Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "List of highest-grossing films" in English language version.
To rekindle interest in the movies, Hollywood not only had to compete with television but also with other leisure-time activities...Movies made a comeback by 1955, but audiences had changed. Moviegoing became a special event for most people, creating the phenomenon of the big picture.
No matter what the billing, the movie became a worldwide hit with $6.5 million in worldwide rentals, from Pappa och vi in Sweden to Vita col padre in Italy, although it booked a net loss of $350,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Since it's rarely seen today, The Singing Fool is frequently confused with The Jazz Singer; although besides Jolson and a pervasively maudlin air the two have little in common. In the earlier film Jolson was inordinately attached to his mother and sang "Mammy"; here the fixation was on his young son, and "Sonny Boy" became an enormous hit. So did the film, which amassed a stunning world-wide gross of $5.9 million...Some sources give it as the highest gross of any film in its initial release prior to Gone with the Wind. This is probably overstating it—MGM's records show that Ben-Hur and The Big Parade grossed more, and no one knows just how much The Birth of a Nation brought in. Still, by the standards of the time it's an amazing amount.
Putting The Birth of a Nation in fifth place is open to question, since it is generally conceded to be the top-grossing film of all time. However, it has always been difficult to obtain reliable box-office figures for this film, and it may have been even more difficult in the mid-1930s. After listing it until the mid-1970s as the top-grosser, though finding it impossible to quote exact figures, Variety, the trade journal, suddenly repudiated the claim but without giving specific details or reasons. On the basis of the number of paid admissions, and continuous exhibition, its number one position seems justified.
At the end of the 1941 general release, MGM decided to withdraw GWTW again. The prints were battered, but the studio believed one final fling for GWTW was possible. The film returned to movie theaters for the third time in the spring of 1942 and stayed in release until late 1943 ... When MGM finally pulled the film from exhibition, all worn-out prints were destroyed, and GWTW was at last declared out of circulation. MGM, which by then had sole ownership of the film, announced that GWTW had grossed over $32 million.
On page 130, the list has Jurassic Park at number one with $913 million, followed by The Lion King...
The film eventually cost $110,000 and was twelve reels long.
Intolerance was the most expensive American film made up until that point, costing a total of $489,653, and its performance at the box ... but it did recoup its cost and end with respectable overall numbers.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
It was a low budgeter—$120,000—but it grossed world-wide over $3 million and made stars of Chaney and his fellow-players, Betty Compson and Thomas Meighan.
It earned $4.4 million in worldwide rentals and was the first movie to spawn sequels (there were several until 1940).In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Chaplin's negative cost for City Lights was $1,607,351. The film eventually earned him a worldwide profit of $5 million ($2 million domestically and $3 million in foreign distribution), an enormous sum of money for the time.
Kid from Spain: $2,621,000 (data supplied by Eddie Cantor)
The worldwide rentals of over $3 million keep the lights on at Paramount, which did not shy away from selling the movie's sex appeal.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Mrs. Miniver's galvanizing effect on Americans spawned a record-breaking ten-week run at Radio City Music Hall and garnered a $5.4 million take in domestic rentals (making Mrs. Miniver 1942's top grosser), with a $4.8 million profit on worldwide rentals of $8.9 million.Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Despite the early furor over the novel being "pro-red and immoral," the film opened to strong and favorable reviews and brought in $11 million in worldwide rentals in its initial release.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The film made a $5 million profit on worldwide rentals of $14.8 million.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Cinderella revived its fortunes. Re-released in February 1950, it cost nearly $3 million to make but earned more than $20 million worldwide.
By May 1953, Variety was reporting that the Best Picture winner had amassed $18.35 million in worldwide rentals.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
With its three rereleases, it took in over $105 million in worldwide box office ($720 million in 2005 dollars).In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
In its initial run, Poppins garnered an astounding $44 million in worldwide rentals and became the company's first Best Picture Oscar contender.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The final cost came in at $2,260,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The Godfather catapulted Coppola to overnight celebrity, earning three Academy Awards and a then record-breaking $142 million in worldwide sales.
U.S-Canada market only $66,300,000
The budget was $1,075,000 plus producer's fees of $100,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Production Cost: $19.0 (Millions of $s) ... Despite mixed reviews, it played in the top 10 for an extended period and was a huge hit, grossing almost $345 million in worldwide box office.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Most pictures would likely receive 20% to 25% of theatrical box office gross for two prime-time network runs.
