Top-grossing movie
A top-grossing movie is a motion picture that has received the most total revenue either in a particular year or when compared to all other movies ever made. Sources of these revenues include; ticket sales, merchandise and video rentals.Here are the top 25 grossing movies of all time, based only on total worldwide box office receipts to September 30, 2003.
Note that 70% of these movies are in the genres of science fiction or fantasy.
Source: Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/Charts/worldtopmovies
| 1 | Titanic (1997) | $1,835,300,000 |
| 2 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone (2001) | $968,600,000 |
| 3 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) | $922,300,000 |
| 4 | Jurassic Park (1993) | $919,700,000 |
| 5 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) | $918,600,000 |
| 6 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) | $866,300,000 |
| 7 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) | $860,200,000 |
| 8 | Independence Day (1996) | $811,200,000 |
| 9 | Spider-Man (2002) | $806,700,000 |
| 10 | Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) | $797,900,000 |
| 11 | The Lion King (1994) | $783,400,000 |
| 12 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | $756,700,000 |
| 13 | ''The Matrix Reloaded (2003) | $734,400,000 |
| 14 | Forrest Gump (1994) | $679,400,000 |
| 15 | The Sixth Sense (1999) | $661,500,000 |
| 16 | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) | $647,300,000 |
| 17 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) | $614,300,000 |
| 18 | Men in Black (1997) | $587,200,000 |
| 19 | Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) | $572,700,000 |
| 20 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) | $566,200,000 |
| 20 | Armageddon (1998) | $554,600,000 |
| 21 | Mission: Impossible II (2000) | $545,300,000 |
| 22 | Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) | $533,800,000 |
| 23 | Home Alone (1990) | $533,700,000 |
| 24 | Monsters, Inc (1998) | $522,800,000 |
- Amounts are in United States dollars, include ticket sales only, and are not adjusted for inflation. Movies such as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope may well have earned more than more recent films such as Independence Day when adjusted for inflation. Given population growth as well as inflation, these numbers are not a very good indicator of the popularity of movies over time.
