Goldfinger and Thunderball make `top 100 most successful movies` list

Three big Hollywood blockbusters, Shrek, Pirates and Spider-Man sequels, have all passed half-a-billion dollars worldwide at the same time to set a new box office record for early summer - reports the Express.

Nevertheless, none of them makes the top 50 of a remarkable new list of the most-watched and best-loved films of all time.

Even Titanic, the highest-grossing movie of all time, sinks to sixth place in the inflation-adjusted league of real money-spinners.

Clear winner is the 1939 classic Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, which won nine Oscars, earned five further nominations and would have taken a record-busting $1.329billion at today’s cinema prices in America alone and easily double that worldwide.

The list, compiled by internet giant Box Office Mojo, which is regarded as Hollywood’s leading financial database, doesn’t contain a single movie from this century in its Top Ten.

In fact, the only films from the past 32 years in the highest echelon alongside Titanic are Star Wars, ET, Jaws and The Exorcist.

The Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings franchises, along with Die Hard, The Terminator, Spider-Man and all three big-budget Pirates big-screen romps are edged out by family favourites like Snow White, Doctor Zhivago and Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 biblical epic The Ten Commandments.

Box Office Mojo executive Brandon Gray said: "I believe that our list proves that while some new records are meaningful, most are merely records of the moment.

"With the average cost of a movie ticket more than six times higher than when Gone With The Wind was released, it’s fairly obvious records are going to be set all the time."

By adjusting all film releases for inflation, he added, a truer picture emerges.

One leading Hollywood producer told the Sunday Express: "This list shows the Golden Age of Cinema remains just that."

Epics like Ben Hur as well as family classics Mary Poppins and Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book drew far bigger audiences than any of today’s comic-book spin-offs, as did such groundbreaking films as The Graduate in 1967, The Godfather in 1972 and The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford one year later.

Not even James Bond gets much of a shot at the Box Office Mojo list, despite 21 movies over the years based on author Ian Fleming’s super-smooth spy. Only two, 1964’s Goldfinger and 1965’s Thunderball, both starring Sean Connery as 007, make the top 50 while only one of the Matrix sci-fi trilogy starring Keanu Reeves, The Matrix Reloaded, appears on the list…at number 100.

Although the inflation-adjusted figures have been applied to US box-office records only, experts believe Gone With The Wind and all the Disney classics would leave today’s blockbusters trailing even further in their wake if the exercise were repeated worldwide.

A Box Office Mojo spokesman said: "There are more than 160 countries returned receipt records and it would be a mathematical nightmare to try to adjust for 80 years of inflation in each one but based on American returns, we now have a very accurate picture of which films really pulled the crowds and really did the biggest business.

"The industry has gone record-crazy these days. It isn’t all hype but our list shows virtually every so-called blockbuster of the past decade or so really hasn’t stood the test of time the way the golden oldies have."

Here are the top 100 movies, with the year they were made to the far right, the actual money they made in the middle and the inflation-adjusted total at today’s prices first: (Note: Two movies, Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3, are still in theatrical release).

