According to boxofficemojo.com Gone With The Wind is the highest grossing film if you adjust for inflation!
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm
| Rank | Title (click to view) | Studio | Adjusted Gross | Unadjusted Gross | Year^ |
| 1 | Gone with the Wind | MGM | $1,608,275,200 | $198,676,459 | 1939^ |
| 2 | Star Wars | Fox | $1,417,832,000 | $460,998,007 | 1977^ |
| 3 | The Sound of Music | Fox | $1,133,626,400 | $158,671,368 | 1965 |
| 4 | E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial | Uni. | $1,129,160,500 | $435,110,554 | 1982^ |
| 5 | Titanic | Par. | $1,078,376,800 | $658,672,302 | 1997^ |
| 6 | The Ten Commandments | Par. | $1,042,760,000 | $65,500,000 | 1956 |
| 7 | Jaws | Uni. | $1,019,507,400 | $260,000,000 | 1975 |
| 8 | Doctor Zhivago | MGM | $988,118,200 | $111,721,910 | 1965 |
| 9 | The Exorcist | WB | $880,369,400 | $232,906,145 | 1973^ |
| 10 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Dis. | $867,640,000 | $184,925,486 | 1937^ |
| 11 | 101 Dalmatians | Dis. | $795,341,300 | $144,880,014 | 1961^ |
| 12 | The Empire Strikes Back | Fox | $781,517,900 | $290,475,067 | 1980^ |
| 13 | Ben-Hur | MGM | $780,080,000 | $74,000,000 | 1959 |
| 14 | Avatar | Fox | $774,151,900 | $760,507,625 | 2009^ |
| 15 | Return of the Jedi | Fox | $748,712,900 | $309,306,177 | 1983^ |
| 16 | Jurassic Park | Uni. | $731,698,800 | $402,453,882 | 1993^ |
| 17 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | Fox | $718,884,100 | $474,544,677 | 1999^ |
| 18 | The Lion King | BV | $709,605,500 | $422,783,777 | 1994^ |
| 19 | The Sting | Uni. | $709,577,100 | $156,000,000 | 1973 |
| 20 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Par. | $704,673,200 | $248,159,971 | 1981 |
The original Star Wars is #2 which shows that more people have watched great films of the past than have seen those of the present with their inflated 3D and Imax prices!
What is consistent is that most of the top movies have an epic appeal to them with a large cinematic cope!
This shows that escapism plays a heavy role in what people are willing to watch multiple times on the big screen!
Most of those movies were game changers in that they reinvented the way films would be made for decades to come!
#3 The Sound Of Music was a musical... #4 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial showed aliens could be friendly to kids... #6 The Ten Commandments proved that biblical based movies could sell year round... #9 The Exorcist revealed that demon possessed white girls could twist their necks around and spit up on clean white sheets and still be appealing to viewers!
As many of us explore different concepts with our own characters we should take time to study the industry and see what various demographics are after in action adventure or alternate dimensional story telling!
After all the hype dies down from the opening weekends of new movies what matters most is exactly how many people really did see your movie versus misleading statistics claiming otherwise!
This can also show that if you lower the pricing of your product you just might make a killing that keeps on giving as in Star Wars has 3 sequels in the top 10... Please ignore #17 Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace thank you very much Jar Jar Binks!
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