Distributor rentals: It is also important to know and recognize the difference between the distributor's gross receipts and the gross rentals. The term "rentals" refers to the aggregate amount of the film distributor's share of monies paid at theatre box offices computed on the basis of negotiated agreements between the distributor and the exhibitor. Note that gross receipts refers to amounts actually received and from all markets and media, whereas gross rentals refers to amounts earned from theatrical exhibition only, regardless of whether received by the distributor. Thus, gross receipts is the much broader term and includes distributor rentals. The issue of film rentals (i.e., what percentage of a film's box office gross comes back to the distributor) is of key importance...More current numbers suggest that distributor rentals for the major studio/distributor released films average in the neighborhood of 43% of box office gross. Again, however, such an average is based on widely divergent distributor rental ratios on individual films.
Rentals are the distributors' share of the box office gross and typically set by a complex, two-part contract.
Film Rentals as Percent of Volume of Business (1939): 36.4
To rekindle interest in the movies, Hollywood not only had to compete with television but also with other leisure-time activities...Movies made a comeback by 1955, but audiences had changed. Moviegoing became a special event for most people, creating the phenomenon of the big picture.
...there exists a very precise production accountant's statement, drawn up some time after the picture was finished, previews had been held and release prints struck. This document shows that the negative cost of the picture was precisely $385,906.77...
But they had previously succeeded in showing how musicals could centre on ordinary people with Sunny Side Up (1929), which had grossed $2 million at the box office and demonstrated a new maturity and ingenuity in the staging of story and dance.
According to the studio's books It Happened One Night brought in $1 million in film rentals during its initial release, but as Joe Walker pointed out, the figure would have been much larger if the film had not been sold to theaters on a block-booking basis in a package with more than two dozen lesser Columbia films, and the total rentals of the package spread among them all, as was customary in that era, since it minimized the risk and allowed the major studios to dominate the marketplace.
No matter what the billing, the movie became a worldwide hit with $6.5 million in worldwide rentals, from Pappa och vi in Sweden to Vita col padre in Italy, although it booked a net loss of $350,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Various accounts have cited $15 to $18 million profits during the first few years of release, while in a letter to a potential investor in the proposed sound version, Aitken noted that a $15 to $18 million box-office gross was a 'conservative estimate'. For years Variety has listed The Birth of a Nation's total rental at $50 million. (This reflects the total amount paid to the distributor, not box-office gross.) This 'trade legend' has finally been acknowledged by Variety as a 'whopper myth', and the amount has been revised to $5 million. That figure seems far more feasible, as reports of earnings in the Griffith collection list gross receipts for 1915–1919 at slightly more than $5.2 million (including foreign distribution) and total earnings after deducting general office expenses, but not royalties, at about $2 million.
Putting The Birth of a Nation in fifth place is open to question, since it is generally conceded to be the top-grossing film of all time. However, it has always been difficult to obtain reliable box-office figures for this film, and it may have been even more difficult in the mid-1930s. After listing it until the mid-1970s as the top-grosser, though finding it impossible to quote exact figures, Variety, the trade journal, suddenly repudiated the claim but without giving specific details or reasons. On the basis of the number of paid admissions, and continuous exhibition, its number one position seems justified.
Yet "The Ten Commandments" has earned 58 million dollars in film rentals and is expected to bring in 10 to 15 million each year it is reissued.
At the end of the 1941 general release, MGM decided to withdraw GWTW again. The prints were battered, but the studio believed one final fling for GWTW was possible. The film returned to movie theaters for the third time in the spring of 1942 and stayed in release until late 1943 ... When MGM finally pulled the film from exhibition, all worn-out prints were destroyed, and GWTW was at last declared out of circulation. MGM, which by then had sole ownership of the film, announced that GWTW had grossed over $32 million.
Jaws (1975) saved the day, grossing $104 million domestically and $132 million worldwide by January 1976.
The industry was stunned when Star Wars earned nearly $3 million in its first week and by the end of August had grossed $100 million; it played continuously throughout 1977–1978, and was officially re-released in 1978 and 1979, by the end of which it had earned $262 million in rentals worldwide to become the top-grossing film of all time – a position it would maintain until surpassed by Universal's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in January 1983.
On page 130, the list has Jurassic Park at number one with $913 million, followed by The Lion King...
The Birth of a Nation, costing an unprecedented and, many believed, thoroughly foolhardy $110,000, eventually returned $20 million and more. The actual figure is hard to calculate because the film was distributed on a "states' rights" basis in which licenses to show the film were sold outright. The actual cash generated by The Birth of a Nation may have been as much as $50 million to $100 million, an almost inconceivable amount for such an early film.
