List of highest-grossing films

Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assessing the success of a film, mostly because of the availability of the data compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights, but also because of historical practice. Included on the list are charts of the top box-office earners (ranked by both the nominal and real value of their revenue), a chart of high-grossing films by calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box-office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights, and merchandise.
Traditionally, war films, musicals, and historical dramas have been the most popular genres, but franchise films have been among the best performers of the 21st century. There is strong interest in the superhero genre, with ten films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring among the nominal top-earners. The most successful superhero film, Avengers: Endgame, is also the second-highest-grossing film on the nominal earnings chart, and there are four films in total based on the Avengers comic books charting in the top twenty. The biggest blockbuster films like other Marvel Comics adaptations have also had success with the Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four properties, while films with the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman from DC Comics. Star Wars is also represented in the nominal earnings chart with five films, while the Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises feature prominently. Although the nominal earnings chart is dominated by films adapted from pre-existing properties and sequels, it is headed by Avatar, which is an original work. Animated family films have performed consistently well, with Disney films enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home-video era. Disney also enjoyed later success with films such as Frozen I and II, Zootopia, and The Lion King (with its computer-animated remake as the highest-grossing animated film), as well as its Pixar brand, of which Incredibles 2, Toy Story 3 and 4, and Finding Dory have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar animation, the Despicable Me, Shrek, and Ice Age series have met with the most success.
While inflation has eroded away the achievements of most films from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s there are franchises originating from that period that are still active. Besides the Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man and Superman franchises, James Bond and Godzilla films are still being released periodically; all four are among the highest-grossing franchises. Some of the older films that held the record of highest-grossing film still have respectable grosses by today's standards, but no longer compete numerically against today's top-earners in an era of much higher individual ticket prices. When those prices are adjusted for inflation, however, then Gone with the Wind—which was the highest-grossing film outright for twenty-five years—is still the highest-grossing film of all time. All grosses on the list are expressed in U.S. dollars at their nominal value, except where stated otherwise.
== Highest-grossing films ==
With a worldwide box-office gross of over $2.8 billion, Avatar is proclaimed to be the "highest-grossing" film, but such claims usually refer to theatrical revenues only and don't take into account home video and television income, which can form a significant portion of a film's earnings. Once revenue from home entertainment is factored in it is not immediately clear which film is the most successful. Titanic earned $1.2 billion from video and DVD sales and rentals, in addition to the $2.2 billion it grossed in theatres. While complete sales data are not available for Avatar, it earned $345 million from the sale of sixteen million DVD and Blu-ray units in North America, and ultimately sold a total of thirty million DVD and Blu-ray units worldwide. After home video income is accounted for, both films have earned over $3 billion each. Television broadcast rights will also substantially add to a film's earnings, with a film often earning as much as 20–25% of its theatrical box office for a couple of television runs on top of pay-per-view revenues; Titanic earned a further $55 million from the NBC and HBO broadcast rights, equating to about 9% of its North American gross.
When a film is highly exploitable as a commercial property, its ancillary revenues can dwarf its income from direct film sales. The Lion King (1994) earned over $2 billion in box-office and home video sales, but this pales in comparison to the $8 billion earned at box offices around the world by the stage adaptation. Merchandising can be extremely lucrative too: The Lion King also sold $3 billion of merchandise, while Pixar's Cars—which earned $462 million in theatrical revenues and was only a modest hit by comparison to other Pixar films—generated global merchandise sales of over $8 billion in the five years after its 2006 release. Pixar had another huge hit with Toy Story 3, which generated almost $10 billion in merchandise retail sales in addition to the $1 billion it earned at the box office.
On this chart, films are ranked by the revenues from theatrical exhibition at their nominal value, along with the highest positions they attained. Five films in total have grossed in excess of $2 billion worldwide, with Avatar ranked in the top position. All of the films have had a theatrical run (including re-releases) in the 21st century, and films that have not played during this period do not appear on the chart because of ticket-price inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends not being considered.
:
Highest-grossing films
Rank	Peak	Title 	Worldwide gross	Year	Reference(s)
1 	1 	Avatar 	$2,847,397,339 	2009	
2 	1 	Avengers: Endgame 	$2,797,501,328 	2019	
3 	1 	Titanic 	$ 	1997	
4 	3 	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 	$2,068,223,624 	2015	
5 	4 	Avengers: Infinity War 	$2,048,359,754 	2018	
6 	6 	Spider-Man: No Way Home 	$1,913,973,665 	2021	
7 	3 	Jurassic World 	$1,671,537,444 	2015	
8 	7 	The Lion King 	$1,656,943,394 	2019	
9 	3 	The Avengers 	$1,518,812,988 	2012	
10 	4 	Furious 7 	$1,516,045,911 	2015	
11 	11 	Top Gun: Maverick 	$1,453,708,229 	2022	
12 	10 	Frozen II 	$1,450,026,933 	2019	
13 	5 	Avengers: Age of Ultron 	$1,402,809,540 	2015	
14 	9 	Black Panther 	$1,347,280,838 	2018	
15 	3 	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	$1,342,025,430 	2011	
16 	9 	Star Wars: The Last Jedi 	$1,332,539,889 	2017	
17 	12 	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 	$1,309,484,461 	2018	
18 	5 	Frozen 	$ 	2013	
19 	10 	Beauty and the Beast 	$1,263,521,126 	2017	
20 	15 	Incredibles 2 	$1,242,805,359 	2018	
21 	11 	The Fate of the Furious 	$1,238,764,765 	2017	
22 	5 	Iron Man 3 	$1,214,811,252 	2013	
23 	10 	Minions 	$1,159,398,397 	2015	
24 	12 	Captain America: Civil War 	$1,153,329,473 	2016	
25 	20 	Aquaman 	$1,148,485,886 	2018	
26 	2 	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	$1,146,030,912 	2003	
27 	24 	Spider-Man: Far From Home 	$1,131,927,996 	2019	
28 	23 	Captain Marvel 	$1,128,274,794 	2019	
29 	5 	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 	$1,123,794,079 	2011	
30 	7 	Skyfall 	$1,108,561,013 	2012	
31 	10 	Transformers: Age of Extinction 	$1,104,054,072 	2014	
32 	7 	The Dark Knight Rises 	$1,081,142,612 	2012	
33 	31 	Joker 	$1,074,251,311 	2019	
34 	32 	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 	$1,074,144,248 	2019	
35 	30 	Toy Story 4 	$1,073,394,593 	2019	
36 	4 	Toy Story 3 	$1,066,969,703 	2010	
37 	3 	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 	$1,066,179,725 	2006	
38 	20 	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 	$1,057,420,387 	2016	
39 	34 	Aladdin 	$1,050,693,953 	2019	
40 	6 	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 	$1,045,713,802 	2011	
41 	24 	Despicable Me 3 	$1,034,799,409 	2017	
42 	1 	Jurassic Park 	$ 	1993	
43 	22 	Finding Dory 	$1,028,570,889 	2016	
44 	2 	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 	$1,027,044,677 	1999	
45 	5 	Alice in Wonderland 	$1,025,467,110 	2010	
46 	24 	Zootopia 	$1,023,784,195 	2016	
47 	14 	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 	$1,017,003,568 	2012	
48 	2 	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 	$1,006,968,171 	2001	
49 	4 	The Dark Knight 	$1,005,973,645 	2008	
50 	50 	Jurassic World Dominion 	$997,683,265 	2022	
== Highest-grossing films adjusted for inflation ==
Because of the long-term effects of inflation, notably the significant increase of movie theater ticket prices, the list unadjusted for inflation gives far more weight to later films. The theater films tickets of blockbuster series, the original films like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, from DC Comics, Spider-Man and Hulk, from Marvel Comics and Star Wars and Indiana Jones, from Lucasfilm, respectively. The unadjusted list, while commonly found in the press, is therefore largely meaningless for comparing films widely separated in time, as many films from earlier eras will never appear on a modern unadjusted list, despite achieving higher commercial success when adjusted for price increases. To compensate for the devaluation of the currency, some charts make adjustments for inflation, but not even this practice fully addresses the issue, since ticket prices and inflation do not necessarily parallel one another. For example, in 1970, tickets cost $1.55 or about $6.68 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars; by 1980, prices had risen to about $2.69, a drop to $5.50 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars. Ticket prices have also risen at different rates of inflation around the world, further complicating the process of adjusting worldwide grosses.
