Does anyone have a worldwide list adjusted for inflation? I'd like to see where Avatar places there since 70% of it's gross came from overseas.

So Avatar should end up outgrossing Star Wars. Highest grossing sci-fi ever is definitely a massive achievement.

i wish sherlock holmes did like avatar.... sherlock holmes is much better!! :P

And to be honest i really cant argue against it, its like when espn compares athletes of different generations, its fun but in the end pointlesssince we never get head to heads its just fun to speculate about it all.

@ coolbeans

Definitely agree that inflation should be used to compare movie sales. Though I found a really neat post. A guy calculated the 20 most popular/biggest movies using not only inflation, but also population and per capita ticket purchasing trends.

Here's the link:

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/mostpopularmovies.html

Keep in mind this was done using 2004 for the adjustments, so there is no Avatar and the numbers he gives are probably slightly lower than if they were done today. There are also 2 lists, one that uses re-release info added in and one that uses only initial release info.

Here's the 2nd list (initial U.S. releases only):

1. The Sound of Music............................1965..........$1,678 million...
2. The Exocist.......................................1973..........$1,283 million...
3. E.T..................................................1982..........$1,202 million...
4. Jaws................................................1975..........$1,678 million...
5. Dr. Zhivago.......................................1965..........$1,153 million...
6. Mary Poppins.....................................1964..........$1,065 million...
7. The Graduate....................................1975..........$1,002 million...
8. The Sting..........................................1973..........$1,001 million...
9. 101 Dalmations..................................1959.............$973 million...
10. The Jungle Book...............................1967.............$934 million...
11. Titanic...........................................1997.............$902 million...
12. Star Wars.......................................1977.............$869 million...
13. Raiders of the Lost Arc.......................1981.............$778 million...
14. Bambi............................................1942.............$709 million...
15. Ben Hur..........................................1959.............$697 million...
16. Return of the Jedi............................1983.............$668 million...
17. Jurassic Park...................................1993.............$660 million...
18. Forest Gump...................................1994.............$579 million...
19. The Lion King...................................1994.............$579 million...
20. The 10 Commandments,....................1956.............$547 million...
21. The Empire Strikes Back....................1980.............$451 million...
22. Shrek II..........................................2004.............$436 million...
23. Gone With The Wind,.........................1939............$416 million

As you can see when all things are considered, The Sound of Music owns all. LOL. Don't mind that, as I like that movie.

I'm pleased with 3-5. Haven't seen Avatar yet.

Seeing the Harry Potter films so high makes me realize how many shmucks like me there are in the world - guys that go see the movies day one simply because they're Harry Potter, despite knowing they'll be shit compared to the books.

Also, to those mentioning inflation, recall that movie theaters are expensive as hell these days, regardless of any change in the value of the dollar. Yeah, prices have gone up a decent bit in the last thirty years, but movie ticket prices have double in just the past five or so years, from around $5 to $10 in my area. I also find that ticket prices vary heavily by region. Big cities have $10+ tickets, while small towns in the middle of nowhere are still around $4-5 like they were several years back. Theaters in heavily populated areas increase prices on a whim simply because they know they'll be selling out anyway. There's a bit more than mere inflation at work here.

In short, Jurassic Park was bloody awesome!

Woah woah woah!! The guy's good but let's not get crazy now...

Not entirely accurate.

The distributor of movies in China is state-run. A native Chinese movie, Confucious is releasing next week. They are pulling all 2D theaters in support of this movie, as its supposed to be huge like Red Clif 2. The 3D theaters are still going to play Avatar.

Such a shame, too, because if it had 2D support in China still (at a comparable rate to Avatar in other nations), it'd top $100m USD in China by the end of this weekend.

Also, the funny thing about listing movies for inflation don't take a lot of things into account such as:

• DVD sales
• TV royalties
• Merchandising agreements
• Video rentals

Things that GWTW never had. Revenue makes the most sense, because your trying to compare similar dollar grosses. Also of note is how crappy the theater industry was when GWTW or Star Wars came out. When they came out, there were no equals for years. GWTW made its inflation-adjusted $1.4 billion over a two year period. Avatar has already had some theaters pulled, and when Alice in Wonderland drops, will cut off a major portion of IMAX and 3D theaters for a grand run of six months.

If you gave Avatar similar conditions to GWTW - no major competition for two years - it would easily outgross a movie like GWTW. But since the market isn't like that any more, we should use revenue.

Plus you have a major secondary market like DVD sales....I have never seen GWTW on any DVD sales chart in my life, so I would give a major bonus to modern movies for that.

If you count everything - movies, TV, merch and DVDs, then Star Wars is easily the biggest movie of all time.

Avatar is going to Reach two Billion, but it cannot match Titanic in Viewership.