Various accounts have cited $15 to $18 million profits during the first few years of release, while in a letter to a potential investor in the proposed sound version, Aitken noted that a $15 to $18 million box-office gross was a 'conservative estimate'. For years Variety has listed The Birth of a Nation's total rental at $50 million. (This reflects the total amount paid to the distributor, not box-office gross.) This 'trade legend' has finally been acknowledged by Variety as a 'whopper myth', and the amount has been revised to $5 million. That figure seems far more feasible, as reports of earnings in the Griffith collection list gross receipts for 1915–1919 at slightly more than $5.2 million (including foreign distribution) and total earnings after deducting general office expenses, but not royalties, at about $2 million.
The film eventually cost $110,000 and was twelve reels long.
Intolerance was the most expensive American film made up until that point, costing a total of $489,653, and its performance at the box ... but it did recoup its cost and end with respectable overall numbers.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The negative cost was about $986,000, which did not include Fairbanks' own salary. Once the exploitation and release prints were taken into account, Robin Hood cost about $1,400,000—exceeding both Intolerance ($700,000) and the celebrated "million dollar movie" Foolish Wives. But it earned $2,500,000.
The film had a production cost of $930,042.78—more than the cost of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance and nearly as much as Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives (1922).
The top grossing silent film was King Vidor's The Big Parade (US 25), with worldwide rentals of $22 million.
The film brought in $2.6 million in worldwide rentals and made a net profit of $1,196,750. Jolson's follow-up Warner Bros. film, The Singing Fool (1928), brought in over two times as much, with $5.9 in worldwide rentals and a profit of $3,649,000, making them two of the most profitable films in the 1920s.
The Singing Fool: Negative Cost ($1000s): 388
It earned $4.4 million in worldwide rentals and was the first movie to spawn sequels (there were several until 1940).In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Although costing $1250000—a huge sum for any studio in 1929—the film was a financial success. Karl Thiede gives the domestic box-office at $1500000, and the same figure for the foreign gross.
Hughes did not have the "Midas touch" the trade press so often attributed to him. Variety, for example, reported that Hell's Angels cost $3.2 million to make, and by July, 1931, eight months after its release, the production cost had nearly been paid off. Keats claimed the picture cost $4 million to make and that it earned twice that much within twenty years. The production cost estimate is probably correct. Hughes worked on the picture for over two years, shooting it first as a silent and then as a talkie. Lewis Milestone said that in between Hughes experimented with shooting it in color as well. But Variety's earnings report must be the fabrication of a delirious publicity agent, and Keats' the working of a myth maker. During the seven years it was in United Artists distribution, Hell's Angels grossed $1.6 million in the domestic market, of which Hughes' share was $1.2 million. Whatever the foreign gross was, it seems unlikely that it was great enough to earn a profit for the picture.
Sources: Eddie Mannix Ledger, made available to the author by Mark Glancy...
The worldwide rentals of over $3 million keep the lights on at Paramount, which did not shy away from selling the movie's sex appeal.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The reaction to West's first major film, however, was not exclusively negative. Made for a mere $200,000, the film would rake in a healthy $2 million in the United States and an additional million in overseas markets.
Although Columbia's president, Harry Cohn, had strong reservations about It Happened One Night, he also knew that it would not bankrupt the studio; the rights were only $5,000, and the budget was set at $325,000, including the performers' salaries.
Considered a highly risky gamble when the movie was in production in the mid-1930s, by the fiftieth anniversary of its 1937 premiere Snow White's earnings exceeded $330 million.
The film's negative cost was $2.6 million, more than $1 million higher than Snow White's.
Boom Town ($4.6 million).
Mrs Miniver was a phenomenon. It was the most popular film of the year (from any studio) in both North America and Britain, and its foreign earnings were three times higher than those of any other MGM film released in the 1941–42 season. The production cost ($1,344,000) was one of the highest of the season, indicating the studio never thought of the film as a potential loss-maker. When the film earned a worldwide gross of $8,878,000, MGM had the highest profit ($4,831,000) in its history. Random Harvest nearly matched the success of Mrs Miniver with worldwide earnings of $8,147,000 yielding the second-highest profit in MGM's history ($4,384,000). Random Harvest was also the most popular film of the year in Britain, where it proved to be even more popular than Britain's most acclaimed war film, In Which We Serve.
