Myth

James Cameron has done it again, eclipsing the previously most popular movie “Titanic” with the epic science fiction movie “Avatar”. Box office sales have exceeded (at time of publishing) $1.859 billion or £1.15 billion.

Reality

As much money as “Smurfs in Space”, as one critic called it, has made at the box office. It is very far away from being the most popular movie. The main problem with box office takings is that they are purely based upon cost of a ticket and don’t reflect the number of actual tickets sold.

Avatar, a film predominately shown in 3D, garners an additional ticket cost to cover the glasses. The result of which is that box office sales have over exaggerated the actual popularity of “Space-ahontas”.

The actual top 20 films based upon ticket sales are;

1. Gone with the wind (1939) - 202,044,600
2. Star Wars (1977) - 178,119,600
3. The Sound of Music (1965) 142,415,400
4. E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 141,854,300
5. The Ten Commandments (1956) 131,000,000
6. Titanic (1997) 128,345,900
7. Jaws (1975) 128,078,800
8. Doctor Zhivago (1965) - 124,135,500
9. The Exorcist (1973) - 110,568,700
10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - 109,000,000
11. 101 Dalmatians (1961) - 99,917,300
12. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - 98,180,600
13. Ben-Hur (1959) - 98,000,000
14. Return of the Jedi (1983) - 95,059,400
15. The Sting (1973) - 89,142,900
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 88,141,900
17. Jurassic Park (1993) - 86,205,800
18. The Graduate (1967) - 85,571,400
19. Star Wars : Episode I (1999) - 85,285,800
20. Fantasia (1941) - 83,043,500

Avatar? Oh, that’s currently at position 26 with 76,421,000 tickets sold.

[Source] Box Office Mojo

Tags: Avatar, biggest film, star wars, Gone with the wind