Is AVATAR Really #1??

I always knew Cameron's Avatar was kind of overrated, but I'm definitely not one of those assholes that hold a grudge against the movie for it. I was blown away by the kind of technology that it had created and thought it deserved some recognition for it.


Maybe too much.


Now, I'm not trashing the movie itself, don't get me wrong. But the moment the movie started taking over some of my favorite movies of all time on charts is when my discormfort began.


And now, Avatar finally trumped Titanic, I heard. It's officially the top grossing film of all time.


Out of plain curiousity, I decided to check out the list:


1. Avatar 20th Century Fox $1,924,744,073 (2009)



2. Titanic Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox $1,843,201,268 (1997)


3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King New Line Cinema $1,119,110,941 (2003)


4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Walt Disney Pictures $1,066,179,725 (2006)


5. The Dark Knight Warner Bros. $1,001,921,825 (2008)


6. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Warner Bros. $974,733,550 (2001)


7. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Walt Disney Pictures $960,996,492 (2007)


8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Warner Bros. $938,212,738 (2007)


9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. $933,959,197 (2009)


10. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers New Line Cinema $925,282,504 (2002)

.

.

.

At first, I didn't question the chart's accurency. These guys are professionals. Surely they know their mathematics.
 
But then, I realized that due to the long-term effect of inflation, notably the significant increase of movie theatre ticket prices, the list unadjusted for inflation gives far more weight to more recent films.
 
According to Wikipedia: A film in 1910, given much lower ticket prices at that time, would have to sell close to 100 times as many tickets as a 2007 film in order for the two to have equal gross takings.
 
And surely I was right. Recently Hollywood.com's Paul Degarabedian took notice and reworked the numbers. And the result:
 

I apologize if you cannot see the letters. If you're curious, check it out at Hollywood.com.

 

Anyways, like I said, Avatar, coming in at #24, is nowhere close to the #1 spot, which is surprisingly taken by Gone With the Wind (1939).

 

 

 

Great job, Gone With the Wind. Your legacy as one the greatest movies of all time will be left untouched.