Another complication is release in multiple formats for which different ticket prices are charged. One notable example of this phenomenon is Avatar, which was also released in 3D and IMAX: almost two-thirds of tickets for that film were for 3D showings with an average price of $10, and about one-sixth were for IMAX showings with an average price over $14.50, compared to a 2010 average price of $7.61 for 2D films. Social and economic factors such as population change and the growth of international markets also have an effect on the number of people purchasing theater tickets, along with audience demographics where some films sell a much higher proportion of discounted children's tickets, or perform better in big cities where tickets cost more.
The measuring system for gauging a film's success is based on unadjusted grosses, mainly because historically this is the way it has always been done because of the practices of the film industry: the box-office receipts are compiled by theaters and relayed to the distributor, which in turn releases them to the media. Converting to a more representative system that counts ticket sales rather than gross is also fraught with problems because the only data available for older films are the sale totals. As the motion picture industry is highly oriented towards marketing currently released films, unadjusted figures are always used in marketing campaigns so that new blockbuster films can much more easily achieve a high sales ranking, and thus be promoted as a "top film of all time", so there is little incentive to switch to a more robust analysis from a marketing or even newsworthy point of view.
Despite the inherent difficulties in accounting for inflation, several attempts have been made. Estimates depend on the price index used to adjust the grosses, and the exchange rates used to convert between currencies can also affect the calculations, both of which can have an effect on the ultimate rankings of an inflation adjusted list. Gone with the Wind—first released in 1939—is generally considered to be the most successful film, with Guinness World Records in 2014 estimating its adjusted global gross at $3.4 billion. Estimates for Gone with the Winds adjusted gross have varied substantially: its owner, Turner Entertainment, estimated its adjusted earnings at $3.3 billion in 2007, a few years earlier than the Guinness estimate; other estimates fall either side of this amount, with one putting its gross just under $3 billion in 2010, while another provided an alternative figure of $3.8 billion in 2006. Which film is Gone with the Winds nearest rival depends on the set of figures used: Guinness had Avatar in second place with $3 billion, while other estimates saw Titanic in the runner-up spot with first-run worldwide earnings of almost $2.9 billion at 2010 prices.
Rank	Title 	 	Year
1 	Gone with the Wind 	$ 	1939
2 	Avatar 	$ 	2009
3 	Titanic 	$2,516,000,000$	1997
4 	Star Wars 	$ 	1977
5 	Avengers: Endgame 	$ 	2019
6 	The Sound of Music 	$ 	1965
7 	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 	$ 	1982
8 	The Ten Commandments 	$ 	1956
9 	Doctor Zhivago 	$ 	1965
10 	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	$ 	2015
== High-grossing films by year ==
Audience tastes were fairly eclectic during the 20th century, but several trends did emerge. During the silent era, films with war themes were popular with audiences, with The Birth of a Nation (American Civil War), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Big Parade and Wings (all World War I) becoming the most successful films in their respective years of release, with the trend coming to an end with All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930. With the advent of sound in 1927, the musical—the genre best placed to showcase the new technology—took over as the most popular type of film with audiences, with 1928 and 1929 both being topped by musical films. The genre continued to perform strongly in the 1930s, but the outbreak of World War II saw war-themed films dominate again during this period, starting with Gone with the Wind (American Civil War) in 1939, and finishing with The Best Years of Our Lives (World War II) in 1946. Samson and Delilah (1949) saw the beginning of a trend of increasingly expensive historical dramas set during Ancient Rome/biblical times throughout the 1950s as cinema competed with television for audiences, with Quo Vadis, The Robe, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and Spartacus all becoming the highest-grossing film of the year during initial release, before the genre started to wane after several high-profile failures. The success of White Christmas and South Pacific in the 1950s foreshadowed the comeback of the musical in the 1960s with West Side Story, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Funny Girl all among the top films of the decade. The 1970s saw a shift in audience tastes to high concept films, with six such films made by either George Lucas or Steven Spielberg topping the chart during the 1980s. The 21st century has seen an increasing dependence on franchises and adaptations, with the box-office dominance of films based on pre-existing intellectual property at record levels.
Steven Spielberg is the most represented director on the chart, with six films to his credit, occupying the top spot in 1975, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1989 and 1993. Cecil B. DeMille (1932, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1956) and William Wyler (1942, 1946, 1959 and 1968) are in second and third place with five and four films, respectively, while D. W. Griffith (1915, 1916 and 1920), George Roy Hill (1966, 1969 and 1973), James Cameron (1991, 1997 and 2009) and the Russo brothers (2016, 2018 and 2019) all feature heavily with three films apiece. George Lucas directed two chart-toppers in 1977 and 1999, but also served in a strong creative capacity as a producer and writer in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1989 as well. The following directors have also all directed two films on the chart: Frank Lloyd, King Vidor, Frank Capra, Michael Curtiz, Leo McCarey, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Guy Hamilton, Mike Nichols, William Friedkin, Peter Jackson, Gore Verbinski, and Michael Bay; Mervyn LeRoy, Ken Annakin and Robert Wise are each represented by one solo credit and one shared credit, and John Ford co-directed two films. Disney films are usually co-directed and some directors have served on several winning teams: Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, David Hand, Ben Sharpsteen, Wolfgang Reitherman and Bill Roberts have all co-directed at least two films on the list. Only seven directors have topped the chart in consecutive years: McCarey (1944 and 1945), Nichols (1966 and 1967), Spielberg (1981 and 1982), Jackson (2002 and 2003), Verbinski (2006 and 2007) and the Russo brothers (2018 and 2019).
Because of release schedules—especially in the case of films released towards the end of the year—and different release patterns across the world, many films can do business in two or more calendar years; therefore the grosses documented here are not confined to just the year of release. Grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs either, with many older films often being re-released periodically so the figures represent all the business a film has done since its original release; a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known. Because of incomplete data it cannot be known for sure how much money some films have made and when they made it, but generally the chart chronicles the films from each year that went on to earn the most. In the cases where estimates conflict both films are recorded, and in cases where a film has moved into first place because of being re-released the previous record-holder is also retained.
