Okay, so I picked this up here - and I saw it over at Dean's.
There are two lists below. The first is The Top 100 Grossing Movies. The second is The Top 100 Grossing Movies adjusted for inflation.
I will bold the ones I've seen. In both lists. Just for the hell of it.
The Top 100 Grossing Movies (which - I mean, come on - you HAVE to adjust these lists for inflation. "Big Daddy"??? Don't get me wrong - I saw the movie, because ... basically I see almost everything ... but still - come on!)
1. Titanic
2. Star Wars
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
5. Spider-Man
6. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
7. Passion of the Christ
8. Jurassic Park
9. Shrek 2
10. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
11. Finding Nemo
12. Forrest Gump
13. Lion King, The
14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
15. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
16. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
17. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
18. Independence Day
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
21. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
22. Home Alone
23. Matrix Reloaded, The
24. Shrek
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
26. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
27. Jaws
28. Monsters, Inc.
29. Batman
30. Men in Black
31. Toy Story 2
32. Bruce Almighty
33. Raiders of the Lost Ark
34. Twister
35. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
36. Ghost Busters
37. Beverly Hills Cop
38. Cast Away
39. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The
40. Signs
41. Rush Hour 2
42. Mrs. Doubtfire
43. Ghost (1990)
44. Aladdin
45. Saving Private Ryan
46. Mission: Impossible II
47. X2
48. Austin Powers in Goldmember
49. Back to the Future
50. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
51. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
52. Exorcist, The
53. Mummy Returns, The
54. Armageddon
55. Gone with the Wind
56. Pearl Harbor
57. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
58. Toy Story (1995)
59. Men in Black II
60. Gladiator
61. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
62. Dances with Wolves
63. Batman Forever
64. Fugitive, The
65. Ocean's Eleven
66. What Women Want
67. Perfect Storm, The
68. Liar Liar
69. Grease
70. Jurassic Park III
71. Mission: Impossible
72. Planet of the Apes
73. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
74. Pretty Woman
75. Tootsie
76. Top Gun
77. There's Something About Mary
78. Ice Age
79. Crocodile Dundee
80. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
81. Elf
82. Air Force One
83. Rain Man
84. Apollo 13
85. Matrix, The
86. Beauty and the Beast
87. Tarzan (1999)
88. Beautiful Mind, A
89. Chicago
90. Three Men and a Baby
91. Meet the Parents
92. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
93. Hannibal
94. Catch Me If You Can
95. Big Daddy
96. Sound of Music, The
97. Batman Returns
98. Bug's Life, A
99. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
100. Waterboy, The
Top 100 Grossing Movies adjusted for inflation.
1 Gone With the Wind
2 Star Wars
3 The Sound of Music
4 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
5 The Ten Commandments
6 Titanic
7 Jaws
8 Doctor Zhivago
9 The Exorcist
10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
11 101 Dalmatians
12 The Empire Strikes Back
13 Ben-Hur
14 Return of the Jedi
15 The Sting
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark
17 Jurassic Park
18 The Graduate
19 The Phantom Menace
20 Fantasia
21 The Godfather
22 Forrest Gump
23 Mary Poppins
24 The Lion King
25 Grease
26 Thunderball
27 The Jungle Book
28 Sleeping Beauty
29 Ghostbusters
30 Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
31 Bambi
32 Independence Day
33 Love Story
34 Beverly Hills Cop
35 Spider-Man
36 Home Alone
37 Pinocchio
38 Cleopatra
39 Goldfinger
40 Airport
41 American Graffiti
42 The Robe
43 Around the World in 80 Days
44 Blazing Saddles
45 Batman
46 The Bells of St. Mary's
47 The Return of the King
48 The Towering Inferno
49 National Lampoon's Animal House
50 The Passion of the Christ
51 The Greatest Show on Earth
52 My Fair Lady
53 Let's Make Love
54 Back to the Future
55 The Two Towers
56 Superman
57 Smokey and the Bandit
58 The Sixth Sense
59 Finding Nemo
60 Tootsie
61 Harry Potter / Sorcerer's Stone
62 West Side Story
63 Lady and the Tramp
64 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65 Twister
66 Rocky
67 The Best Years of Our Lives
68 The Fellowship of the Ring
69 The Poseidon Adventure
70 Men in Black
71 The Bridge on the River Kwai
72 Its' a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
73 Swiss Family Robinson
74 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
75 M*A*S*H
76 Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
77 Attack of the Clones
78 Mrs. Doubtfire
79 Aladdin
80 Ghost
81 Duel in the Sun
82 Pirates of the Caribbean
83 House of Wax
84 Rear Window
85 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
86 Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
87 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
88 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
89 Sergeant York
90 Toy Story 2
91 Top Gun
92 Shrek
93 Crocodile Dundee
94 The Matrix Reloaded
95 Saving Private Ryan
96 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
97 Young Frankenstein
98 Peter Pan
99 Gremlins
100 Monsters, Inc.
How about a list adjusted for population? Or does the number of releases compensate for the increased population?
