | George Cukor | AA M |
| 33 | 69.8 | Ghostbusters (1984) (Columbia) | Ivan Reitman | |
| 34 | 69.7 | Home Alone (1990) (Fox) | Chris Columbus | |
| 35 | 68.3 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (Fox) | George Roy Hill | n M |
| 36 | 68.2 | The Dark Knight (2008) (WB) | Christopher Nolan | |
| 37 | 68.0 | Love Story (1970) (Para) | Arthur Hiller | n |
| 38 | 68.0 | Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) (UA) | Michael Anderson | AA M |
| 39 | 67.2 | Spider-Man (2002) (Sony / Columbia) | Sam Raimi | |
| 40 | 65.3 | Cleopatra (1963) (Fox) | Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Darryl F. Zanuck | n |
| 41 | 65.2 | Pinocchio (1940) (BV) | Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts | M |
| 42 | 65.2 | Beverly Hills Cop (1984) (Para) | Martin Brest | |
| 43 | 64.4 | Independence Day (1996) (Fox) | Roland Emmerich | |
| 44 | 63.7 | American Graffiti (1973) (Univ) | George Lucas | n |
| 45 | 63.3 | The Robe (1953) (Fox) | Henry Koster | n |
| 46 | 63.0 | Lady and the Tramp (1955) (BV) | Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske | M |
| 47 | 62.8 | Thunderball (1965) (UA) | Terence Young | |
| 48 | 62.4 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) (BV) | Gore Verbinski | |
| 49 | 61.4 | Aladdin (1992) (BV) | Ron Clements, John Musker | |
| 50 | 61.0 | Airport (1970) (Univ) | George Seaton | n |
| 51 | 60.7 | The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) (RKO) | Leo McCarey | n |
| 52 | 60.4 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (New Line) | Peter Jackson | AA |
| 53 | 60.0 | Cinderella (1950) (BV) | Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson | M |
| 54 | 59.6 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) (Paramount / DreamWorks) | Michael Bay | |
| 55 | 59.1 | Blazing Saddles (1974) (WB) | Mel Brooks | |
| 56 | 58.8 | National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (Univ) | John Landis | |
| 57 | 58.7 | Batman (1989) (WB) | Tim Burton | |
| 58 | 58.6 | Superman (1978) (WB) | Richard Donner | |
| 59 | 58.3 | West Side Story (1961) (MGM) | Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise | AA |
| 60 | 58.3 | Back To The Future (1985) (Univ) | Robert Zemeckis | |
| 61 | 58.2 | Tootsie (1982) (Columbia) | Sydney Pollack | n |
| 62 | 58.1 | Spider-Man 2 (2004) (Sony / Columbia) | Sam Raimi | |
| 63 | 58.1 | The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) (Para) | Cecil B. DeMille | AA M |
| 64 | 57.9 | Let's Make Love (1960) (Fox) | George Cukor | |
| 65 | 57.3 | The Towering Inferno (1974) (Fox) | John Guillermin, Irwin Allen | n |
| 66 | 57.3 | Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (Fox) | George Lucas | |
| 67 | 57.2 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (WB) | Chris Columbus | |
| 68 | 57.1 | Finding Nemo (2003) (BV) | Andrew Stanton | C |
| 69 | 56.9 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (New Line) | Peter Jackson | n |
| 70 | 56.7 | This Is the Army (1943) (WB) | Michael Curtiz | |
| 71 | 56.7 | The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) (RKO) | William Wyler | AA |
| 72 | 55.8 | Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (Univ) | Hal Needham | |
| 73 | 54.4 | Saturday Night Fever (1977) (Para) | John Badham | M |
| 74 | 54.4 | Quo Vadis (1951) (MGM) | Mervyn LeRoy | |
| 75 | 54.0 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (New Line) | Peter Jackson | n |
| 76 | 53.8 | Rocky (1976) (UA) | John G. Avildsen | AA |
| 77 | 53.7 | The Sixth Sense (1999) (BV) | M. Night Shyamalan | n |
| 78 | 53.2 | From Here to Eternity (1953) (Columbia) | Fred Zinnemann | |
