Avatar.

Alex · 01-12-2010, 06:25 PM

Since that's the Box Office Mojo list (here it is in current form, Wikipedia's appears to not have been updated in a bit) it includes re-releases (which is a lot for popular movies made before the '70s. For example the numbers for Star Wars includes the initial 1977 release, a re-release in 1982, and the Special Edition release in 1997).

While inflation adjusted lists are good at keeping a general sense of relative financial success of movies across time, they aren't nearly so precise as the numbers tend to imply. Especially since they rest on the faulty (and those who do it admit it's faulty) assumption that dividing gross by average ticket price gives a reasonably accurate total number of tickets sold. As an example, in 2008 both Horton Hears a Who! and Gran Torino had similar domestic grosses. But Horton Hears a Who! probably sold at least 20% more (and possibly quite a bit more than that) because a huge percentage of its tickets were cheaper kids tickets and it played a lot better in suburban and rural areas where tickets are cheaper. But they'll forever be viewed as equally popular.

And then there are the intangibles such as what success means in 1939 for Gone with the Wind when people knew that once it left their local theater town they might possibly never get another chance to see it again vs. now where everybody knows that they can watch the movie on their couch in six months and if they really wanted to pirate it a week early. Or that in 2009 there'll be four times as many movies released as in 1939.

But yeah, relative to society as a whole Avatar will be nowhere near the all time top, but it will be in the top 25 which isn't all that bad.

Gemini Cricket · 01-23-2010, 11:49 AM

Quote:

#1 READY TO SEE A GREAT (AND ANOTHER NOT SO GREAT) SCI-FI TRILOGY AGAIN... IN 3D?

As Avatar continues to reign over the box office, a common argument has been that James Cameron's movie changed the way that audiences experience movies in 3D. There has been a lot of speculation that we'll not only see more films made in 3D, but that possibly some older "eye candy" movies could get the treatment, too. Now, George Lucas has confirmed that for years he has been looking into bringing the two Star Wars trilogies back to theaters in 3D form, and that Avatar has shown him that the time may be right for him to begin the process. Lucas says "we've been looking for years and years of trying to take Star Wars and put it in 3D, but [the] technology hasn't been there. We've been struggling with it, but I think is the new impetus to make that happen." If Lucas goes through with plans to return all six Star Wars to theaters in the 3D format, it will be the second time that the original trilogy has been rereleased, following the controversial "Special Edition" versions from 1997, and the first for the prequel trilogy.

Source

01-12-2010, 06:25 PM	#1
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Since that's the Box Office Mojo list (here it is in current form, Wikipedia's appears to not have been updated in a bit) it includes re-releases (which is a lot for popular movies made before the '70s. For example the numbers for Star Wars includes the initial 1977 release, a re-release in 1982, and the Special Edition release in 1997). While inflation adjusted lists are good at keeping a general sense of relative financial success of movies across time, they aren't nearly so precise as the numbers tend to imply. Especially since they rest on the faulty (and those who do it admit it's faulty) assumption that dividing gross by average ticket price gives a reasonably accurate total number of tickets sold. As an example, in 2008 both Horton Hears a Who! and Gran Torino had similar domestic grosses. But Horton Hears a Who! probably sold at least 20% more (and possibly quite a bit more than that) because a huge percentage of its tickets were cheaper kids tickets and it played a lot better in suburban and rural areas where tickets are cheaper. But they'll forever be viewed as equally popular. And then there are the intangibles such as what success means in 1939 for Gone with the Wind when people knew that once it left their local theater town they might possibly never get another chance to see it again vs. now where everybody knows that they can watch the movie on their couch in six months and if they really wanted to pirate it a week early. Or that in 2009 there'll be four times as many movies released as in 1939. But yeah, relative to society as a whole Avatar will be nowhere near the all time top, but it will be in the top 25 which isn't all that bad.
	Submit to Quotes