Mrs. Miniver's galvanizing effect on Americans spawned a record-breaking ten-week run at Radio City Music Hall and garnered a $5.4 million take in domestic rentals (making Mrs. Miniver 1942's top grosser), with a $4.8 million profit on worldwide rentals of $8.9 million.Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Despite the early furor over the novel being "pro-red and immoral," the film opened to strong and favorable reviews and brought in $11 million in worldwide rentals in its initial release.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Leading the pack of postwar sex hygiene films was Mom and Dad (1944), which would become not only the most successful sex hygiene film in history but the biggest pre-1960 exploitation film of any kind. At the end of 1947, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mom and Dad had grossed $2 million. By 1949 Time had estimated that Mom and Dad had taken in $8 million from twenty million moviegoers. And publicity issuing from Mom and Dad's production company indicated that by the end of 1956 it had grossed over $80 million worldwide. Net rentals of around $22 million by 1956 would easily place it in the top ten films of the late 1940s and early 1950s had it appeared on conventional lists. Some estimates have placed its total gross over the years at up to $100 million, and it was still playing drive-in dates into 1975...The film was made for around $65,000 with a crew of Hollywood veterans including director William "One Shot" Beaudine, cinematographer Marcel LePicard, and a cast that sported old stalwarts Hardie Albright, Francis Ford, and John Hamilton.
Still, the film wound up grossing $3.3 million...
The film made a $5 million profit on worldwide rentals of $14.8 million.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Forever Amber: $8 million; Unconquered: $7.5 million; Life with Father: $6.25 million
Although both films had higher than average budgets (The Red Shoes cost £505,581 and Hamlet cost £572,530, while the average cost of the other thirty films for which Rank supplied information was £233,000), they resulted in high takings at home and abroad.
Cinderella revived its fortunes. Re-released in February 1950, it cost nearly $3 million to make but earned more than $20 million worldwide.
It cost around $2.2 million, little more than each of the two package features, Melody Time and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (as Tluo Fabulous Characters had ultimately been named), that just preceded it, but its gross rentals—an amount shared by Disney and RKO—were $7.8 million, almost twice as much as the two package features combined.
Produced at a cost of $1 million, This is Cinerama ran 122 weeks, earning $4.7 million in its initial New York run alone and eventually grossed over $32 million. It was obvious to Hollywood that the public was ready for a new form of motion picture entertainment. The first five Cinerama feature-length travelogues, though they only played in twenty-two theaters, pulled in a combined gross of $82 million.
By May 1953, Variety was reporting that the Best Picture winner had amassed $18.35 million in worldwide rentals.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Costing $15 million to produce, the film earned $47 million by the end of 1961 and $90 million worldwide by January 1989.
Negative cost: around $4 million; Worldwide film rentals gross (including 1968 American reissue) to 1970: $30 million.
Spartacus cost $12 million and grossed some $60 million at the box office, figures Kubrick rarely again matched.
With its three rereleases, it took in over $105 million in worldwide box office ($720 million in 2005 dollars).In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
In its initial run, Poppins garnered an astounding $44 million in worldwide rentals and became the company's first Best Picture Oscar contender.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
While Columbia, battling Ray Stark over every dollar, did Funny Girl for around $8.8 million, a million or so over budget, Fox spent nearly $24 million on Hello, Dolly!, more than twice the initial budget, and the film will thus have to gross three times as much to break even.
The final cost came in at $2,260,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
The original Godfather has grossed a mind-boggling $285 million...
The Godfather catapulted Coppola to overnight celebrity, earning three Academy Awards and a then record-breaking $142 million in worldwide sales.
...further reflected by the phenomenal successes of The Sting, Chinatown and The Exorcist. The latter film, which cost about $10 million to produce, has grossed over $110 million worldwide.
...Jaws should outstrip another MCA hit, The Sting, which had world-wide revenues of $115 million.(Online copy Archived April 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine at Google Books)
The budget for the first Jaws was $4 million and the picture wound up costing $9 million.
The budget was $1,075,000 plus producer's fees of $100,000.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
Despite the fact that Grease was well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie musical in the world, and eventually grossed over $341 million...
Production Cost: $19.0 (Millions of $s) ... Despite mixed reviews, it played in the top 10 for an extended period and was a huge hit, grossing almost $345 million in worldwide box office.In: Block & Wilson 2010. Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.
As of the end of 1971, GWTW stood as the all-time money-drawing movie, with a take of $116 million, and, with this year's reissues, it should continue to run ahead of the second place contender and all-time kaffee-mit-schlag spectacle.
