Star Wars fans are rejoicing today as the latest installment of the beloved sci-fi/fantasy franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, becomes the highest grossing movie in North American history. That’s no small feat in this day and age. In fact, this is the first time since 1998 that the #1 film in America wasn’t directed by James Cameron, who held the two previous all-time champions: Titanic and Avatar.
And while nobody could argue that Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t a runaway success, it’s important to keep this accomplishment in perspective. Economic inflation and rising ticket prices have dramatically changed the marketplace throughout the last century, so that many of the films that The Force Awakens has “surpassed” actually made a lot MORE money than J.J. Abrams’ blockbuster if you take those other factors into account.
As of today, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has made approximately $758 million domestically, and will no doubt make enough money to surpass Avatar‘s $760 million by the time the box office closes. That’s a lot of money. But the adjusted rankings (via Box Office Mojo) still place The Force Awakens far, far behind Doctor Zhivago, Jaws, The Ten Commandments, Titanic, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Sound of Music, the original Star Wars and Gone with the Wind, all of which would have made over $1 billion domestically based on current ticket prices.
MGM
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In fact, Gone with the Wind made so much money that the INTERNATIONAL gross of Star Wars: The Force Awakens hasn’t surpassed it yet. Gone with the Wind made over $1.739 billion domestically. The Force Awakens is still “only” at $1.559 billion worldwide.
Heck, adjusting for inflation, The Force Awakens still hasn’t even surpassed Avatar, which only half a decade ago made the equivalent of $837 million in North America alone.
This isn’t to say that Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t technically the #1 film domestically. Of course it is, since that’s how money works. But it’s intriguing to think about how much the marketplace has changed over the decades. Many of those other films premiered in the era before home video, so that if you wanted to see a movie you actually HAD to see it theaters, which no doubt boosted ticket sales across the board. Many of those other films also came out in a period when re-releasing motion pictures was common, so that a significant portion of their tickets were sold over the course of many years as opposed to during their initial theatrical run.
20th Century Fox
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So as you consider just how excited you are about Star Wars, and just how many people are talking about it, consider also that about 50 years ago, people were nearly twice as excited about The Sound of Music, a musical about a nun who turned children into a hit musical act and escaped Nazi persecution. By today’s standards, The Sound of Music grossed over $1,226,000,000 domestically compared to The Force Awakens’ $758,000,000.
Will Star Wars: The Force Awakens take the title for real, by any standard? It could happen, but the film is slowing down. It’s bound to rise through the ranks and surpass Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sting and many others, but in order to crack the Top 10 (again, adjusted for inflation) it will have to make over $938 million domestically. And even then it will only just barely edge out Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and fall just under the box office grosses of the R-rated horror movie The Exorcist.
Top Photo: Disney/LucasFilm
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