| 79 | 53.1 | The Poseidon Adventure (1972) (Fox) | Ronald Neame | |
| 80 | 52.8 | Goldfinger (1964) (UA) | Guy Hamilton | |
| 81 | 52.6 | The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (Columbia) | David Lean | AA |
| 82 | 52.6 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (Para) | Steven Spielberg | |
| 83 | 52.3 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) (MGM) | Stanley Kramer | |
| 84 | 52.1 | Toy Story 2 (1999) (BV) | John Lasseter | |
| 85 | 52.1 | Swiss Family Robinson (1960) (BV) | Ken Annakin | M |
| 86 | 52.0 | Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (Fox) | Chris Columbus | |
| 87 | 52.0 | M.A.S.H. (1970) (Fox) | Robert Altman | n |
| 88 | 51.9 | The Passion of the Christ (2004) (Newmarket) | Mel Gibson | |
| 89 | 51.8 | For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) (Para) | Sam Wood | |
| 90 | 51.6 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (UA) | Miloš Forman | AA |
| 91 | 51.5 | The Transformers (2007) (Paramount / DreamWorks) | Michael Bay | |
| 92 | 51.3 | White Christmas (1954) (Para) | Michael Curtiz | M |
| 93 | 50.9 | Twister (1996) (WB) | Jan de Bont | |
| 94 | 50.8 | Toy Story 3 (2010) (BV) | Lee Unkrich | n C |
| 95 | 50.7 | Men In Black (1997) (Sony / Columbia) | Barry Sonnenfeld | |
| 96 | 50.6 | Ghost (1990) (Para) | Jerry Zucker | n |
| 97 | 50.2 | How the West Was Won (1962) (MGM / Cinerama) | John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe | M |
| 98 | 49.9 | Samson and Delilah (1949) (Para) | Cecil B. DeMille | M |
| 99 | 49.9 | The Longest Day (1962) (Fox) | Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Gerd Oswald, Darryl F. Zanuck | |
| 100 | 49.7 | South Pacific (1958) (Fox) | Joshua Logan | M |
| 101 | 49.5 | Song of the South (1946) (BV) | Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson | M |
| 102 | 49.5 | Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (Univ) | Ron Howard | |
| 103 | 49.4 | Duel in the Sun (1946) (Selznick Releasing) | King Vidor | |
| 104 | 49.3 | Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (Columbia) | David Lean | M |
| 105 | 49.2 | Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones (2002) (Fox) | George Lucas | |
| 106 | 48.9 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) (BV) | Gore Verbinski | |
| 107 | 48.9 | House of Wax (1953) (WB) | André de Toth | |
| 108 | 48.6 | Peter Pan (1953) (BV) | Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske | M |
| 109 | 48.5 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (Para) | Steven Spielberg | |
| 110 | 48.5 | Rear Window (1954) (Para) | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 111 | 48.3 | Monsters, Inc. (2001) (BV) | Pete Docter | |
| 112 | 48.2 | Shrek (2001) (DreamWorks) | Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson | C |
| 113 | 47.6 | Shrek the Third (2007) (Paramount / DreamWorks) | Chris Miller, Raman Hui | |
| 114 | 47.5 | Toy Story (1995) (BV) | John Lasseter | |
| 115 | 47.3 | Spider-Man 3 (2007) (Sony / Columbia) | Sam Raimi | |
| 116 | 47.1 | Giant (1956) (WB) | George Stevens | M |
| 117 | 46.8 | Fiddler on the Roof (1971) (UA) | Norman Jewison | |
| 118 | 46.6 | The Wizard of Oz (1939) | Victor Fleming | n M |
| 119 | 46.6 | Sergeant York (1941) (WB) | Howard Hawks | n M |
| 120 | 46.5 | Top Gun (1986) (Para) | Tony Scott | |
| 121 | 46.4 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) (Univ) | Steven Spielberg | |
| 122 | 46.3 | Every Which Way But Loose (1978) (WB) | James Fargo | |
| 123 | 46.2 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011) (WB) | David Yates | |
| 124 | 46.0 | Crocodile Dundee (1986) (Para) | Peter Faiman | |
