Highest Grossing Movies

no hunger games???

Hunger Games is currently ranked 56th all-time worldwide, and this list stops at the top 30. It's worth noting that all but one of the top 55 earned a larger percentage of their gross overseas than Hunger Games did, suggesting that overseas audiences have slightly better taste (though of course that theory is blown out of the water by the fact that Bayformers 3 made almost 70% of its cash overseas). Anyway, this difference accounts for the fact that HG is ranked so low in international BO compared to domestic BO (where it is 13th all time).

If we were only looking at domestic box office it would have made it on the list, along with Star Wars, E.T., Forrest Gump, and the Passion of the Christ. (among others)

Are you saying Hunger Games was awful?

Well, it wasn't good. Better than Twilight, I'll give it that. I think if anything the very lop-sided domestic vs. international gross of The Hunger Games shows that it owes most of its success to the fact that it was a very popular series of young adult novels in the USA. Overseas the books were not so popular and the film, on its own merits, is just not very good.

In my opinion, the first two Hunger Games were pretty good, but the last two were kind of dumb. Especially considering it was an unnecessary two-parter.

Are you suggesting anything on the list is good? Aside from cartoons aimed at kids, which are okay, it's fantasy crap aimed at kids.

Sure. All the Pixar movies here were great. The Disney stuff is okay though I don't care for their live action remakes personally. The MCU movies are good, though Black Panther was ridiculously overrated and Iron Man 3 was one of their worst. The Nolan Batman movies are great. The original Jurassic Park was great. Skyfall was okay. Titanic and Avatar both, deservedly, got nominated for Best Picture of the year. So... yeah... lots of good stuff here.

the last film of hunger games was a bust

I didn't see that one. Also skipped the last Harry Potter.

Catching fire was the best. Mockingjay was the worst movie ever made besides Duplex

It sounds like America has great taste!

The sequel is not out yet!

Shocked me too.

After the update, forgot Alice and Wonderland, and had no idea Despicable Me 2 had made that much money, so missed both of those.

I was really surprised that Despicable Me 2 was on here. The first one was outstanding, with a great story line, characters, character development and plot, but 2 I felt didn't elevate any of the characters, had a pretty bad plot/villain, and the girls that Gru adopted did hardly anything in the entire movie. Definitely not anything as good as "IT'S SO FLUFFEH!!!" in Despicable Me 2.

CG animated sequels tend to make lots of money which is why they keep making Shreks and Ice Ages and Madagascars even though they're terrible. I guess kids will sit through anything with bright colors and recognizable characters in it.

Pretty sure that line was in the first one @Kvkq

Really boring list as you would expect, so I'm not exactly hanging out for an update- but I would be interested to know where "Frozen" sits.

Force Awakens still hasn't beat out Avatar?? I think I need to go see it again then.

It hasn't and never will. Not a chance.

Boy, have I got news for you. TFA beat out titanic and avatar for the title of highest grossing movie of all time.

No it didn't.

How about Endgame? It beat Titanic, and is hot on the heels of Avatar... :)

Endgame beat it just barely but they had to re-release it with a special campaign aimed at accomplishing this. Not that it didn't deserve to.

It's doubtful it will even catch Titanic.

Unless it manages to earn $800,000,000 for the next couple months, I don't see it coming.

OK, someone has to say it. Avatar is a terrible movie.

It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great either. Bayformers are a terrible movies. The Third POTC was a terrible movie. Avatar was just... meh

Nobody has to say it. I will anyway. Avatar was a great movie.

Why don't I just go ahead and say it for everyone.

Avatar, Titanic, The Force Awakens, The Avengers, Frozen, Return of the King, Skyfall, Toy Story 3, Jurassic Park, Zootopia, and The Dark Knight are all really good movies. Jurassic World, Age of Ultron, Harry Potter, Iron Man 3, Civil War, The Dark Knight Rises, Rogue One, Finding Dory, and The Hobbit are pretty good for the most part, but not really that spectacular. Everything else is pretty much crap.

hahahaah thx love people like that

Dumb story, impressive use of CGI. And, for a movie to pull in that kind of gross during the single largest economic recession we are likely to experience in our lifetimes, its box office take is even more impressive.

The story was fine. Yes, it's similar to Dances with Wolves or John Carter or Lawrence of Arabia or The Last Samurai (which came 10 years after Cameron first wrote the story); that makes it not entirely original it doesn't make it dumb. Good stories are often retold many different times in many different ways. But mostly the movie was a transportive event. That's why people kept going to see it a dozen times and why it made so much money. Same as Titanic. (and, also, that it wasn't offensively stupid or entirely vapid like a Bayformers movie and thus hard to watch more than once). Cameron is a master at doing what he does.

I agree, I think it got really high on gross because it was the first movie to feature 3D

It wasn't

Do you mean, "The highest grossing movie of all-time"? or "all times"?

Alice in Wonderland???

The sequel was worse.

The adult classic?

Almost didn't guess Iron man, as I'd already guessed the Avengers, and both Return of the King and the 2 Hobbit movies were filled in with the guess of lotr...

The only reason avatar is still no.1 is because it was the first ever film to be shown in 3D so most people just went for the experience, not the film. Had avatar been released slightly earlier it would struggle to make this list

There are four statements in this comment. One is true, one is half true, and two are false.

