Some of the Modern Box Office's Biggest Mistakes.
A comparison of current box office figures to those of some past blockbusters indicates a significant difference in the performance of Hollywood's greatest movies, showing a significant loss in box office health despite some recent major hits as crowds return to cinemas.
While Avatar: The Way of Water's initial box office take was lower than expected, it has subsequently surpassed most of the other films in the top 10, demonstrating that the massive success of some of the biggest successes in cinema history is more skewed than previously thought.
Avatar: The Way of Water and James Cameron's other top 10 films had more in common with the box office juggernauts of yesteryear, and their success serves as a useful reminder of what a successful box office run looks like.
The second installment of "Avatar" has broken records at the box office.
Even though 2019 has already broken records for film office income, cinemas were already struggling before the epidemic hit.
Ticket sales have been on the decline for decades, and any recent income rise may be attributed solely to price hikes brought about by inflation.
The majority (8) of the top 10 domestic grossing movies were released in 2018 or after, and half (5) were released in 2012 or later.
Adjusting for inflation immediately reveals this problem. When it was opened in theaters in 1997, Titanic made $600 million in North America alone.
Inflation-adjusted, that's $1.12 billion, which puts it ahead of every other film ever (even before factoring in the $57 million it made from its 3D re-release in 2012).
Shrek 2 earned $441.2 million in the domestic market in 2004, which is equivalent to $707 million in today's values and would place it ahead of Black Panther as the sixth highest domestic earner of all time if we exclude movies that are currently in the top 10 on this list.
Earning $431 million in 1999 (equivalent to $778.7 million in 2018), Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is now the fourth highest grossing film of all time, passing Top Gun: Maverick in the process.
If we convert 1993's $357 million box office total to 2017's $743.1 million, Jurassic Park would still rank #5 in North America.
Inflation-adjusted earnings for 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, at $359.2 million, placed it ahead of James Cameron's Titanic by almost a billion dollars.
So, even though new movies are joining the top 10 domestic earners list almost every year, pushing older movies down the list, it's clear the actual economic value of these movies isn't climbing drastically, it's just that the measuring stick used to gauge their success (the dollar) is changing. Despite the undeniable success of modern blockbuster movies, viewing the box office through the counterbalancing lens of inflation reveals that blockbusters like Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick aren't necessarily massive breakouts as their inflation-driven numbers would suggest, but rather, examples of what a historically healthy box office should look like.
A comparison of current box office figures to those of some past blockbusters indicates a significant difference in the performance of Hollywood's greatest movies, showing a significant loss in box office health despite some recent major hits as crowds return to cinemas.
While Avatar: The Way of Water's initial box office take was lower than expected, it has subsequently surpassed most of the other films in the top 10, demonstrating that the massive success of some of the biggest successes in cinema history is more skewed than previously thought.
Avatar: The Way of Water and James Cameron's other top 10 films had more in common with the box office juggernauts of yesteryear, and their success serves as a useful reminder of what a successful box office run looks like.
The second installment of "Avatar" has broken records at the box office.
Even though 2019 has already broken records for film office income, cinemas were already struggling before the epidemic hit.
Ticket sales have been on the decline for decades, and any recent income rise may be attributed solely to price hikes brought about by inflation.
The majority (8) of the top 10 domestic grossing movies were released in 2018 or after, and half (5) were released in 2012 or later.
Adjusting for inflation immediately reveals this problem. When it was opened in theaters in 1997, Titanic made $600 million in North America alone.
Inflation-adjusted, that's $1.12 billion, which puts it ahead of every other film ever (even before factoring in the $57 million it made from its 3D re-release in 2012).
Shrek 2 earned $441.2 million in the domestic market in 2004, which is equivalent to $707 million in today's values and would place it ahead of Black Panther as the sixth highest domestic earner of all time if we exclude movies that are currently in the top 10 on this list.
Earning $431 million in 1999 (equivalent to $778.7 million in 2018), Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is now the fourth highest grossing film of all time, passing Top Gun: Maverick in the process.
If we convert 1993's $357 million box office total to 2017's $743.1 million, Jurassic Park would still rank #5 in North America.
Inflation-adjusted earnings for 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, at $359.2 million, placed it ahead of James Cameron's Titanic by almost a billion dollars.
So, even though new movies are joining the top 10 domestic earners list almost every year, pushing older movies down the list, it's clear the actual economic value of these movies isn't climbing drastically, it's just that the measuring stick used to gauge their success (the dollar) is changing. Despite the undeniable success of modern blockbuster movies, viewing the box office through the counterbalancing lens of inflation reveals that blockbusters like Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick aren't necessarily massive breakouts as their inflation-driven numbers would suggest, but rather, examples of what a historically healthy box office should look like.
