Too many people are falsely calling Avatar the greatest success in Hollywood history, especially since yesterday it surpassed the Titanic Worldwide Box Office; I suspect the domestic Box Office is not far behind.
But why don't we...knock Avatar down to size a bit, shall we? I'm not saying this as a criticism of the film—I have not seen it, and hold no opinion of it—but of people who are wrongfully giving it more credit that it, and James Cameron, deserve.
We turn to Box Office Mojo for some stats. I give you the All-Time Box Office Adjusted for Inflation. Please note this is only the domestic totals.
| 1 | Gone with the Wind | MGM | $1,485,028,000 | $198,676,459 | 1939^ |
| 2 | Star Wars | Fox | $1,309,179,000 | $460,998,007 | 1977^ |
| 3 | The Sound of Music | Fox | $1,046,753,000 | $158,671,368 | 1965 |
| 4 | E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial | Uni. | $1,042,629,400 | $435,110,554 | 1982^ |
| 5 | The Ten Commandments | Par. | $962,850,000 | $65,500,000 | 1956 |
| 6 | Titanic | Par. | $943,342,300 | $600,788,188 | 1997 |
| 7 | Jaws | Uni. | $941,379,300 | $260,000,000 | 1975 |
| 8 | Doctor Zhivago | MGM | $912,395,600 | $111,721,910 | 1965 |
| 9 | The Exorcist | WB | $812,679,700 | $232,671,011 | 1973^ |
| 10 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Dis. | $801,150,000 | $184,925,486 | 1937^ |
So...I want you to look at where Titanic sits on that list. It's 6th. Yes, it's only 6th. All the crazed teenagers who went multiple times to swoon over Leo only made it the 6th most successful film of all time. For those of you who grew up in my generation, you know how full those theaters were.
But, for those of you who have never looked at the Box Office Mojo list, you'll see the little ^ symbol in there. That means those films were released more than once and it's their accumulative Box Office. So Gone With the Wind was released and rereleased numerous times to give it that high of a total. Star Wars was of course rereleased in the 80s when "Episode IV: A New Hope" was added to the title, as well as the Special Edition releases at the 20th anniversary. But look at Sound of Music...it's never been rereleased. It had one theater run, then became a TV watching favorite, be it hacked up to be shorter or hacked up with commericals to make it a 5-hour epic.
Ladies and gentlemen, as your true winner at the Box Office, I give you: THE SOUND OF THE MUSIC.
As for James Cameron, who we have to honor as one of the greats, of course...I wouldn't say he's the true Box Office gold mine.
I'm going to go with the Top 20 now for these stats.
Who has 4 films in the Top 20: Steven Spielberg. 1) ET; 2) Jaws; 3) Raiders of the Lost Ark; 4) Jurassic Park.
Who has 2 filmes he directed plus 3 he executive produced: George Lucas. 1) Star— Actually, do I really need to do this? The ones that aren't there are II and III. Okay? Okay. And Raiders.
Even if Avatar breaks in the Top 20, which it could very well do, it still won't push either of these men out. It should also be pointed out how much of Avatar's gross is IMAX 3D or standard 3D...those tickets run a whole lot higher than a standard movie ticket, and those 8 movies from George and Steven didn't get that kind of special treatment. Imagine how much lower Avatar's total would be if the extra cost for IMAX and 3D were taken out.
The moral of the story: before you jump to the conclusion that Avatar is the most successful movie ever made, and James Cameron is the true Box Office genius, just remember a girl who wanted to be a nun, a boy who wanted to do something other than farm, and little guy who just wanted to go home.
