All-Time Top 10 Box Office Grossing Movies – Comparison

A long-standing argument between movie fans and cinema goers is the subject of inflation in box office earnings. These days, a movie making a billion dollars is considered a milestone. But what if you went back in time and looked at the takings of classic box office hits, and considered the leap in worldwide currency over the almost 80 years, is a billion dollars now what a billion dollars would have been back then? Should currency change and inflation be counted in the modern cinema age. And if so, is Gone With The Wind the true top-grossing box office hit movie of all time? Or should Avatar continue to be named the biggest earner in cinema history? And do the many re-releases of those classic movies give them a box office advantage, considering the later list of movies have mostly only had one worldwide release? Although both Avatar and Titanic would still appear on both lists, which is very impressive.

Here are two lists from Wikipedia, one being the current top 10 worldwide highest grossing movies, the second being the top 10 list of movies that, adjusted for inflation, would be the ten highest earners.

Which list do you prefer?…

Non-adjusted.

1  Avatar  $2,787,965,087  (2009)
2  Titanic  $2,186,772,302  (1997)
3  Furious 7 (Still playing)  $1,520,593,707  (2015)
4  The Avengers  $1,519,557,910  (2012)
5  Jurassic World (Still playing)  $1,470,067,331  (2015)
6  Avengers: Age of Ultron (Still playing)  $1,388,608,687  (2015)
7  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2  $1,341,511,219  (2011)
8  Frozen  $1,279,852,693  (2013)
9  Iron Man 3  $1,215,439,994  (2013)
10  Transformers: Dark of the Moon  $1,123,794,079  (2011)

Adjusted.

1  Gone with the Wind  $3,440,000,000  (1939)
2  Avatar  $3,020,000,000  (2009)
3  Star Wars  $2,825,000,000  (1977)
4  Titanic  $2,516,000,000  (1997)
5  The Sound of Music  $2,366,000,000  (1965)
6  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  $2,310,000,000  (1982)
7  The Ten Commandments  $2,187,000,000  (1956)
8  Doctor Zhivago  $2,073,000,000  (1965)
9  Jaws  $2,027,000,000  (1975)
10  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  $1,819,000,000  (1937)