Coppola is King Midas, the most individually powerful U.S. filmmaker ." His credits include directing the first Godfather (worldwide earnings: $142 million, ahead of Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music and The Exorcist)...(Online copy at Google Books)
$102,308,525
2020 Re-release: $1,281,204; 2021 Re-release: $57,995,770; 2022 Re-release: $76,012,917
$343,550,770
2017 Re-release: $691,642; 2020 Re-release: $71,352
Worldwide: $2,923,706,026; Original Release: $2,743,577,587; 2010 Special Edition: $44,838,548; 2020 Re-release: $1,281,204; 2021 Re-release: $57,995,770; 2022 Re-release: $76,012,917
Worldwide: $2,187,615,730; Original release: $1,843,373,318; 2012 3D Release: $343,550,770; 2017 Re-release: $691,642
All Releases: $1,921,847,111; Original Release: $1,912,233,593
Worldwide – $1,274,219,009 (total as of August 8, 2014; including Japanese gross up to August 3, Spanish gross up to July 27, UK gross up to June 8, German gross up to March 30, and omitting Nigerian gross)
Worldwide: $1,033,928,303; Original Release: $912,667,947; Production Budget: $63 million
$1,027,082,707
$538,375,067
Total: $389,925,971; North America: $212,222,025 (original run); Overseas: $141,766,000
$482,366,101
Worldwide: $381,109,762; Production Budget: $19 million
$519,843,345
Worldwide: $968,511,805; Production Budget: $45 million
Worldwide: $373,554,033
Worldwide: $948,945,489; Original Release: $936,689,735
You Can't Take It With You received excellent reviews, won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1938 Academy Awards, and earned over $5 million worldwide.
1947–1948: $4.03 (per British pound)
"The Jungle Book," in it's [sic] initial world-wide release, has grossed $23.8 million to date...
Its worldwide box-office gross was $619 million, toppling the record of $530 million set by Star Wars.
"Star Wars" has brought 20th Century-Fox approximately $250 million in film rentals ... "Star Wars" grossed $410 million, and his share was enough to allow him to finance its sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back," himself.
..."Funny Girl" will gross an estimated $80 to $100 million worldwide.
According to a modern source, it had a gross earning of $2,250,000 on the North American continent, with over a million more earned internationally.
According to M-G-M studio records at the AMPAS Library, the film had a negative cost of $2,627,000 and took in $5,363,000 at the box office. When the picture was re-issued for the 1955–56 season, it took in an additional $150,000.
Worldwide Box Office: $69,995,385; International Box Office: $32,500,000
The Jungle Book $378 million; One Hundred and One Dalmatians $303 million; Lady and the Tramp $187 million
2001: A Space Odyssey made $15 million on its initial U.S. release, and currently shows a worldwide gross of over $190 million.
It was filmed at a declared cost of $4 million over a 42-month period.
Domestic rentals: $48,838,000
2020 Re-release: $1,281,204; 2021 Re-release: $57,995,770; 2022 Re-release: $76,012,917
$343,550,770
2017 Re-release: $691,642; 2020 Re-release: $71,352
Worldwide: $2,187,615,730; Original release: $1,843,373,318; 2012 3D Release: $343,550,770; 2017 Re-release: $691,642
All Releases: $1,921,847,111; Original Release: $1,912,233,593
Worldwide – $1,274,219,009 (total as of August 8, 2014; including Japanese gross up to August 3, Spanish gross up to July 27, UK gross up to June 8, German gross up to March 30, and omitting Nigerian gross)
Worldwide: $1,033,928,303; Original Release: $912,667,947; Production Budget: $63 million
According to a modern source, it had a gross earning of $2,250,000 on the North American continent, with over a million more earned internationally.
According to M-G-M studio records at the AMPAS Library, the film had a negative cost of $2,627,000 and took in $5,363,000 at the box office. When the picture was re-issued for the 1955–56 season, it took in an additional $150,000.
1947–1948: $4.03 (per British pound)
The Jungle Book $378 million; One Hundred and One Dalmatians $303 million; Lady and the Tramp $187 million
Worldwide Box Office: $69,995,385; International Box Office: $32,500,000
It was filmed at a declared cost of $4 million over a 42-month period.
2001: A Space Odyssey made $15 million on its initial U.S. release, and currently shows a worldwide gross of over $190 million.
..."Funny Girl" will gross an estimated $80 to $100 million worldwide.
$102,308,525
...Jaws should outstrip another MCA hit, The Sting, which had world-wide revenues of $115 million.(Online copy Archived April 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine at Google Books)
Domestic rentals: $48,838,000
Its worldwide box-office gross was $619 million, toppling the record of $530 million set by Star Wars.
Worldwide: $381,109,762; Production Budget: $19 million
$519,843,345
"Star Wars" has brought 20th Century-Fox approximately $250 million in film rentals ... "Star Wars" grossed $410 million, and his share was enough to allow him to finance its sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back," himself.
You Can't Take It With You received excellent reviews, won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1938 Academy Awards, and earned over $5 million worldwide.