It's nice to look at the inflation adjusted numbers for a little reality in judging a movie's popularity and impact.
Posted by: oceanguy at June 21, 2004 2:50 PMSheila- Do yourself a favor and go rent Shrek. It is such a well done movie- we brought Tom to Shrek 2 yesterday- I can't wait to see it again- you miss so much cause of laughing so hard. PS I have a huge crush on Donkey.
Posted by: Beth at June 21, 2004 2:54 PMYou've never seen Ben Farging Hur?? No wonder Ted Turner's finances are shaky. Put down your copy of Ulysses right now and rent it. Judah Ben Hur is one of the most sanctemonious, self righteous characters in all of literature. The movie makes the crucifixion of Christ about him.
Posted by: michael at June 21, 2004 3:14 PMMichael: I know, I know. That one stood out for me too. Like: wow. There's a big blank!!
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 3:19 PMBut if anyone wants to try to take Ulysses from me, they will have to pry it out of my dead cold hand. :)
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 3:20 PMThat would be cold, dead hand, but it made me laugh out loud anyway. And by the way, the mother and sister in the leper colony will make you cry.
Posted by: michael at June 21, 2004 3:42 PMYou want to make me cry? Ah, that's all right. I cry at everything.
I will be sure to put Ben Hur on the list and write a full report about it. MMkay???
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 3:45 PMYeppers! Can't wait.
If you had a DVD player, I'd loan you my copy. How could you not have seen Ben-Hur? I thought you'd seen everything worth seeing.
My illusions are shattered, pass the scotch.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at June 21, 2004 4:32 PMBill, I know. It's tough when illusions are shattered, when the pedestal cracks.
I'll share that scotch with you
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 4:35 PMOh and member we had that conversation at Steve's on New Year's Eve about the "epics" and how my favorite movie of last year was Lost in Translation?
I think that's why somehow Ben Hur never ... happened in my life. I've seen snippets of the chariot races, but never the whole thing. Epics aren't my taste.
BUT DON'T JUMP ALL OVER ME FOR THAT. If you do, I'll have to get out my whip.
I promise: I will see it.
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 4:36 PMI think you should see Harry Potter first, Sheila.
Posted by: Emily at June 21, 2004 4:44 PMYeah I was thinking that too. The chariot races can wait
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 4:46 PMNo. No they can't. Really, they can't. The horror! The horror!
Posted by: michael at June 21, 2004 4:49 PMQuiddich is at least 100 times more exciting than a chariot race. Don't listen to him.
Posted by: Emily at June 21, 2004 5:35 PMi watched Blazing Saddles on dvd last night. while a lot of it hasn't held up terribly well, the Lilli Von Schtupp/I'm so Tired scene is still one of the funniest segments ever put to film.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 21, 2004 6:16 PMMr. Bingley - I laughed out loud just now just THINKING about that scene!
Posted by: red at June 21, 2004 6:17 PM"come back to my dwessing woom"
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 21, 2004 6:36 PM"It's twue, it's twue!"
Funny thing, in 1974 Madeleine Kahn's characters twice fell for guys based solely on their...well...
Posted by: Bill McCabe at June 21, 2004 7:19 PMSo, no one agrees that Shrek is worth seeing??? I mean, Ben Hur, Shben Hur....But you've NEVER seen anything until Donkey sings, "I'm all aloooonne...."
Posted by: Beth at June 21, 2004 9:23 PMno, definately see shrek!
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 21, 2004 9:44 PMDo you all know (Iformidable company I'm in here) that Bart originally had a response to Lily's "It's twue" line? It was removed somewhere along the way.
Posted by: cityislandmichael at June 21, 2004 10:45 PMno, i didn't city. the dvd has a long commentary with mel talking about the making of it all, and how he wanted richard prior, one of the screenwriters, btw, to play bart, but all the studio execs nixed it because he was a 'sniffer'. ha!
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 22, 2004 7:58 AMThanks guys. Now I miss my friend Cleavon all over again.
Posted by: michael at June 22, 2004 9:44 AMThis is the line:
"I hate to disillusion you, ma'am, but that's my elbow you're sucking."
Posted by: cityislandmichael at June 22, 2004 11:38 AMman, imagine the censors and that in 1974!
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 22, 2004 1:24 PMOTOH, Mr. B, there's plenty of stuff in there that you just could NOT get away with today, e.g.,
"Alright, we've thought it over, and we'll take the niggers and the chinks...but WE DON't WANT THE IRISH."
Posted by: Dave J at June 22, 2004 1:31 PM