Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)

This article ranks the best drama movies of all-time based on inflation-adjusted domestic gross box office sales, according to Boxoffice, the official publication of the National Association of Theatre Owners.

The ten biggest drama movies of all-time have collectively earned nearly $9 billion and 56 Academy Awards. Three of these films are rated PG-13, three PG, three G, and one R.

Listed below for each of the best drama movies of all-time are inflation-adjusted gross box office sales, directors, producers, writers, main casts, ratings, running times, distributors, and number of Academy Awards earned.

After reading "Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)," return here to read "Best Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)," "Best Action Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)," "Best Animated Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)," "Best_Comedy_Movies_of_All_Time_(Box_Office_Sales)," and "Best Romance Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales)."

1. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Gone with the Wind (1939)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $1.84 billion
Director: Victor Fleming
Producer: David Selznick
Writer: Sidney Howard
Main Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Haller, and Max Steiner
Rating: G
Running time: 3 hours, 58 minutes
Distributor: MGM
Academy Awards: 10

2. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Titanic (1997)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $1.03 billion
Director: James Cameron
Producers: Rae Sanchini, James Cameron, Pamela Easley, Jon Landau, Sharon Mann, Al Giddings, Grant Hill
Writer: James Cameron
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Kathy Bates
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 3 hours, 14 minutes
Distributors: Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Academy Awards: 11

3. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): The Ten Commandments (1956)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $1.03 billion
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Producers: Henry Wilcoxon, Cecil B. DeMille
Writers: Jack Gariss, Jesse Lasky Jr., Aeneas MacKenzie, Dorothy Clarke Wilson, A.E. Southon, J.H. Ingraham, Frederic M. Frank
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Martha Scott, Nina Foch, Cedric Hardwicke, John Derek, Debra Paget, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Edward G. Robinson
Rating: G
Running time: 3 hours, 40 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Academy Awards: 1

4. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $800 million
Director: David Lean
Producers: Arvid Griffin, Carlo Ponti
Writers: Boris Pasternick, Robert Bolt
Main Cast: Omar Shariff, Jeffrey Rockland, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay, Siobhan McKenna, Ralph Richardson, Rita Tussingham
Rating: PG
Running time: 3 hours, 17 minutes
Distributor: MGM
Academy Awards: 5

5. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Ben-Hur (1959)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $782 million
Director: William Wyler
Producer: Sam Zimbalist
Writer: Karl Tunberg
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haga Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Frank Thring, Cathy O'Donnell, Sam Jaffe
Rating: G
Running time: 3 hours, 32 minutes
Distributor: MGM
Academy Awards: 11

6. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): The Sting (1973)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $696 million
Director: George Roy Hill
Producers: Tony Bill, Robert Crawford Jr., Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
Writer: David S. Ward
Main Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Jack Kehoe, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, John Heffernan, Dana Elcar
Rating: PG
Running time: 2 hours, 9 minutes
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Academy Awards: 7

7. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): The Graduate (1967)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $647 million
Director: Mike Nichols
Producers: Joseph Levine, Lawrence Turman
Writers: Calder Willingham, Buck Henry
Main Cast: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Ross
Rating: PG
Running time: 1 hour,46 minutes
Distributor: AVCO Embassy
Academy Awards: 1

8. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Forrest Gump (1994)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $632 million
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Producers: Steve Starkey, Steve Tisch, Wendy Finerman, Charles Newirth
Writer: Eric Roth
Main Cast: Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright, GarySinisi, Mykelti Williamson
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 2 hours,21 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Academy Awards: 6

9. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): The Godfather (1972)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $620 million
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Producers: Gray Frederickson, Albert S. Ruddy
Writers: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Main Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Rating: R
Running time: 2 hours,55 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Academy Awards: 3

10. Best Drama Movies of All Time (Box Office Sales): Love Story (1970)

Adjusted gross box office sales: $540 million
Directors: Arthur Hiller
Producers: David Golden, Howard G. Minsky
Writer: Erich Segal
Main Cast: Ali McGraw, Ryan O'Neal, Tommy Lee Jones, Ray Milland
Rating: PG
Running time:1 hour,40 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Academy Awards: 1

Source(s):

" All Time Domestic Gross (Adjusted) ," BOXOFFICE.COM
" Search ," IMDb
" The Official Academy Awards Database ," The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences