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 June 10, 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) |
$906,200,000 |
| 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 |
Forrest Gump (1994) |
$679,400,000 |
| 14 |
The Sixth Sense (1999) |
$661,500,000 |
| 15 |
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) |
$647,300,000 |
| 16 |
The Lost World: Jurassic Park[?] (1997) |
$614,300,000 |
| 17 |
Men in Black (1997) |
$587,200,000 |
| 18 |
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) |
$572,700,000 |
| 19 |
Armageddon (1998) |
$554,600,000 |
| 20 |
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) |
$548,300,000 |
| 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 |
| 25 |
Ghost (1990) |
$517,600,000 |
- 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.
See Also: List of highest-grossing films for a list adjusted for inflation.