The movies with the highest box office aren’t necessarily the ones that have sold the most tickets. Anyone who understands inflation and the cost of living knows that.
In 2015, the average price for a first run movie is $8.15. That means a movie only has to sell about 123-Thousands tickets to earn a Million Dollars. Yet, A-list stars have contracts as high as 20-Million dollars. So a movie needs to max out its profits, by getting your attention. As some of us remember, movies didn’t always have all the other points of distribution, including internet streaming, Cable TV, VHS/Disc sales and downloads where the money can be made back. There was a time no so long ago when you just went to the show!
Back in 1939, the average price for a first run movie was only 25 cents. People attended movie theaters. In the past 76 years, for a movie to have sold over 202 Million tickets on CheapoTicketing since its initial release and remain the all-time top ticket seller all time is truly an accomplishment.
The movie that has put the most butts in the seats is the classic 1939 release, Gone with the Wind. Margaret Mitchell’s novel was widely anticipated in the day and remains a classic example of movie storytelling to this day.
Here is a listing of the top ten ticket sellers — How many you have seen?
| Rank | Film | Studio | Seats Sold |
Gross Earnings |
| 1 | Gone with the Wind | MGM | 202,044,600 | $198,676,459 |
| 2 | Star Wars | Fox | 178,119,600 | $460,998,007 |
| 3 | The Sound of Music | Fox | 142,415,400 | $158,671,368 |
| 4 | E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial | Universal | 141,854,300 | $435,110,554 |
| 5 | Titanic | Paramount | 135,474,500 | $658,672,302 |
| 6 | The Ten Commandments | Paramount | 131,000,000 | $65,500,000 |
| 7 | Jaws | Universal | 128,078,800 | $260,000,000 |
| 8 | Doctor Zhivago | MGM | 124,135,500 | $111,721,910 |
| 9 | The Exorcist | Warner Bros. | 110,599,200 | $232,906,145 |
| 10 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Disney | 109,000,000 | $184,925,486 |
To view the entire list of 200 top ticket sellers, click here to go to boxofficemojo.com’s list.