Can Sith Beat Titanic?

[Famine]

Personally I don't know what is going to come along and ever top Titanic.  Think about it.  The LOTR movies, SpiderMan flicks, Shrek2, and ROTS all had insance opening weekends and finished well but still fall at least $150-170 million short of $600 million. 

Even if people loved TPM and AOTC I bet it still would not top $450 million. 

30 years from now when the average ticket costs $20.00 almost any blockbuster movie will beat Titanic.

30 years? No try in like five. My theatre is at 10, and they plan to go to 12 this fall. And it will just rise from there.

Kevin

[Dressel Rebel]

Good point Zod.  I think these records should also note the average movie ticket price and adjust each movie total for inflation, to reflect accurate sales.  For example, Titanic which came out roughly 8 years ago probably had an average ticket price of $7 and change.  And now, tickets cost roughly $9 on average.  A good movie 20 years from now should be able to destroy all the old records at this rate.

Either that, or the records should be based on tickets sold only.

[JediMAC]

Good point Zod.  I think these records should also note the average movie ticket price and adjust each movie total for inflation, to reflect accurate sales.

BoxOfficeMojo's way ahead of you Matt... 

All-time Domestic Grosses, adjusted

Forgive the sloppy copy/paste here.  As you can see, Titanic ain't even #1 here, but ANH sure kicks some ass using this method (as do old Disney flicks)!    (the second total in there is the unadjusted gross)

  1  Gone with the Wind  MGM  $1,293,085,600  $198,676,459  1939^
  2  Star Wars  Fox  $1,139,965,400  $460,998,007  1977^
  3  The Sound of Music  Fox  $911,458,400  $158,671,368  1965
  4  E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial  Uni.  $907,867,700  $435,110,554  1982^
  5  The Ten Commandments  Par.  $838,400,000  $65,500,000  1956
  6  Titanic  Par.  $821,413,700  $600,788,188  1997
  7  Jaws  Uni.  $819,704,400  $260,000,000  1975
  8  Doctor Zhivago  MGM  $794,466,900  $111,721,910  1965
  9  The Exorcist  WB  $707,639,500  $232,671,011  1973^
10  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  Dis.  $697,600,000  $184,925,486  1937^
11  101 Dalmatians  Dis.  $639,470,400  $144,880,014  1961^
12  The Empire Strikes Back  Fox  $628,356,100  $290,475,067  1980^
13  Ben-Hur  MGM  $627,200,000  $74,000,000  1959
14  Return of the Jedi  Fox  $601,980,200  $309,306,177  1983^
15  The Sting  Uni.  $570,514,300  $156,000,000  1973
16  Raiders of the Lost Ark  Par.  $564,107,900  $242,374,454  1981^
17  Jurassic Park  Uni.  $551,717,400  $357,067,947  1993
18  The Graduate  AVCO  $547,295,400  $104,642,560  1967
19  Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace  Fox  $542,885,200  $431,088,301  1999
20  Fantasia  Dis.  $531,478,300  $76,408,097  1941^


AOTC is way the hell down the list at #80. 

[Dressel Rebel]

Sweet, never saw this before.  The way I see this, this is the real top 20 films.  It's only fair.

[Famine]

See how Jurassic Park is on that list? I like that.

Kevin

[JesseVader08]

Sweet, never saw this before.  The way I see this, this is the real top 20 films.  It's only fair.

Absolutely.  That should be the correct way to determine the #1 movie.  Like you said, Dressel, it's only fair.

[Nathan]

They should forget any measurement of grosses (adjusted or not) and go purely by number of tickets sold. Why should the guy at the $4.00 Super Good Deal matinee count less than the guy who sees the $9.00 evening showing?

[JediMAC]

Sweet, never saw this before.  The way I see this, this is the real top 20 films.  It's only fair.

Yeah, I kinda agree.  But ****, can you imagine any movie nowadays trying to compete with ANY of those in there?  Not a chance in hell.  Gone With the Wind and Star Wars topping 1 BILLION adjusted is absolutely mindboggling, if you think about it.  I don't even see any modern day movies coming close to challenging any of the films on the adjusted list above for many years to come, considering they'd have to (currently) gross at least 532 million just to crack the Top 20.  And only Titanic has EVER grossed at least that.  No one else has even come close.

That said, ROTS is up to $317,257,697 through yesterday, which puts it at #16 all time (surely 15 as of now), but at just a paltry #89 on the adjusted list.

[JediMAC]

BTW, I think it's time for Scott to change the title of this thread to Can Sith Beat Phantom Menace? 

[Nathan]

You said it, Matt. The advent of VHS (now DVD) and good home theater systems has killed the repeat viewings and theatrical re-releases that drove Gone with the Wind, A New Hope, Jaws, and others on that list. Even when Titanic came out in '97, VHS wasn't as big a dominating factor in a film's success as DVDs are today.

Nowadays movies start off with a huge opening weekend bang (it seems like the opening records are broken every few months) and fizzle abruptly.

I'd love to see all six Episodes re-released in theaters (maybe for the 30th anniversary), but sadly it wouldn't be cost-effective anymore and I don't foresee it being so ever again. At least I got to see the Special Editions theatrically.

That all being said, if Revenge doesn't even beat Spider-man I'm gonna be pissed.

[DSJ™]

This week:

1. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," $51.1 million.
2. "Madagascar," $17.1 million.
3. "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," $14.9 million. Cumulative Gross $332,108,000.
4. "The Longest Yard," $13.5 million.

ROTS now sits at #83, not far from AOTC which is still at #80 with $342,198,200.

[Nathan]

Currently #13 on the non-adjusted domestic scale.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm

1 Titanic Par. $600,788,188 1997
2 Star Wars Fox $460,998,007 1977
3 Shrek 2 DW $441,226,247 2004
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $435,110,554 1982
5 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $431,088,301 1999
6 Spider-Man Sony $403,706,375 2002
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $377,027,325 2003
8 Spider-Man 2 Sony $373,585,825 2004
9 The Passion of the Christ NM $370,782,930 2004
10 Jurassic Park Uni. $357,067,947 1993
11 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers NL $341,786,758 2002
12 Finding Nemo BV $339,714,978 2003
13 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox $332,108,000 2005

Go l'il guy, go!

Forget even beating TPM, I think we're looking more at "Can it beat Jurassic Park and crack the Top Ten"? Too bad, because I really wanted to thrash the Spider-Mans.

By the way, now that I'm looking at the list, how the f**k did Shrek 2 come in at #3??? That's just wrong.

[Diddly]

I think Famine will be pretty pissed if ROTS beats Jurrassic Park...

[Nathan]

In a way I'll be bummed too, because I love JP (saw it in the theater way back in '93). Same with LOTR. But unfortunately in order to beat Spider-man it has to go past those movies.

[Darby]

I think Sith will without a doubt break the top ten, and will probably even do it next weekend or just after.  How far it goes after that depends on where it bottoms out.  If it makes $15 million next weekend, or roundabouts, then $400 million is a sure thing.  If it makes ten or less, I don't know.