| 125 | 45.8 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (WB) | Chris Columbus | |
| 126 | 45.6 | The Jolson Story (1946) (Columbia) | Alfred E. Green | |
| 127 | 45.4 | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) (Columbia) | Stanley Kramer | n |
| 128 | 45.4 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (TriStar) | James Cameron | |
| 129 | 44.7 | Going My Way (1944) (Para) | Leo McCarey | |
| 130 | 44.4 | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) (MGM) | Rex Ingram | |
| 131 | 44.3 | Young Frankenstein (1974) (Fox) | Mel Brooks | |
| 132 | 44.0 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) (BV) | Andrew Adamson | |
| 133 | 43.7 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) (WB) | Mike Newell | |
| 134 | 43.6 | The Fugitive (1993) (WB) | Andrew Davis | n |
| 135 | 43.6 | Funny Girl (1968) (Columbia) | William Wyler | n |
| 136 | 43.4 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) (BV) | Gore Verbinski | |
| 137 | 43.4 | Meet the Fockers (2004) (Univ) | Jay Roach | |
| 138 | 43.0 | The Caine Mutiny (1954) (Columbia) | Edward Dmytryk | n |
| 139 | 42.8 | Iron Man (2008) (Para) | Jon Favreau | |
| 140 | 42.7 | Saving Private Ryan (1998) (DreamWorks) | Steven Spielberg | n |
| 141 | 42.7 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) (Paramount / DreamWorks) | Michael Bay | |
| 142 | 42.7 | Jaws 2 (1978) (Univ) | Jeannot Szwarc | |
| 143 | 42.7 | Home Alone 2 (1992) (Fox) | Chris Columbus | |
| 144 | 42.7 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (Para) | Steven Spielberg | |
| 145 | 42.7 | Billy Jack (1971) | Tom Laughlin | |
| 146 | 42.6 | An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (Para) | Taylor Hackford | |
| 147 | 42.5 | Tom Jones (1963) (UA) | Tony Richardson | |
| 148 | 42.3 | Cast Away (2000) (Fox) | Robert Zemeckis | |
| 149 | 42.3 | Psycho (1960) (Univ) | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 150 | 42.2 | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (MGM) | Stanley Kubrick | |
| 151 | 42.1 | Three Men and a Baby (1987) (BV) | Leonard Nimoy | |
| 152 | 42.0 | Armageddon (1998) (BV) | Michael Bay | |
| 153 | 41.9 | Peyton Place (1957) (Fox) | Mark Robson | n |
| 154 | 41.8 | Mrs. Miniver (1942) | William Wyler | |
| 155 | 41.8 | Spartacus (1960) | Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann | |
| 156 | 41.7 | Gremlins (1984) (WB) | Joe Dante | |
| 157 | 41.6 | Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (Columbia) | Robert Benton | AA |
| 158 | 41.5 | Rain Man (1988) (MGM/UA) | Barry Levinson | AA |
| 159 | 41.5 | Dances With Wolves (1990) (Orion) | Kevin Costner | AA |
| 160 | 41.5 | On Golden Pond (1981) (Univ) | Mark Rydell | n |
| 161 | 41.5 | Pretty Woman (1990) (BV) | Garry Marshall | |
| 162 | 41.4 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (BV) | Robert Zemeckis | |
| 163 | 41.1 | Rocky III (1982) (MGM/UA) | Sylvester Stallone | |
| 164 | 41.0 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) (WB) | David Yates | |
| 165 | 40.9 | Earthquake (1974) (Univ) | Mark Robson | |
| 166 | 40.9 | Alice in Wonderland (2010) (BV) | Tim Burton | |
| 167 | 40.8 | Beauty and the Beast (1991) (BV) | Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise | n |
| 168 | 40.7 | Sayonara (1957) (WB) | Joshua Logan | |
| 169 | 40.7 | The Incredibles (2004) (BV) | Brad Bird | C |
| 170 | 40.6 | The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (WB) | Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski | |
| 171 | 40.6 | Bonnie and Clyde (1967) (WB) | Arthur Penn | |
| 172 | 40.6 | Heaven Can Wait (1978) (Para) | Warren Beatty, Buck Henry | |