But Avatar was the first released in 3D *because* of the way it was made. James Cameron spent 10 years developing those special cameras. The technology was indeed a large part of the draw, but it's not like Avatar was lucky or was randomly chosen to be the first 3D movie. Its whole process, from its inception over a decade before its release, was designed around its unique visual presentation.

And yet he lost the Oscar for Best Director that year to his ex-wife who won it for The Hurt Locker. (Deservedly so, IMO.)

Obviously no one remembers The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

Say what you will but Cameron's movies make bank.

He knows how to weave a compelling story, even one with a derivative plot. He knows how to take characters you've never met before and make you care about them. He knows how to tie their character arcs up in the drama on screen. He knows how to handle FX, better than anyone. He knows how to both adapt classic storytelling tropes and push the envelope at the same time. He knows how to direct an action sequence (something Bay has never been able to do, and they say that's his strength). He's a competent writer and an excellent editor. All around great filmmaker. Also, he's king of the world.

Agreed that I wish they would report more honestly about pure ticket sales numbers and not dollars. Comparing eras is difficult because going to the theater was a bigger event decades ago and not as many competing entertainment options, but still would make it more interesting.

The actual list when adjusted for inflation is:

1. Gone with the Wind $3,706,000,000

2. Avatar $3,257,000,000

3. Titanic $3,081,000,000

4. Star Wars $3,043,000,000

5. Avengers Endgame $2,798,000,000

6. The Sound of Music $2,549,000,000

7. E.T $2,489,000,000

8. Ten Commandments $2,356,000,000

9. Doctor Zhivago $2,233,000,000

10. Force Awakens $2,202,000,000

Apparently Hawkeye and Loki lose out to a group of ppl who don't know how to create paddock doors that close faster.... Sad.....

Audiences have an awful taste in movies. Not even one single great film among those

Wow, love the smugness. I happen to think that The Return of the King and Dark Knight were both great movies from this list, but maybe it's better that I look down on anyone who decides not to agree?

The Dark Knight, Return of The King and Jurassic Park are all sensational films. Sure you have your garbage like Bayformers, Alice in Wonderland, Minions and the later Pirates movies but to say that there isn't a single great film on this list is pretty questionable, even from an indie-lover like myself.

11 great movies by my count, and several others that were at least enjoyable. But a lot of garbage, too.

It did pretty well, wouldnt you say...

I must admit I'm happy the only one I missed on this iteration of the quiz was frickin' Bayformers. Hopefully I will forget those things ever existed soon.

I am proud to say I have seen 39 of the movies on this list and almost every single one was great.

What about Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame?

At the time of this comment, Endgame is about $4 million away from surpassing Avatar. I guess once it officially finishes its theatrical run that’s when they’ll update it.

So I think it was right after I left this comment when the news broke that Endgame passed Avatar. Either the source I looked at was slightly outdated or it managed to make $4 million in less than a couple hours.

When 90% of the list is from the 2010s.....

Inflation my dear daffy

Man you guys are good at this. I only missed Zootopia after the update but that's still worth only 4 points.

My unimportant two cents: 1 great movie (The Dark Knight), 7 clearly above average (LOTR, Skyfall, Frozen, Jurassic Park, Toy Story 3, The Dark Knight Rises, Titanic), Jurassic World and the Transformers stuff are garbage. The rest I haven't seen or it was uninteresting. Avatar has bland characters, forgettable dialogue, rather unexciting action sequences coming from the director of Aliens and T2, and while its use of 3D is inventive, it doesn't really have a lasting effect after the "wow" we all had the first time.

I think they're releasing something like three separate Avatar sequels in the next few years. Very curious to see how those movies do because it's been ten years since that movie came out and I don't know anyone who felt the need to see it a second time. I really don't think anyone is clamoring for a sequel, and certainly not for three of them.

3 sequels might be overkill, but just because you don't know anyone who didn't want to see it a 2nd time obviously means nothing. Tons of people went to see it a 2nd time. And a 3rd time. And a 4th time. and a 5th time. That's how it climbed to almost 3 billion dollars worldwide. You can't do that on the strength of hype or a big opening weekend or even 3D IMAX premiums. I don't get why people are in such strong denial about how successful and well-liked this movie was. It smashed box office records, played in theaters forever, and got nominated for Best Picture. Honestly what's the deal?

Avatar is almost exactly the Disney movie Pocahontas. It is uncreative and uninspired and the fact that it was played largely in IMAX 3D accounts for its large box office on a smaller number of ticket sales. Not to mention what everyone has been saying about it only being a gimmick and once you watch it in 2D you realise just how bad it is.

First point addressed above and irrelevant. Subsequent points inaccurate both in general and specifically for explaining the film's total monster box office take. The movie was playing in 2D regular cinemas for 6 solid months. And people kept going to see it. You just didn't like it.

To be fair it came out in late December of 2017

What about Joker?

They haven't updated it since about 2/3 through 2019

Needs an update, Avatar overtook Endgame after it was re released in China

Could you accept 'Civil War' for 'Captain America: Civil War' please? Update it in January as I think a couple of movies might squeak onto this list as theatres are coming back to life.

Ok no Frozen II.. surprising, it has grossed 1.5B USD tho

Most of these movies are what I would call 'Children's Movies'. They must appeal to the masses in some way I guess to be so popular, but to call most of them great movies I find comical.