:
High-grossing films by year of release
Year	Title 	Worldwide gross	Budget	Reference(s)
1915	The Birth of a Nation 	–+ () 	 	
1916	Intolerance 	 	 	.
*Intolerance: "Domestic Rentals: $1.0 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Cleopatra: "Domestic Rentals: $0.5; Production Cost: $0.3 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)." In: .
1917	Cleopatra 	 	 	
1918	Mickey 	 	 	
1919	The Miracle Man 	 	 	
1920	Way Down East 	() 	 	Cited in
1921	The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 	() 	– 	. "The Four Forsemen of the Apocalypse was to become Metro's most expensive production and one of the decade's biggest box-office hits. Its production costs have been estimated at "something between $600,000 and $800,000." Variety estimated its worldwide gross at $4 million in 1925 and at $5 million in 1944; in 1991, it estimated its cumulative domestic rentals at $3,800,000."
1922	Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood 	 	 	
1923	The Covered Wagon 	 	 	
1924	The Sea Hawk 	 	 	
1925	The Big Parade 	– () 	 	. "Even then, at a time when the budget for a feature averaged at around $300,000, no more than $382,000 was spent on production...According to the Eddie Mannix Ledger at MGM, it grossed $4,990,000 domestically and $1,141,000 abroad."
1925	Ben-Hur 	() 	 	
1926	For Heaven's Sake 	 	 	
1927	Wings 	 	 	. "At a cost of $2 million Wings was the studio's most expensive movie of the decade, and though it did well it was not good enough to earn a profit."
1928	The Singing Fool 	 	 	The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool
* In: .
1929	The Broadway Melody 	– 	 	In: .
*The Singing Fool: p. 12. "Ego aside, Jolson was at the top of his powers in The Singing Fool. The $150,000 Warner Bros. paid him to make it, and the $388,000 it took to produce the film, were drops in the hat next to the film's world gross of $5.9 million. Its $3.8-million gross in this country set a box-office record that would not be surpassed until Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)."
*The Broadway Melody: p. 24. "The Broadway Melody with a negative cost of $379,000, grossed $2.8 million in the United States, $4.8 million worldwide, and made a recorded profit of $1.6 million for MGM."
*Gold Diggers of Broadway: p. 58. "It grossed an impressive $2.5 million domestically and nearly $4 million worldwide."
1929	Sunny Side Up 	 	 	. "Production Cost: $0.6 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1930	All Quiet on the Western Front 	 	 	Hell's Angels
*
1931	Frankenstein 	() 	 	. "It drew $1.4 million in worldwide rentals in its first run versus $1.2 million for Dracula, which had opened in February 1931."
1931	City Lights 	 	 	
1932	The Sign of the Cross 	 	 	Shanghai Express
*. "Shanghai Express was Dietrich's biggest hit in America, bringing in $1.5 million in worldwide rentals."
1933	King Kong 	() 	 	King Kong
*
*
1933	I'm No Angel 	+ 	 	. "The studio released its most profitable pictures of the decade in 1933, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel, written by and starring Mae West. Produced at a rock-bottom cost of $200,000 each, they undoubtedly helped Paramount through the worst patch in its history..."
1933	Cavalcade 	– 	 	
*Way Down East: p. 52. "D.W. Griffith's Way Down East (1920) was projected to return rentals of $4,000,000 on an $800,000 negative. This figure was based on the amounts earned from its roadshow run, coupled with its playoff in the rest of the country's theaters. Griffith had originally placed the potential film rental at $3,000,000 but, because of the success of the various roadshows that were running the $4,000,000 total was expected. The film showed a profit of $615,736 after just 23 weeks of release on a gross of $2,179,613."
*What Price Glory?: p. 112. "What Price Glory hit the jackpot with massive world rentals of $2,429,000, the highest figure in the history of the company. Since it was also the most expensive production of the year at $817,000 the profit was still a healthy $796,000..."
*Cavalcade: p. 170. "The actual cost of Cavalcade was $1,116,000 and it was most definitely not guaranteed a success. In fact, if its foreign grosses followed the usual 40 percent of domestic returns, the film would have lost money. In a turnaround, the foreign gross was almost double the $1,000,000 domestic take to reach total world rentals of $3,000,000 and Fox's largest profit of the year at $664,000."
*State Fair: p. 170. "State Fair did turn out to be a substantial hit with the help of Janet Gaynor boosting Will Rogers back to the level of money-making star. Its prestige engagements helped raked in a total $1,208,000 in domestic rentals. Surprisingly, in foreign countries unfamiliar with state fairs, it still earned a respectable $429,000. With its total rentals, the film ended up showing a $398,000 profit."
*Cavalcade: p. 182. "Produced by Winfield Sheehan at a cost of $1.25 million, Cavalcade won Academy Awards for best picture, director, art direction and grossed close to $4 million during its first release, much of which came from Great Britain and the Empire."
*Whoopee: p. 212. "Produced by Sam Goldwyn at a cost of $1 million, the picture was an adaptation of a smash musical comedy built around Eddie Cantor...A personality-centered musical, Whoopee! made little attempt to integrate the comedy routines, songs, and story. Nonetheless, Cantor's feature-film debut grossed over $2.6 million worldwide and started a popular series that included Palmy Days (1931), The Kid from Spain (1932), and Roman Scandals (1933)."
1933	She Done Him Wrong 	+ 	 	In: .. "Total production cost: $274,076 (Unadjusted $s)."
1934	The Merry Widow 	 	 	
1934	It Happened One Night 	 	 	
1935	Mutiny on the Bounty 	 	 	
1936	San Francisco 	+ () 	 	
*The Merry Widow: p. 361 Cost: $1,605,000. Earnings: domestic $861,000; foreign $1,747,000; total $2,608,000. Loss: $113,000.
*San Francisco: p. 364 Cost: $1,300,000. Earnings: domestic $2,868,000; foreign $2,405,000; total $5,273,000. Profit: $2,237,000. [Reissues in 1938–39 and 1948–49 brought profits of $124,000 and $647,000 respectively.]
*Grand Hotel: Production Cost $000s: 700; Distribution Cost $000s: 947; U.S. box-office $000s: 1,235; Foreign box-office $000s: 1,359; Total box-office $000s: 2,594; Profit $000s: 947.
*The Merry Widow: Production Cost $000s: 1,605; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,116; U.S. box-office $000s: 861; Foreign box-office $000s: 1,747; Total box-office $000s: 2,608; Profit $000s: -113.
*Viva Villa: Production Cost $000s: 1,022; Distribution Cost $000s: 766; U.S. box-office $000s: 941; Foreign box-office $000s: 934; Total box-office $000s: 1,875; Profit $000s: 87.
*Mutiny on the Bounty: Production Cost $000s: 1,905; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,646; U.S. box-office $000s: 2,250; Foreign box-office $000s: 2,210; Total box-office $000s: 4,460; Profit $000s: 909.
*San Francisco: Production Cost $000s: 1,300; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,736; U.S. box-office $000s: 2,868; Foreign box-office $000s: 2,405; Total box-office $000s: 5,273; Profit $000s: 2,237.