| 173 | 40.2 | My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) (IFC Films) | Joel Zwick | |
| 174 | 40.1 | 20000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) (BV) | Richard Fleischer | |
| 175 | 40.1 | Mission: Impossible (1996) (Para) | Brian De Palma | |
| 176 | 39.8 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (WB) | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 177 | 39.5 | Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) (TriStar) | George P. Cosmatos | |
| 178 | 39.4 | Batman Forever (1995) (WB) | Joel Schumacher | |
| 179 | 39.3 | Fatal Attraction (1987) (Para) | Adrian Lyne | n |
| 180 | 39.0 | Mission: Impossible II (2000) (Para) | John Woo | |
| 181 | 39.0 | A Bug's Life (1998) (BV) | John Lasseter | |
| 182 | 38.9 | Mister Roberts (1955) (WB) | John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy | n |
| 183 | 38.9 | Bruce Almighty (2003) (Univ) | Tom Shadyac | |
| 184 | 38.9 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (WB) | David Yates | |
| 185 | 38.8 | Rush Hour 2 (2001) (New Line) | Brett Ratner | |
| 186 | 38.8 | Apollo 13 (1995) (Univ) | Ron Howard | n |
| 187 | 38.7 | Patton (1970) (Fox) | Franklin J. Schaffner | |
| 188 | 38.7 | Liar Liar (1997) (Univ) | Tom Shadyac | |
| 189 | 38.6 | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) (WB) | Kevin Reynolds | |
| 190 | 38.5 | The Guns of Navarone (1961) (Columbia) | J. Lee Thompson | |
| 191 | 38.3 | Pocahontas (1995) (BV) | Mike Gabriel, Eric Goldberg | |
| 192 | 38.3 | The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Fox) | Jim Sharman | M |
| 193 | 38.2 | Iron Man 2 (2010) (Para) | Jon Favreau | |
| 194 | 38.2 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) (Summit) | Chris Weitz | |
| 195 | 37.9 | Tarzan (1999) (BV) | Chris Buck, Kevin Lima | |
| 196 | 37.7 | Up (2009) (BV) | Pete Docter | n C |
| 197 | 37.7 | 9 To 5 (1980) (Fox) | ||
| 198 | 37.6 | Superman II (1980) (WB) | Richard Lester, Richard Donner | |
| 199 | 37.6 | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) (New Line) | ||
| 200 | 37.6 | The Firm (1993) (Para) | ||
| 201 | 37.5 | What's Up, Doc? (1972) (WB) | Peter Bogdanovich | |
| 202 | 37.1 | Stir Crazy (1980) (Columbia) | ||
| 203 | 37.0 | Night at the Museum (2006) (Fox) | ||
| 204 | 36.9 | Some Like It Hot (1959) | ||
| 205 | 36.8 | Air Force One (1997) (Sony / Columbia) | ||
| 206 | 36.8 | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) (Summit) | ||
| 207 | 36.8 | 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) | M | |
| 208 | 36.7 | There's Something About Mary (1998) (Fox) | ||
| 209 | 36.7 | Porky's (1982) (Fox) | ||
| 210 | 36.6 | Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) (Para) | ||
| 211 | 36.5 | Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) | ||
| 212 | 36.4 | Batman Returns (1992) (WB) | ||
| 213 | 36.4 | The Song of Bernadette (1943) | ||
| 214 | 36.4 | Mom and Dad (1948) | ||
| 215 | 36.3 | Platoon (1986) (Orion) | AA | |
| 216 | 36.3 | A Star Is Born (1976) (WB) | ||
| 217 | 36.3 | The Dirty Dozen (1967) (MGM) | ||
| 218 | 36.2 | Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) (WB) | ||
| 219 | 36.2 | The Trial of Billy Jack (1974) | ||
| 220 | 36.1 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010) (WB) | ||
| 221 | 36.1 | Signs (2002) (BV) | ||
| 222 | 36.0 | The Goodbye Girl (1977) (WB) | ||
| 223 | 36.0 | The Santa Clause (1994) (BV) | ||
| 224 | 36.0 | I Am Legend (2007) (WB) | ||
| 225 | 36.0 | Cars (2006) (BV) | ||
| 226 | 35.9 | The King and I (1956) | ||
| 227 | 35.8 | Welcome Stranger (1947) | ||
| 228 | 35.8 | Inception (2010) (WB) | n | |