THE TOP 100 IN FULL

1 Gone with the Wind MGM $1,329,453,600 $198,676,459 1939
2 Star Wars Fox $1,172,026,900 $460,998,007 1977
3 The Sound of Music Fox $937,093,200 $158,671,368 1965
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $933,401,500 $435,110,554 1982
5 The Ten Commandments Par. $861,980,000 $65,500,000 1956
6 Titanic Par. $844,515,900 $600,788,188 1997
7 Jaws Uni. $842,758,600 $260,000,000 1975
8 Doctor Zhivago MGM $816,811,300 $111,721,910 1965
9 The Exorcist WB $727,541,800 $232,671,011 1973
10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Dis. $717,220,000 $184,925,486 1937
11 101 Dalmatians Dis. $657,455,500 $144,880,014 1961
12 The Empire Strikes Back Fox $646,028,600 $290,475,067 1980
13 Ben-Hur MGM $644,840,000 $74,000,000 1959
14 Return of the Jedi Fox $618,910,900 $309,306,177 1983
15 The Sting Uni. $586,560,000 $156,000,000 1973
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark Par. $579,973,400 $242,374,454 1981
17 Jurassic Park Uni. $567,234,400 $357,067,947 1993
18 The Graduate AVCO $563,059,800 $104,901,839 1967
19 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $558,153,800 $431,088,301 1999
20 Fantasia Dis. $546,426,100 $76,408,097 1941
21 The Godfather Par. $519,310,500 $134,966,411 1972
22 Forrest Gump Par. $516,830,100 $329,694,499 1994
23 Mary Poppins Dis. $514,436,400 $102,272,727 1964
24 The Lion King BV $508,185,200 $328,541,776 1994
25 Grease Par. $506,145,100 $188,389,888 1978
26 Thunderball UA $492,184,000 $63,595,658 1965
27 The Jungle Book Dis. $484,813,800 $141,843,612 1967
28 Sleeping Beauty Dis. $478,208,400 $51,600,000 1959
29 Shrek 2 DW $467,515,100 $441,226,247 2004
30 Ghostbusters Col. $465,407,400 $238,632,124 1984
31 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Fox $464,270,700 $102,308,889 1969
32 Love Story Par. $460,587,800 $106,397,186 1970
33 Spider-Man Sony $457,209,600 $403,706,375 2002
34 Independence Day Fox $455,789,200 $306,169,268 1996
35 Home Alone Fox $445,691,000 $285,761,243 1990
36 Pinocchio Dis. $443,513,900 $84,254,167 1940
37 Cleopatra (1963) Fox $442,067,200 $57,777,778 1963
38 Beverly Hills Cop Par. $441,847,100 $234,760,478 1984
39 Goldfinger UA $436,254,000 $51,081,062 1964
40 Airport Uni. $435,012,200 $100,489,151 1970
41 American Graffiti Uni. $432,400,000 $115,000,000 1973
42 The Robe Fox $430,690,900 $36,000,000 1953
43 Around the World in 80 Days UA $425,169,200 $42,000,000 1956
44 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest BV $423,315,800 $423,315,812 2006
45 Bambi RKO $419,227,900 $102,247,150 1942
46 Blazing Saddles WB $416,037,000 $119,500,000 1974
47 Batman WB $414,241,400 $251,188,924 1989
48 The Bells of St. Mary’s RKO $412,862,700 $21,333,333 1945
49 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $404,920,900 $377,027,325 2003
50 The Towering Inferno Fox $403,851,900 $116,000,000 1974
51 Spider-Man 2 Sony $395,844,600 $373,585,825 2004
52 My Fair Lady WB $394,800,000 $72,000,000 1964
53 The Greatest Show on Earth Par. $394,800,000 $36,000,000 1952
54 National Lampoon’s Animal House Uni. $394,078,000 $141,600,000 1978
55 The Passion of the Christ NM $392,858,700 $370,782,930 2004
56 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox $390,965,700 $380,270,577 2005
57 Back to the Future Uni. $388,553,300 $210,609,762 1985
58 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers NL $379,208,200 $341,786,758 2002
59 The Sixth Sense BV $378,870,700 $293,506,292 1999
60 Superman WB $377,416,500 $134,218,018 1978
61 Tootsie Col. $374,427,900 $177,200,000 1982
62 Smokey and the Bandit Uni. $373,960,700 $126,737,428 1977
63 Finding Nemo BV $370,700,600 $339,714,978 2003
64 West Side Story MGM $368,284,500 $43,656,822 1961
65 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone WB $367,907,400 $317,575,550 2001
66 Lady and the Tramp Dis. $366,735,500 $93,602,326 1955
67 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Col. $365,687,100 $132,088,635 1977
68 Lawrence of Arabia Col. $364,423,800 $44,824,144 1962
69 The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fox $362,356,800 $112,892,319 1975
70 Rocky UA $362,163,000 $117,235,147 1976
71 The Best Years of Our Lives RKO $361,900,000 $23,650,000 1946
72 The Poseidon Adventure Fox $361,254,900 $84,563,118 1972
73 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring NL $359,951,800 $314,776,170 2001
74 Twister WB $359,847,900 $241,721,524 1996
75 Men in Black Sony $359,377,700 $250,690,539 1997
76 The Bridge on the River Kwai Col. $357,952,000 $27,200,000 1957
77 It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World MGM $354,500,200 $46,332,858 1963
78 Swiss Family Robinson Dis. $354,056,600 $40,356,000 1960
79 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest UA $353,249,600 $108,981,275 1975
80 M.A.S.H. Fox $353,242,100 $81,600,000 1970
81 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Par. $352,245,900 $179,870,271 1984
82 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Fox $351,822,500 $310,676,740 2002
83 Mrs. Doubtfire Fox $346,663,200 $219,195,243 1993
84 Aladdin BV $345,070,600 $217,350,219 1992
85 Ghost Par. $338,641,200 $217,631,306 1990
86 Duel in the Sun Selz. $335,714,300 $20,408,163 1946
87 Spider-Man 3 Sony $334,344,300 $334,344,283 2007
88 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl BV $333,269,700 $305,413,918 2003
89 House of Wax WB $332,500,000 $23,750,000 1953
90 Rear Window Par. $331,334,200 $36,764,313 1954
91 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Uni. $328,407,500 $229,086,679 1997
92 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Par. $325,160,500 $197,171,806 1989
93 Terminator 2: Judgment Day TriS $320,159,000 $204,843,345 1991
94 Shrek the Third P/DW $316,740,300 $316,740,255 2007
95 Sergeant York WB $316,650,600 $16,361,885 1941
96 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Uni. $316,542,900 $260,044,825 2000
97 Toy Story 2 BV $314,764,300 $245,852,179 1999
98 Top Gun Par. $313,546,200 $176,786,701 1986
99 Shrek DW $311,172,400 $267,665,011 2001
100 The Matrix Reloaded WB $307,259,200 $281,576,461 2003

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