1937	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 	+ () 	 	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
*
*
*
*Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio
*
::p. 207. "When the budget rose from $250,000 to $1,488,423 he even mortgaged his own home and automobile. Disney had bet more than his company on the success of Snow White."
::p. 237. "By the end of 1938, it had grossed more than $8 million in worldwide rentals and was ranked at the time as the second-highest-grossing film after the 1925 epic Ben-Hur".
::p. 255. "On its initial release Pinocchio brought in only $1.6 million in domestic rentals (compared with Snow Whites $4.2 million) and $1.9 million in foreign rentals (compared with Snow Whites $4.3 million)."
1938	You Can't Take It With You 	 	 	1938
*You Can't Take It With You:
*Boys Town: In: .
*The Adventures of Robin Hood: 
*Alexander's Ragtime Band: In: .
1939	Gone with the Wind 	– () 	– 	."The final negative cost of Gone with the Wind (GWTW) has been variously reported between $3.9 million and $4.25 million."
1940	Pinocchio 	() 	 	
1940	Boom Town 	 	 	. "Production Cost: $2.1 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s) ... Boom Town was the biggest moneymaker of 1940 and one of the top films of the decade."
1941	Sergeant York 	 	 	. "With worldwide rentals of $7.8 million in its initial release, the movie made a net profit of over $3 million.". "The studio did particularly well with its war-related pictures, such as Sergeant York (1941), which cost $1.6 million but was the studio's biggest hit of the decade aside from This is the Army (1943), the Irving Berlin musical for which the profits were donated to the Army Emergency Relief fund."
1942	Bambi 	() 	– 	. "Worldwide rentals of $3,449,353 barely recouped the film's nearly $2 million production cost.".
*Bambi: "Worldwide Box Office: $266.8; Production Cost: $1.7 (Millions of $s)"
*101 Dalmatians: "Worldwide Box Office: $215.0; Production Cost: $3.6 (Millions of $s)"
*The Jungle Book: "Worldwide Box Office: $170.8"; Production Cost: $3.9 (Millions of $s)"
*Aladdin: "Worldwide Box Office: $505.1"; Production Cost: $28.0 (Millions of $s)"
1942	Mrs. Miniver 	 	 	
*Mrs. Miniver: 
*Yankee Doodle Dandy: p. 275. "It became the second biggest box-office hit of 1942 (after Mrs. Miniver) and was praised by critics, making a profit of $3.4 million on worldwide rentals of $6.5 million."
1943	For Whom the Bell Tolls 	 	 	In: .
1943	This Is the Army 	 	 	
1944	Going My Way 	 	 	. "(Unadjusted $s) in Millions of $s – Production Cost: $1.0"
1945	Mom and Dad 	/ 	 	
1945	The Bells of St. Mary's 	 	 	
*p. 296. "Production Cost: $1.6 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)"
*
1946	Song of the South 	() 	 	
1946	The Best Years of Our Lives 	 	 	
*p. 132."Best Years was considerably cheaper, costing only $2.1 million, and therefore vastly more profitable."
*p. 286 (note 6.70). "Worldwide rentals for The Best Years of Our Lives amounted to $14,750,000." In: .
1946	Duel in the Sun 	 	 	
1947	Forever Amber 	 	 	
*Sunny Side Up: p. 10. "Sunny Side Up, a musical starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, showed domestic rentals of $3.5 million, a record for the company."
*Forever Amber: p. 66. "On the surface, with world rentals of $8 million, Forever Amber was considered a hit at distribution level."
*The French Connection
::p. 167. "The Planet of the Apes motion pictures were all moneymakers and Zanuck's record would have immediately improved had he stayed through the release of The French Connection, which took in rentals of approximately $75 million worldwide."
::p. 256. "$3,300,00".
. "The cost of Duel in the Sun has been reported as both $5,255,000 (Haver, David O'Selznick's Hollywood, 361) and $6,480,000 (Thomson, Showman: The Life of David O'Selznick, 472); the latter figure may include distribution expenses. Forever Amber cost $6,375,000 (Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, 243)."
1947	Unconquered 	 	 	
1948	Easter Parade 	 	 	.
*Mrs. Miniver: "Domestic Rentals: $5,358,000; Foreign Rentals: $3,520,000 (Unadjusted $s)"
*Meet Me in St. Louis: "Domestic Rentals: $5,016,000; Foreign Rentals: $1,623,630 (Unadjusted $s)"
*Easter Parade: "Domestic Rentals: $4,144,000; Foreign Rentals: $1,774,134 (Unadjusted $s)"
1948	The Red Shoes 	 	() 	
1948	The Snake Pit 	 	 	
1949	Samson and Delilah 	 	 	
1950	Cinderella 	(/) 	 	
1950	King Solomon's Mines 	 	 	
1951	Quo Vadis 	– 	 	
*Samson and Delilah: "...the film became the highest grosser in the studio's history to date, with domestic rentals of $7,976,730 by 1955 and a further $6,232,520 overseas...For all their spectacle, Samson and David were quite economically produced, costing $3,097,563 and $2,170,000 respectively."
*Quo Vadis: "Production costs totaled a record $7,623,000...Worldwide rentals totaled $21,037,000, almost half of which came from the foreign market.".
*The Robe: "Domestic Rentals: $16.7; Foreign Rentals: $9.4; Production Cost: $4.1 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Quo Vadis: "Domestic Rentals: $11.1; Foreign Rentals: $15.6; Production Cost: $7.5 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1952	This Is Cinerama 	 	 	
1952	The Greatest Show on Earth 	 	 	In: .
*ch. 45. The Ten Commandments (1923). "Cost: $1,475,836.93; Gross: $4,169,798.38"
*ch. 56. The Sign of the Cross. "Cost: $694,064.67; Gross: $2,738,993.35 (to 1937)"
*ch. 68. Samson and Delilah. "Cost: $3,097,563.05"
*ch. 69. The Greatest Show on Earth. "Cost: $3,873,946.50; Gross receipts: $15,797,396.36 (to December 29, 1962)"
*ch. 70. The Ten Commandments (1956). "Cost: $13,272,381.87; Gross receipts: $90,066,230.00 (to June 23, 1979)"
1953	Peter Pan 	() 	– 	
1953	The Robe 	– 	 	. "To take full advantage of CinemaScope's panoramic possibilities, shooting was delayed for the sets to be redesigned and rebuilt, adding $500,000 to the eventual $4.1 million budget...It ultimately returned domestic rentals of $17.5 million and $25 million worldwide, placing it second only to Gone with the Wind in Varietys annually updated chart.". "It brought in $16.7 million in domestic rentals, $9.4 million in foreign rentals, and made a net profit of $8.1 million."
1954	Rear Window 	() 	 	
*Quo Vadis: p. 15. "MGM's most expensive film of the period, Quo Vadis (1951) also did extremely well. The cost was $7,623,000, earnings were an estimated $21.2 million (with foreign earnings almost 50 percent of this total), and profit was estimated at $5,562,000."
*Rear Window: pp. 203–204. "Rear Window (1954) was an excellent commercial success, with a cost of $1 million and North American rentals of $5.3 million."
1954	White Christmas 	() 	 	. "Domestic Box Office: $19.6 million; Production Cost: $3.8 million.". "VistaVision was first used for the musical White Christmas (1954), which Variety named the top grosser of its year with anticipated domestic rentals of $12 million."
1954	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 	(–) 	– 	. "It was up and running in time to handle Disney's most elaborate expensive feature, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, based on the book by Jules Verne, starring James Mason and Kirk Douglas and directed by Richard Fleischer at a cost of $4.5 million."
1955	Lady and the Tramp 	() 	 	
1955	Cinerama Holiday 	 	 	
1955	Mister Roberts 	 	 	
*p. 382. "Production Cost: $2.4 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)"
*
1956	The Ten Commandments 	(/) 	 	. "Production cost: $13.3 million; Domestic Film Rental: $31.3; Foreign Film Rental: $23.9; Worldwide Box office (estimated): $122.7 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*The Ten Commandments: "No film did more to entrench roadshow policy than The Ten Commandments. While the success of This Is Cinerama, The Robe, and even Eighty Days could be attributed, at least in part, to their respective photographic and projection formats, that of DeMille's film (which cost a record $13,266,491) could not...General release began at normal prices in 1959 and continued until the end of the following year, when the film was temporarily withdrawn (the first of several reissues came in 1966). The worldwide rental by this time was around $60 million. In the domestic market it dislodged Gone with the Wind from the number one position on Variety's list of All-Time Rentals Champs. GWTW had hitherto maintained its lead through several reissues (and was soon to regain it through another in 1961)."
*The Bridge on the River Kwai: Columbia's Anglo-American war film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) opened on a roadshow basis in selected U.S. cities (including New York, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles) and in London. Costing only $2,840,000 to produce, it grossed $30.6 million worldwide on first release."
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai 	 	 	
1958	South Pacific 	 	 	. "South Pacific also became for a time the most successful film ever released in the United Kingdom, where it earned a box-office gross three times its negative cost of $5,610,000. Anticipated global rentals after three years were $30 million."
1959	Ben-Hur 	(/) 	 	. "Worldwide box office: $146.9 million; Worldwide rentals: $66.1 million; Production cost: $15.9 million. (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)"
1960	Swiss Family Robinson 	 	 	
1960	Spartacus 	() 	 	.
*Spartacus: "In the case of Spartacus, overseas earnings to 1969 amounted to $12,462,044, while U.S. and Canadian rentals (even including a million-dollar TV sale) were only $10,643,181. But the film failed to show a profit on production costs of $10,284,014 because of the distribution charges and expenses amounting to an additional $15,308,083."
*The Bible: "The Bible—In the Beginning... (1966) was financed by the Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis from private investors and Swiss banks. He then sold distribution rights outside Italy jointly to Fox and Seven Arts for $15 million (70 percent of which came from Fox), thereby recouping the bulk of his $18 million investment. Although The Bible returned a respectable world rental of $25.3 million, Fox was still left with a net loss of just over $1.5 million. It was the last biblical epic to be released by any major Hollywood studio for nearly twenty years."
1960	Psycho 	+ () 	 	
1961	One Hundred and One Dalmatians 	 	– 	
1961	West Side Story 	() 	 	In: .
1962	Lawrence of Arabia 	() 	 	Lawrence of Arabia
*1962 release: 
*U.S. total (including reissues): 
*Lawrence of Arabia: Columbia released the $13.8 million Lawrence of Arabia (1962), filmed in Super Panavision 70, exclusively on a hard-ticket basis, but opened Barabbas (1962), The Cardinal (1963), and the $12 million Joseph Conrad adaptation Lord Jim (1965) as 70 mm roadshows in selected territories only."
*The Longest Day: "Darryl's most ambitious independent production was The Longest Day (1962), a three-hour reconstruction of D-Day filmed in black-and-white CinemaScope at a cost of $8 million. It grossed over $30 million worldwide as a roadshow followed by general release, thereby helping the studio regain stability during its period of reorganization."
*Cleopatra: "With top tickets set at an all-time high of $5.50,Cleopatra had amassed as much as $20 million in such guarantees from exhibitors even before its premiere. Fox claimed the film had cost in total $44 million, of which $31,115,000 represented the direct negative cost and the rest distribution, print and advertising expenses. (These figures excluded the more than $5 million spent on the production's abortive British shoot in 1960–61, prior to its relocation to Italy.) By 1966 worldwide rentals had reached $38,042,000 including $23.5 million from the United States."
1962	How the West Was Won 	 	 	. "West cost $14,483,000; although it earned $35 million worldwide in just under three years, with ultimate domestic rentals totaling $20,932,883, high distribution costs severely limited its profitability."
1962	The Longest Day 	 	 	
1963	Cleopatra 	 	 	
1963	From Russia with Love 	/() 	 	
*From Russia With Love: "The American release of From Russia With Love again followed on some six months after it had been shown in Britain. North American rentals of $9.9 million were an improvement on its predecessor, helped by a slightly wider release, though they were still only half the $19.5 million of foreign rentals... (Online copy at Google Books)"
*Diamonds Are Forever: "Diamonds Are Forever marked a return to the box-office heights of the Bond films of the mid-1960s. Its worldwide rentals were $45.7 million..."
*Moonraker: "These figures were surpassed by Moonraker, which earned total worldwide rentals of $87.7 million, of which $33 million came from North America. (Online copy at Google Books)"
*From Russia With Love: "The picture grossed twice as much as Dr. No, both domestic and foreign—$12.5 million worldwide (Online copy at Google Books)"
*Goldfinger: "Produced on a budget of around $3 million, Goldfinger grossed a phenomenal $46 million worldwide the first time around. (Online copy at Google Books)"
1964	My Fair Lady 	 	 	
*My Fair Lady: "My Fair Lady (1964) cost Warners $17 million to make, including a record $5.5 million just for the film rights to the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe stage show and a million-dollar fee for star Audrey Hepburn. By 1967 it was reported to have grossed $55 million from roadshowing worldwide."
*Mary Poppins: "Mary Poppins (1964), which cost $5.2 million, was neither a stage adaptation nor a roadshow. But by the end of its first release, it had grossed nearly $50 million worldwide."
1964	Goldfinger 	() 	 	
1964	Mary Poppins 	– 	 	In: .
1965	The Sound of Music 	() 	 	.
*The Sound of Music: "Domestic Rentals: $68.4; Foreign Rentals: $46.2; Production Cost: $8.0 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*The Dirty Dozen: "Domestic Rentals: $20.1; Foreign Rentals: $11.2; Production Cost: $5.4 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*2001: A Space Odyssey: "Domestic Rentals: $16.4; Foreign Rentals: $5.5; Production Cost: $10.3 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Cleopatra: "Domestic Rentals: $22.1; Foreign Rentals: $18.2; Production Cost: $44.0 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*West Side Story: "Domestic Rentals: $16.2; Foreign Rentals: $15.6; Production Cost: $7.0 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*The Longest Day: "Domestic Rentals: $13.9; Foreign Rentals: $19.3; Production Cost: $8.6 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "Domestic Rentals: $29.2; Foreign Rentals: $7.9; Production Cost: $6.6 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1966	The Bible: In the Beginning 	 	 	
1966	Hawaii 	() 	 	
1966	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 	() 	 	. "The negative cost of Warners' adaptation of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)—filmed in widescreen and black-and-white, largely set in domestic interiors and with a cast of only four principal actors—amounted to $7,613,000, in part because stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton received up-front fees of $1 million and $750,000 respectively, against 10 percent of the gross apiece. (Their participation was presumably added to the budget)."
1967	The Jungle Book 	() 	– 	
1967	The Graduate 	 	 	
*The Graduate: p. 167. "World net rental was estimated at more than $85 million by January 1971."
*Grease: p. 236. "The film was produced for $6 million and Paramount reportedly spent another $3 million on promotion."
*The Graduate: "The Graduate eventually earned U.S. rentals of $44,090,729 on a production cost of $3.1 million to become the most lucrative non-roadshow picture (and independent release) to date."
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "None of these films was roadshown in the United States; most were set in contemporary America or had a contemporary "take" on the past (the casting of genuine teenagers to play Romeo and Juliet, the urbane sophistication of the dialogue in Butch Cassidy, the antiauthoritarianism of Bonnie and Clyde and MASH); most were produced on modest or medium-sized budgets (as low as $450,000 for Easy Rider and no higher than $6,825,000 for Butch Cassidy); and all grossed upward of $10 million domestically."
1968	2001: A Space Odyssey 	–() 	 	2001: A Space Odyssey
*Total: 
*As of 2006: 
*2013 re-release: 
*2014 re-release: 
*2018 re-release:
1968	Funny Girl 	– 	 	
1969	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 	() 	 	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
*United States and Canada: 
*Outside North America:
1970	Love Story 	() 	 	In: .
1971	The French Connection 	 	 	
1971	Fiddler on the Roof 	(/) 	 	. "Fiddler had the highest domestic box office of 1971 (it was second in worldwide box office after Diamonds Are Forever), with more than $100 million in unadjusted worldwide box office on its initial release. The soundtrack album was also a huge seller. The 1979 rerelease was not as successful, with the $3.8 million print and ad costs almost as high as the $4.3 million in worldwide rentals."
1971	Diamonds Are Forever 	() 	 	
*From Russia With Love: "Worldwide Box Office: 78.9; Production Cost: 2.0 (in millions of $s)"
*Goldfinger: "Worldwide Box Office: 124.9; Production Cost: 3.0 (in millions of $s)"
*Diamonds Are Forever: "Worldwide Box Office: 116; Production Cost: 7.2 (in millions of $s)"
*Moonraker: "Worldwide Box Office: 210.3; Production Cost: 34.0 (in millions of $s)"
1972	The Godfather 	– (–) 	– 	The Godfather
*1974: 
*1991: 
*Releases:
1973	The Exorcist 	() 	 	
1973	The Sting 	 	 	. "Production Cost: $5.5 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1974	The Towering Inferno 	() 	 	. "The most successful entry in the disaster cycle was the $15 million The Towering Inferno which earned over $48,650,000 in domestic rentals and about $40 million foreign.". "Production Cost: $14.3 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1975	Jaws 	() 	 	
1976	Rocky 	() 	 	. "Rocky was the "sleeper of the decade". Produced by UA and costing just under $1 million, it went on to earn a box-office gross of $117,235,247 in the United States and $225 million worldwide.".
*Star Wars: "Domestic Rentals: $127.0; Foreign Rentals: $141.5; Production Cost: $13.0 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*The Godfather: "Domestic Rentals: $85.6; Foreign Rentals: $42.0; Production Cost: $7.2 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Fiddler on the Roof: "Domestic Rentals: $34.0; Foreign Rentals: $11.1; Production Cost: $9.0 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Rocky: "Domestic Rentals: $56.0; Foreign Rentals: $21.1; Production Cost: $1.6 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)." In: .
1977	Star Wars 	(/) 	 	. "Eventually costing $11,293,151, Star Wars was previewed at the Northpoint Theatre in San Francisco on May 1, 1977."
1978	Grease 	() 	 	
1979	Moonraker 	 	 	Kramer vs. Kramer
*
*
1979	Rocky II 	 	 	
1980	The Empire Strikes Back 	() 	– 	The Empire Strikes Back
*Total up to 2014: 
*Special edition: 
*2015 re-release: .
*The Empire Strikes Back: "Production Cost: $32.0 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*Return of the Jedi: "Production Cost: $42.7 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
*The Phantom Menace: "Production Cost: $127.5 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark 	(–) 	– 	Raiders of the Lost Ark
*
*. Domestic Box office: $180.1; "Production Cost: $22.8 (Initial Release – Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1982	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 	(–) 	– 	. "Steven Spielberg, by far the most successful director of the decade, had the highest-grossing movie with 1982's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, which grossed over $664 million in worldwide box office on initial release.". "Production Cost: $12.2 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1983	Return of the Jedi 	() 	– 	Return of the Jedi
*Total: 
*Special edition:
1984	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 	 	– 	. "Production Cost: $28.2 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1985	Back to the Future 	() 	– 	Back to the Future
*Original release: 
*2010 reissue: 
*2014 reissue: . "The studio had a record operating income of $212 million in 1982, the year of Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (which had cost only slightly over $10 million) and $150 million in 1985, mainly due to another Spielberg production, the $22 million Back to the Future, which became the top box office hit of the year."
1986	Top Gun 	() 	– 	In: ..
1987	Fatal Attraction 	 	 	Fatal Attraction
*
*
1988	Rain Man 	 	 	. "Rain Man: 30.0 (cost in million $s)"
1989	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 	– 	– 	. "Production Cost: $55.4 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s) ... The film went on to haul in over $494 million worldwide."
1990	Ghost 	($505,702,588) 	 	
1991	Terminator 2: Judgment Day 	($519,843,345) 	 	Terminator 2
*Original release: 
*3D re-release:
1992	Aladdin 	 	 	
1993	Jurassic Park 	$ ($) 	– 	Jurassic Park
* Pre-2022 releases: 
* 2022 re-release: 
* As of 2010: . "Production Cost: $70.0 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s) ... Jurassic Park was a smash at the box office, bringing in $920 million in worldwide box office and spawning two sequels."
1994	The Lion King 	() 	– 	The Lion King
*Total: 
*Lifetime grosses (US & Canada): 
*Lifetime grosses (outside U.S. & Canada): 
*As of 2010: . "Production Cost: $79.3 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1995	Toy Story 	() 	 	Toy Story
*Total: 
*3D release: . "Production Cost: $30.0 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)"
1995	Die Hard with a Vengeance 	 	 	.
1996	Independence Day 	 	 	
1997	Titanic 	$ ($) 	 	Titanic
*Pre-2020 releases: 
*2020 Re-release:
1998	Armageddon 	 	 	. "Production Cost: $140.0 (Unadjusted $s in Millions of $s)."
1999	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 	$ ($) 	– 	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
*Total: 
*Original release:
2000	Mission: Impossible 2 	 	– 	
2001	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 	$ () 	 	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
*Total:
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 	() 	 	
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	$ ($) 	 	
2004	Shrek 2 	 	 	
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 	() 	 	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
*Total:
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 	$ 	 	
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 	 	 	
2008	The Dark Knight 	$ ($) 	 	The Dark Knight
*Total: 
*Original release (excluding 2009 IMAX reissue): 
*2009 IMAX re-release: 
*First-run gross and IMAX reissue:
2009	Avatar 	$ ($) 	 	
2010	Toy Story 3 	$ 	 	
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	$ ($) 	 	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
*Total: 
*Production cost:
2012	The Avengers 	$ 	 	
2013	Frozen 	$ ($) 	 	Frozen
*
*
::Total as of August 3, 2014: $247,650,477
::Total as of August 31, 2014: $249,036,646
*
::Total as of August 17, 2014: $167,333
*
::Total as of July 27, 2014: $21,668,593
::Total as of November 2, 2014: $22,492,845
*
::Total as of June 8, 2014: £39,090,985
::Total as of November 30, 2014: £40,960,083 ($1 = £0.63866)
::Total as of December 7, 2014: £41,087,765 ($1 = £0.64136)
::Total as of December 14, 2014: £41,170,608 ($1 = £0.636)
::Total as of November 26, 2017: £42,840,559 ($1 = £0.7497)
::Total as of December 3, 2017: £42,976,318 ($1 = £0.742)
*
::Total as of March 30, 2014: €35,098,170
::Total as of October 18, 2015: €42,526,744
:::nb. the exact euro to dollar conversion rate is unknown for earnings since April 2014, but the euro never fell below parity with the dollar during 2014 and 2015 (as can be verified by comparing the exchange rate on the individual date entries at the provided reference) so an approximate conversion rate of €1: $1 is used here to give a lower-bound.
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction 	$ 	 	
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 	$ 	 	
2016	Captain America: Civil War 	$ ($) 	 	
2017	Star Wars: The Last Jedi 	$ 	 	
2018	Avengers: Infinity War 	$ 	– 	
2019	Avengers: Endgame 	$ 	 	
2020	Demon Slayer: Mugen Train 	$ 	$ 	
2021	Spider-Man: No Way Home 	$ ($) 	$ 	
2022	Top Gun: Maverick 	$ 	$ 	
(...) Since grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs, a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known.
== Timeline of highest-grossing films ==
At least eleven films have held the record of 'highest-grossing film' since The Birth of a Nation assumed the top spot in 1915. Both The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind spent twenty-five consecutive years apiece as the highest-grosser, with films directed by Steven Spielberg and James Cameron holding the record on three occasions each. Spielberg became the first director to break his own record when Jurassic Park overtook E.T., and Cameron emulated the feat when Avatar broke the record set by Titanic. When it took over the top spot in 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the first sequel to hold the record of highest-grossing film, and in doing so ended thirty-six years of Spielberg/Cameron dominance before Avatar reclaimed the top spot two years later in 2021 upon a re-release.
Some sources claim that The Big Parade superseded The Birth of a Nation as highest-grossing film, eventually being replaced by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which in turn was quickly usurped by Gone with the Wind. Exact figures are not known for The Birth of a Nation, but contemporary records put its worldwide earnings at $5.2 million as of 1919. Its international release was delayed by World War I, and it was not released in many foreign territories until the 1920s; coupled with further re-releases in the United States, its $10 million earnings as reported by Variety in 1932 are consistent with the earlier figure. Cited in At this time, Variety still had The Birth of a Nation ahead of The Big Parade ($6,400,000) on distributor rentals and—if its estimate is correct—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($8,500,000) would not have earned enough on its first theatrical run to take the record;. "By the end of 1938, it had grossed more than $8 million in worldwide rentals and was ranked at the time as the second-highest-grossing film after the 1925 epic Ben-Hur". although it would have been the highest-grossing 'talkie',. "Walt Disney took a big risk when he decided to invest $1.5 million in his first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It became the biggest hit of the sound era and the largest-grossing movie since The Birth of a Nation – until the release of independent producer David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind just two years later." displacing The Singing Fool ($5,900,000). Although received wisdom holds that it is unlikely The Birth of a Nation was ever overtaken by a silent-era film, the record would fall to 1925's Ben-Hur ($9,386,000) if The Birth of a Nation earned significantly less than its estimated gross.. "MGM's silent Ben-Hur, which opened at the end of 1925, had out-grossed all the other pictures released by the company in 1926 combined. With worldwide rentals of $9,386,000 on first release it was, with the sole possible exception of The Birth of a Nation, the highest-earning film of the entire silent era." In addition to its gross rental earnings through public exhibition, The Birth of a Nation played at a large number of private, club and organizational engagements which figures are unavailable for. It was hugely popular with the Ku Klux Klan who used it to drive recruitment, and at one point Variety estimated its total earnings to stand at around $50 million. Despite later retracting the claim, the sum has been widely reported even though it has never been substantiated. While it is generally accepted that Gone with the Wind took over the record of highest-grossing film on its initial release—which is true in terms of public exhibition—it is likely it did not overtake The Birth of a Nation in total revenue until a much later date, with it still being reported as the highest earner up until the 1960s. Gone with the Wind itself may have been briefly overtaken by The Ten Commandments (1956), which closed at the end of 1960 with worldwide rentals of $58–60 million. "General release began at normal prices in 1959 and continued until the end of the following year, when the film was temporarily withdrawn (the first of several reissues came in 1966). The worldwide rental by this time was around $60 million. In the domestic market it dislodged Gone with the Wind from the number one position on Varietys list of All-Time Rentals Champs. GWTW had hitherto maintained its lead through several reissues (and was soon to regain it through another in 1961)." compared to Gone with the Winds $59 million; if it did claim the top spot its tenure there was short-lived, since Gone with the Wind was re-released the following year and increased its earnings to $67 million. Depending on how accurate the estimates are, the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur may also have captured the record from Gone with the Wind: as of the end of 1961 it had earned $47 million worldwide, and by 1963 it was trailing Gone with the Wind by just $2 million with international takings of $65 million, ultimately earning $66 million from its initial release.. "Worldwide rentals: $66.1 million (initial release)"
Another film purported to have been the highest-grosser is the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat. In 1984, Linda Lovelace testified to a United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on juvenile justice that the film had earned $600 million; this figure has been the subject of much speculation, since if it is accurate then the film would have made more money than Star Wars, and finished the 1970s as the highest-grossing film. The main argument against this figure is that it simply did not have a wide enough release to sustain the sort of sums that would be required for it to ultimately gross this amount. Exact figures are not known, but testimony in a federal trial in 1976—about four years into the film's release—showed the film had grossed over $25 million. Roger Ebert has reasoned it possibly did earn as much as $600 million on paper, since mobsters owned most of the adult movie theaters during this period and would launder income from drugs and prostitution through them, so probably inflated the box-office receipts for the film.
The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., and Avatar all increased their record grosses with re-releases. The grosses from their original theatrical runs are included here along with totals from re-releases up to the point that they lost the record; therefore the total for The Birth of a Nation includes income from its reissues up to 1940; the total for Star Wars includes revenue from the late 1970s and early 1980s reissues but not from the 1997 Special Edition; the total for E.T. incorporates its gross from the 1985 reissue but not from 2002. The total for Avatar's first appearance on the chart includes revenue from the 2010 Special Edition, which represents all of its earnings up to the point it relinquished the record, whereas its second appearance also incorporates revenue from a 2020 re-release in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the 2021 re-release in China which helped it to reclaim the record. Gone with the Wind is likewise represented twice on the chart: the 1940 entry includes earnings from its staggered 1939–1942 release (roadshow/general release/second-run) along with all of its revenue up to the 1961 reissue prior to losing the record to The Sound of Music in 1966; its 1971 entry—after it took back the record—includes income from the 1967 and 1971 reissues but omitting later releases. The Godfather was re-released in 1973 after its success at the 45th Academy Awards, and Jaws was released again in 1976, and their grosses here most likely include earnings from those releases. The Sound of Music, The Godfather, Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Titanic increased their earnings with further releases in 1973, 1997, 1979, 2013, and 2012, respectively, but they are not included in the totals here because they had already conceded the record prior to being re-released.
:
 Timeline of the highest-grossing film record
Established	Title 	Record-setting gross 	Reference(s)
1915 	The Birth of a Nation 	$5,200,000 	
1940 	The Birth of a Nation 	$15,000,000 	
1940 	Gone with the Wind 	$32,000,000 	
1963 	Gone with the Wind 	$67,000,000 	
1966 	The Sound of Music 	$114,600,000 	
1971 	Gone with the Wind 	$116,000,000 	
1972 	The Godfather 	$127,600,000–142,000,000 	
1976 	Jaws 	$193,700,000 	
1978 	Star Wars 	$410,000,000/$268,500,000	
1982 	Star Wars 	$530,000,000 	
1983 	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	$619,000,000–664,000,000 	
1993 	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	$701,000,000 	
1993 	Jurassic Park 	$912,667,947 	
1998 	Titanic 	$1,843,221,532 	
2010 	Avatar 	$ 	
2010 	Avatar 	$ 	
2019 	Avengers: Endgame 	$2,797,501,328 	
2021 	Avatar 	$2,847,397,339 	
== Highest-grossing franchises and film series ==
Prior to 2000, only seven film series had grossed over $1 billion at the box office: James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Rocky, Batman, Jurassic Park, and Star Trek. Since the turn of the century, that number has increased to over eighty (not including one-off hits such as Avatar, Titanic, and Zootopia). This is partly due to inflation and market growth, but it is also due to Hollywood's adoption of the franchise model: films that have built-in brand recognition such as being based on a well-known literary source or an established character. The methodology is based on the concept that films associated with things audiences are already familiar with can be more effectively marketed to them, and as such are known as "pre-sold" films within the industry.
A franchise is typically defined to be at least two works derived from a common intellectual property. Traditionally, the work has a tautological relationship with the property, but this is not a prerequisite. An enduring staple of the franchise model is the concept of the crossover, which can be defined as "a story in which characters or concepts from two or more discrete texts or series of texts meet". A consequence of a crossover is that an intellectual property may be utilized by more than one franchise. For example, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice belongs to not only the Batman and Superman franchises, but also to the DC Extended Universe, which is a shared universe. A shared universe is a particular type of crossover where a number of characters from a wide range of fictional works wind up sharing a fictional world. The most successful shared universe in the medium of film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a crossover between multiple superhero properties owned by Marvel Comics. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also the highest-grossing franchise, amassing over $27 billion at the box office.
The Star Wars films are the highest-grossing series based on a single property, earning over $10 billion at the box office (although the Eon James Bond films have earned over $19 billion in total when adjusted to current prices). If ancillary income from merchandise is included, then Star Wars is the most lucrative property; it holds the Guinness world record for the "most successful film merchandising franchise" and was valued at £19.51 billion in 2012 (approximately $30 billion). The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had the most films gross over $1 billion, with ten. The four Avengers films and the two Frozen films are the only franchises where each installment has grossed over $1 billion, although the Jurassic Park franchise has averaged over $1 billion per film.
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 Highest-grossing franchises and film series
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
					
== See also ==
* Lists of highest-grossing films
== References ==
=== Box office sources ===
=== Franchise and series sources ===
* 
* Avengers
** 
* Batman
** 
** Fathom events
*** Batman (UK): 
*** Batman Returns (UK): 
*** Batman Forever: 
*** Batman and Robin: 
** Batman: The Movie (1966) 
** 
** 
** 
** 
* DC Extended Universe
** 
* Despicable Me
** 
* The Fast and the Furious
** 
** 
* Godzilla
** 
** 
** 
**
** 
** American films
*** Godzilla (2014): 
*** For others, see "godzilla", Box Office Mojo.
** Toho grosses
*** 1954–mid 80s cum: see Schil (1986). The Godzilla franchise grossed an estimate $500 million during its first thirty years. This is taken as the cumulative gross for the Showa era, with the gross for The Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 ($15 million) subtracted and replaced by the reissue grosses for the original film (approximately $600,000) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ($14 million), roughly balancing out.
*** Godzilla (1954): see Toho Kingdom for Japanese gross ($2.25 million) and Box Office Mojo for US gross (approx. $600,000). For the American re-edit, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! ($2 million), see Ryfle (1998, p. 58)
*** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974): see Edelson (1980) for initial worldwide gross ($20 million), and Box Office Mojo for 2002 Japanese reissue ($14,122,958).
*** Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975): see Edelson (1980).
*** The Return of Godzilla (1984): see Toho Kingdom; see Box Office Mojo for Godzilla 1985 gross.
*** 1989–1992; 1994; 1999–2000: see Toho Kingdom.
*** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993): 
*** Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995): see Ryfle (1998, p. 346).
*** 2001–2018: see Box Office Mojo.
* The Hunger Games
** 
* Ice Age
** 
** 
* Iron Man
** 
* J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World
** 
* James Bond
** (Brosnan and Craig)
** . "James Bond Franchise Films: All-Release Worldwide Box Office." (Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton)
** 
** 
** 
* Jurassic Park
** 
** 
* The Lion King
** 
* Madagascar
** 
* Marvel Cinematic Universe
** 
* Middle-earth
** 
** 
** 
** 
** 
* Mission: Impossible
** 
* Pirates of the Caribbean
** 
* Shrek
** 
* Spider-Man
** 
** 
* Star Trek
** 
* Star Wars
** 
** 
** 
** 
** 
** 
** 
** Disney releases (2015–present): 
* Superman
** Superman, Superman Returns, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman:
*** 
** Superman II, Superman III and Superman IV:
*** . "Superman Franchise Films: All-Release Worldwide Box Office Revenues vs. Production Costs – Equivalent 2005 $s."
*** . "Notes on Adjusting Dollars and Making Estimates – Adjusting Revenues."
*** 
** 
** 
* Toy Story
** 
* Transformers
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* The Twilight Saga
** 
** 
* X-Men
** 
=== Bibliography ===
* 
* 
* 
== External links ==
* All-Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses at Box Office Mojo
* All-Time Highest-Grossing Movies Worldwide at The Numbers
* Box-Office Top 100 Films of All Time at Filmsite.org
 
Category:Record progressions