| 229 | 35.8 | Leave Her to Heaven (1945) | ||
| 230 | 35.7 | The Hangover (2009) (WB) | ||
| 231 | 35.5 | Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) (New Line) | ||
| 232 | 35.5 | El Cid (1961) (Allied Artists) | ||
| Following are some recent hit movies with lower admissions figures than the top 232 on the chart. Because my historical movie data is incomplete, any rank number would be almost meaningless. | ||||
| 33.9 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011) (Summit) | |||
| 30.8 | The Hangover Part II (2011) (WB) | |||
| All other recent movies have even fewer total admissions, unless I haven't gotten around to updating the totals (if it's more than a month out of date, email me) |
To receive a rank number, a newly-released (2013) movie would have to gross at least $319.7 million at the box office.
Studios:
BV Buena Vista, Disney, Walt Disney, etc.
DW DreamWorks
Fox includes 20th Century Fox
MMax Miramax
NL New Line
Para Paramount
Sony
UA United Artists
Univ Universal
WB Warner Brothers
Notes:
AA: This film received an Academy Award® for Best Picture.
C: This film won a category-specific "best feature" Academy
Award® (Best Animated Feature).
HA: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs received a Special Award (the
equivalent of today's Academy Honorary Award) consisting of a
full-size Oscar® statuette and seven miniature ones.
n: This film was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best
Picture category.
M: This film has been released more than once (or has been
showing every year since its release, in the case of Rocky
Horror); the admission total shown here is the total for all
release years. In all such cases, the box office for each year was
adjusted for inflation separately before adding the years together.
Method
In order to generate these figures (which are only estimates) I had to take many factors into account.
Box office gross figures are the easiest statistic to find. However, many movies have been released more than once and it is very important to find out how much the movie grossed in each different year, because the ticket prices differ from one year to the next. Also, for older movies the box office gross is itself an estimate, because exhibitors (theatres) and studios didn't really keep consistently accurate records on this type of thing until the 1970's.
Adjusted box-office gross figures come from Exhibitor Relations (see below) and account for changes in movie ticket prices (not the "consumer price index", which varies at a different rate).
Current and historical movie ticket prices are published by the Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) in their annual report (see below) but for years not mentioned in their report I had to derive estimated ticket prices from the adjusted and unadjusted box office gross figures. Note that these prices might seem low because they include subsequent runs, senior and child discounts, and special pricing.
MPAA ratings are available for movies that received a rating, a process that began around 1968. They are used to estimate child attendance ratios (children throw off the numbers because they pay less). For unrated movies a guess is made as to how much child attendance the movie would have gotten, using other more recent movies as a guide, and assuming that for older movies the audience was generally more balanced because of the lack of ratings and enforcement.
Sources for general information about movies were used to learn more about what movies attract what types of audiences, and to learn about movies whose studios have placed restrictions on discount ticket sales.
