Rankings of Movies Based on Real Revenues

David Boaz discusses the property rights issue with Avatar and how this movie is now the top-grossing movie of all time. He then notes that in terms of real revenue it's Gone With the Wind, followed by Star Wars.

Not so fast, David. I am presently having students rank the top-grossing movies based on their real revenues from U.S. movie theater ticket sales only, and the top twenty go like this (now my students can check their answers against my list):

Movie Title                                                Year           Nominal Revenue        Real Revenue

1. Gone With the Wind                      1939               $198,636,999              $2,460,821,319
2. Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs         1937               $184,925,486              $2,211,400,603
3. Star Wars                                         1977               $460,935,665              $1,309,787,484
4. Bambi                                               1942              $102,247,150               $1,080,181,548
5. Pinocchio                                         1940                $84,254,167               $1,036,326,254
6. Fantasia                                            1941                $76,408,097                  $895,066,279
7. The Sound of Music                       1965              $163,214,286                  $892,238,097
8. 100 & 1 Dalmations                        1961              $153,000,000                  $881,157,191
9. Jaws                                                  1975              $260,000,000                  $832,139,309
10. The Exorcist                                     1973              $206,661,731                 $793,755,362

10 - 20 (without figures are) E.T., The Jungle Book, Titanic, The Sting, Dr. Zhivago, Star Wars V, Lady and the Tramp, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and The Godfather.

Disney and the 1970s top the list.