The best

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2014)

The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema[4]—and as one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre.[5] Now ranked as the second greatest film in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute,[6] it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1990. The Godfather was a blockbuster, breaking many box office records to become the highest grossing film of 1972. It earned $81.5 million in theatrical rentals in North America during its initial release,[30] increasing its earnings to $85.7 million through a reissue in 1973,[31] and including a limited re-release in 1997 it ultimately earned an equivalent exhibition gross of $135 million.[2] It displaced Gone with the Wind to claim the record as the top rentals earner, a position it would retain until the release of Jaws in 1975.[32][33] News articles at the time proclaimed it was the first film to gross $100 million in North America,[32] but such accounts are erroneous since this record in fact belongs to The Sound of Music, released in 1965.[34] The film repeated its native success overseas, earning in total an unprecedented $142 million in worldwide theatrical rentals, to become the highest net earner.[35] Profits were so high for The Godfather that earnings for Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., which owned Paramount Pictures, jumped from seventy-seven cents per share to three dollars and thirty cents a share for the year, according to a Los Angeles Times article, dated December 13, 1972.[32] To date, it has grossed between $245 million and $286 million in worldwide box office receipts,[36] and adjusted for ticket price inflation in North America, ranks among the top 25 highest- grossing films