Top Ten All-time Money Making Movies
Flicks that Broke Box Office Records in US Theatres
Top Box Office Earning Movie #10 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($402,076,375)
Released June 2009, this science fiction, action thriller starred Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel and earned the highest Wednesday opening gross in history and second. The movie was produced by Steven Spielberg and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing. Apparently movie-goers couldn't get enough of Sam Witwicky and the Autobots battle the Decepticons and watching the Transformers toy line come to life on the big screen.
Top Box Office Earning Movie #9 - Spider-Man ($403,706,375)
Super Heros draw a crowd, no doubt. Spiderman was based on the Marvel Comic Character of the same name, released to the theaters 2002 and was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, as well as other industry awards. The concept of a nerdy High School kid (Peter Parker) being transformed by a genetically altered spider bite turned out to be a good thing for Tobey Maguire and his love interest in the movie, played by Kirsten Dunst. What teen wouldn't want to be able to scale the side of a skyscraper or walk on the ceiling?
Top Box Office Earning Movie #8 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($423,032,628)
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow drew in the crowds better in this 2006 sequel than he did in the original 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which only landed the 32nd spot or the third sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which landed in 29th place!. In this one, Captain Jack races for the heart of Davy Jones to save enslavement, just an average day in the life of a Pirate!
Top Box Office Earning Movie #7 - Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace ($431,065,444)
The fact that this George Lucas' 1999 movie still lands in the top ten Box Office movies of all time speaks to the classic appeal of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of his bawdy crew in this epic science fiction film series! The Phantom Menace was the 4th film in the sequel and was nominated for three Academy Awards, Best Effects, Sound and Visual and Best Sound.
Top Box Office Earning Movie #6 - E.T.:The Extra-Terrestrial ($434,949,459)
Is there anyone who hasn't seen this movie and fallen in love with this adorable alien botanist who finds himself in the middle of a suburban American neighborhood? Released in 1982, E.T. won 4 Oscars and furthered the career of Drew Barrymore as Gertie, one of the human children who help the lovable alien find his way home. Another Classic! E.T. go home!
Top Box Office Earning Movie #5 - Shrek 2 ($436,471,036)
A love story, adventure, and humor: The Shrek movies have it all! In this 2004 sequel to the original Shrek movie, Shrek wins out over Prince Charming to win Fiona's heart, and our two love struck ogres marry. The blockbuster movie was nominated for two Oscars and featured the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas.
Top Box Office Earning Movie #4 - Star Wars: A New Hope ($460,935,665)
Part IV in the George Lucas epic series, this release earned the most at the box office. The film earned ten Academy Award nominations and won seven of them! May the force be with you!
Top Box Office Earning Movie #3 - The Dark Knight ($533,316,061)
The original Batman movie made it way to the big screen in 1989, with 5 sequels, Batman Returns in 1992, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in 1993, Batman Forever in 1995, Batman & Robin in 1997, and Batman Begins in 2005. In 2008, Batman fans were back in the theaters in record numbers, to watch The Dark Knight as Batman and Robin battle the mastermind of The Joker in Gotham City. The movies earned two Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger's performance, who died of a prescription overdose shorting thereafter.
Top Box Office Earning Movie #2 - Titanic ($600,779,824)
James Cameron and Hollywood turned the true story of one of the biggest tragedies' ever on the open sea into one of the most memorable love stories of all time. According to IMDb, the making of the movie cost $200 Million, which was more than it cost to build the ship itself! Titanic won 11 Oscars and many other awards. It is no wonder this movie is toward the top of this list!
Top Box Office Earning Movie #1 - Avatar ($749,202,090)
Apparently, James Cameron was intent on beating his own record when he made Avatar, and succeeded! Released in 2009 but set in 2154, Avatar took moviegoers to another world entirely, (Pandora) in 3-D. Development of the movie began in 1994 and, according to Wikipedia, Cameron intended to release the movie in 1999 but the technology available at that time did not adequately meet his vision for the movie. It was the first movie to gross more than $2 Billion and is now the highest-grossing film of all time in North America as well as worldwide. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won three: Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. (It lost Best Picture to Hurt Locker, directed by Cameron's Ex-wife.) Two sequels of Avatar are planned, so if you haven't seen it yet, you better!
So, there you have them, the biggest box office draws EVER. If you thought going out to the movies is becoming a thing of the past, think again. With Avatar topping this list, it is obvious that in 2009 families were still willing to plunk down a fifty to take the family to the local theatre and feed them a tub of popcorn. I've seen seven of the movies on this list, how many have you seen?
Resources:
IMDb.com
Wikipedia.com
Published by Jan Peterson
Jan worked for thirty years in banking and has been writing songs for over fifteen years. You might find her name in the songwriting credits of many independent and major motion pictures. She s always loved... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentWhat a neat list! I've actually seen most of these, so I guess my money contributed to their success! :-)
Great info. I expected some of these and others were surprises!
Oh, by the way - I think that if inflation adjustments are taken into account, the movie Gone With the Wind would be #1.
Good information, but you know, I think the list would be very different if you include inflation adjustments for older films. And of course, a big box office gross doesn't necessarily mean the films are good.