All of this information is used to compile a database of movies, each with an average ticket price index (which varies depending on the movie's audience demographics) and a total adjusted gross figure (which properly adjusts the grosses in each year the movie made money). Then, the attendance estimate is computed simply by dividing one by the other.
Future Improvements:
- Some data is lacking for years before 1960, and even more data is lacking for years before 1940.
- I want to find a comprehensive list of movies that have been released with restrictions on discount tickets. While many films restrict discounts during the first few weeks of release, a few restrict discounts during a much longer period.
- I am also in search of information that will help improve estimates of matinee attendance rates and attendance by seniors.
Things That Will (Probably) Never Change:
- Expanding the data to a global (worldwide) context. The problem here is that each nation (or group of nations, as might be the case in certain parts of Europe) has a greater interest in its own local statistics than in the non-local statistics. In other words, if I include movies that aren't popular in the United States, the list will be of less interest to readers in the United States. This list mainly exists for my own benefit, and since I never see movies outside the United States, I have no interest in a global list. I don't want to maintain multiple lists, one is hard enough!
Sources
This data was compiled from many sources, including the following. (I know some of the links are dead, but I cannot do anything about that.)
Sources of inflation data (I divide the adjusted gross by the actual gross to get an average ticket price index):
Mr. Showbiz box office receipts adjusted for inflation
The Movie Times' version of the same list (formerly here
The top 25 of the same list, from Washington Post, on digitallibrary.com
Box Office Report's list (was also here)
BOXOFFICE.COM's similar list
Box Office Mojo's list
Sources of average movie ticket price data:
A Google search for "average cinema ticket price 7.18 7.50 7.89 2011" (or similar, with more recent numbers) will yield re-published reports of the data released by MPAA.
MPAA's 2006 US Theatrical Market Statistics report
MPAA's 2001 economic review
MPAA's 2000 economic review
MPAA's 1999 economic review
MPAA's 1998 economic review
Lee's Movie Info Adjuster
Sources of MPAA ratings (used to estimate child attendance rates):
Sources of old (unadjusted) box office receipts:
Infoplease top 100 all-time list (from Exhibitor Relations) (click on the "Movies and Videos" link to see some other related lists)
This chart of historical yearly totals at Infoplease has ticket price figures since 1990
The AMUG list of $100 million movies
The Washington Post list of $100 million movies
The same list, on digitallibrary.com
Box Office Guru's box office archive
vex.net's box office archive
Sources of current box office receipts:
The Numbers: Box Office Data, Movie Stars, Idle Speculation
The Movie Times
Yahoo! Movies: Weekly U.S. box office actuals
IMDB's box office charts (follow the links under "US Box Office" in the left column)
Also of interest:
MPAA 2000 report on movie audience demographics
The Internet Movie Database
Industry periodicals (not on-line, but at the library):
Variety
Hollywood Reporter
Motion Picture Daily
Not used but possibly interesting:
The United States consumer price index data was not used, because the MPAA average movie ticket price data was more relevant.
Footnotes
1 : For those interested in data for countries other than the United States, here are some links:
Inside Kino has figures for almost all of Europe and Australia. (In German, but easy to navigate: Quartral = "season"; Woche = "week")
Lumiere presents a searchable database and actually gives data in the form of admissions! They have data for Europe and Quebec.
Paul Boschen's Aussie box office lists
2 : The Lumiere database describes their methods and limitations here. Of particular note is this paragraph referring to US and UK data:
Figures provided by the United Kingdom and United States refer to box office receipts rather than the number of tickets sold. In such cases, the number of admissions is estimated by dividing box office recipts by the average ticket price for the year concerned.
3 : See Wikipedia, Demographic history of the United States.
Other acknowledgments:
Some information contributed by: Rolf Polier.
Dead websites:
The Sci Fi Paradise box office list was at http://www.geocities.com/~scifi_paradise/Movies/boxoffice.html
ShowBizData switched to payment-only.
"Academy Award®" is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2024 Aug 24.
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