Recently we here at UltimateMovieRankings (UMR) discovered some box office information that has caused us to question our formula in calculating adjusted box office grosses. Before we update all 300 plus pages we have been comparing the box office grosses using our old equation and our new equation. After a friendly debate with a person who will remain nameless ….though we will say his name rhymes with Grieve Trendsman…we decided to look at the 5th biggest hit of every year from 1920 to 2015. Why 5th? you wonder? Seemed 5th would avoid the massive hits while still being movies that were very successful.
If the calculations are correct….then most of the movies should be in the same neighborhood regardless of when the movie was made. Of the 96 movies listed in the table…the average or mean domestic box office gross is $263.60 million. The median domestic box office gross is $259.40 million. To us the numbers look pretty good. Yes there are some fluctuations….but that is to be expected. Just look at 2015 and 2014. In 2015 Furious 7 grossed $353.01 million. One year earlier The LEGO Movie grossed $257.76. Both were the 5th highest grossing movies of the year. That was increase in one year of $95.25 million.
Since we have been spending so much time studying these numbers…we felt we should share some of the little projects we have been compiling over the last couple of weeks. So our big question is…do these numbers look reasonable? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
5th Biggest Box Office Hits By Year from 1920-2015
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Column One lists the name of the movie that was the 5th biggest box office hit
- Column Two lists the year we are looking at
- Column Three lists how many tickets the movie sold (in millions)
- Column Four lists the actual domestic box office gross (in millions)
- Column Five lists the adjusted domestic box office gross (in millions)
| Movie Title | Year | Tickets | Box Office - Actual | Box Office - Adjusted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 | 2017 | 43.5 | $389.81 | $398.81 | |
| The Jungle Book | 2016 | 41.6 | $364.00 | $373.00 | |
| Furious 7 | 2015 | 41.0 | $353.00 | $368.17 | |
| The LEGO Movie | 2014 | 31.5 | $257.76 | $266.00 | |
| Man of Steel | 2013 | 35.4 | $287.68 | $298.30 | |
| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | 2012 | 38.1 | $303.00 | $320.90 | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | 2011 | 30.4 | $241.07 | $256.30 | |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 | 2010 | 37.2 | $293.54 | $313.60 | |
| Up | 2009 | 39.1 | $293.00 | $329.30 | |
| WALL·E | 2008 | 31.2 | $223.81 | $262.80 | |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 2007 | 42.4 | $292.00 | $357.80 | |
| The Da Vinci Code | 2006 | 33.1 | $217.54 | $278.70 | |
| King Kong | 2005 | 34.1 | $218.08 | $287.30 | |
| The Incredibles | 2004 | 42.1 | $261.44 | $354.90 | |
| Bruce Almighty | 2003 | 40.3 | $242.83 | $339.50 | |
| My Big Fat Greek Wedding | 2002 | 41.6 | $241.44 | $350.90 | |
| Rush Hour 2 | 2001 | 40.0 | $226.16 | $337.40 | |
| What Women Want | 2000 | 33.9 | $182.81 | $285.90 | |
| The Matrix | 1999 | 33.9 | $171.48 | $285.70 | |
| The Waterboy | 1998 | 34.4 | $161.49 | $290.30 | |
| Air Force One | 1997 | 37.7 | $172.96 | $317.70 | |
| Ransom | 1996 | 30.9 | $136.49 | $260.30 | |
| Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls | 1995 | 24.9 | $108.39 | $210.00 | |
| The Flintstones | 1994 | 32.0 | $130.53 | $269.70 | |
| Sleepless in Seattle | 1993 | 30.6 | $126.68 | $258.00 | |
| A Few Good Men | 1992 | 34.1 | $141.34 | $287.10 | |
| City Slickers | 1991 | 29.5 | $124.03 | $248.40 | |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 1990 | 32.0 | $135.27 | $269.60 | |
| Honey I Shrunk the Kids | 1989 | 32.9 | $130.72 | $277.60 | |
| Twins | 1988 | 27.2 | $111.94 | $229.60 | |
| Moonstruck | 1987 | 20.6 | $80.64 | $173.90 | |
| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | 1986 | 29.6 | $109.71 | $249.30 | |
| Out of Africa | 1985 | 24.5 | $87.07 | $206.80 | |
| The Karate Kid | 1984 | 27.0 | $90.82 | $227.80 | |
| War Games | 1983 | 25.3 | $79.57 | $212.90 | |
| Porky's | 1982 | 35.9 | $105.49 | $302.50 | |
| Stripes | 1981 | 30.7 | $85.30 | $258.70 | |
| Any Which Way You Can | 1980 | 36.2 | $94.19 | $305.40 | |
| The Amityville Horror | 1979 | 36.7 | $92.11 | $309.30 | |
| Heaven Can Wait | 1978 | 34.9 | $81.64 | $294.10 | |
| The Goodbye Girl | 1977 | 45.7 | $102.00 | $385.60 | |
| All the President's Men | 1976 | 42.7 | $90.91 | $359.80 | |
| Dog Day Afternoon | 1975 | 33.3 | $68.18 | $280.40 | |
| Herbie Rides Again | 1974 | 26.7 | $50.00 | $225.40 | |
| The Way We Were | 1973 | 38.4 | $68.05 | $324.10 | |
| Jeremiah Johnson | 1972 | 33.7 | $57.27 | $284.00 | |
| Diamonds Are Forever | 1971 | 26.6 | $43.82 | $223.90 | |
| Woodstock | 1970 | 26.4 | $40.91 | $222.50 | |
| Hello Dolly! | 1969 | 30.6 | $43.43 | $257.80 | |
| Romeo And Juliet | 1968 | 38.1 | $49.92 | $321.30 | |
| The Dirty Dozen | 1967 | 42.2 | $51.01 | $355.40 | |
| Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N. | 1966 | 21.2 | $23.31 | $178.70 | |
| What's New Pussycat | 1965 | 22.4 | $22.84 | $188.70 | |
| From Russia With Love | 1964 | 26.4 | $24.80 | $222.40 | |
| Irma La Douce | 1963 | 39.6 | $34.06 | $333.90 | |
| The Music Man | 1962 | 30.9 | $23.14 | $260.10 | |
| Absent Minded Professor | 1961 | 40.2 | $29.71 | $338.50 | |
| The Alamo | 1960 | 32.8 | $22.60 | $276.10 | |
| Darby O'Gill and the Little People | 1959 | 28.7 | $17.23 | $242.10 | |
| The Vikings | 1958 | 29.9 | $17.95 | $252.20 | |
| Raintree County | 1957 | 30.4 | $17.04 | $256.50 | |
| The King and I | 1956 | 44.2 | $24.29 | $372.20 | |
| Oklahoma! | 1955 | 39.0 | $20.29 | $328.90 | |
| The Glenn Miller Story | 1954 | 43.5 | $20.55 | $366.50 | |
| How To Marry A Millionaire | 1953 | 36.9 | $22.12 | $310.80 | |
| Hans Christian Anderson | 1952 | 30.3 | $16.67 | $255.50 | |
| The Great Caruso | 1951 | 25.9 | $12.95 | $218.30 | |
| Father of the Bride | 1950 | 24.7 | $11.86 | $208.20 | |
| I Was a Male War Bride | 1949 | 26.5 | $11.39 | $223.30 | |
| Johnny Belinda | 1948 | 28.1 | $11.23 | $236.60 | |
| Forever Amber | 1947 | 36.5 | $13.51 | $307.90 | |
| Blue Skies | 1946 | 44.0 | $15.41 | $371.10 | |
| The Valley of Decision | 1945 | 34.9 | $11.85 | $293.90 | |
| White Cliffs of Dover | 1944 | 40.8 | $13.05 | $343.80 | |
| Stage Door Canteen | 1943 | 41.3 | $12.40 | $348.40 | |
| Casablanca | 1942 | 40.8 | $11.84 | $344.30 | |
| A Yank in the RAF | 1941 | 31.7 | $8.87 | $267.10 | |
| Santa Fe Trail | 1940 | 17.8 | $4.99 | $150.40 | |
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | 1939 | 34.3 | $9.60 | $289.00 | |
| You Can't Take It with You | 1938 | 29.6 | $8.00 | $249.80 | |
| Broadway Melody of 1938 | 1937 | 29.1 | $7.56 | $245.00 | |
| The Trail of the Lonesome Pine | 1936 | 22.2 | $5.55 | $187.20 | |
| China Seas | 1935 | 20.4 | $4.89 | $171.60 | |
| The Barretts of Wimpole Street | 1934 | 15.6 | $3.59 | $131.70 | |
| Little Women | 1933 | 28.6 | $6.57 | $240.90 | |
| Tarzan The Ape Man | 1932 | 17.4 | $3.82 | $146.40 | |
| The Man Who Came Back | 1931 | 19.7 | $4.14 | $166.30 | |
| Anna Christie | 1930 | 23.1 | $4.62 | $194.50 | |
| Rio Rita | 1929 | 21.9 | $7.67 | $184.70 | |
| 7th Heaven | 1928 | 17.6 | $6.00 | $148.80 | |
| The King of Kings | 1927 | 28.7 | $9.17 | $241.60 | |
| Don Juan | 1926 | 12.1 | $5.27 | $148.20 | |
| Lost World | 1925 | 18.3 | $4.94 | $154.30 | |
| Hot Water | 1924 | 22.4 | $5.60 | $188.80 | |
| The White Sister | 1923 | 17.5 | $4.20 | $147.60 | |
| Smilin' Through | 1922 | 20.2 | $4.44 | $170.30 | |
| Orphans of the Storm | 1921 | 22.4 | $4.69 | $188.50 | |
| Something To Think About | 1920 | 22.9 | $4.58 | $193.00 |
Lots of good movies here
fun list. very confirming of your formula. the aberration of the first decade and and a half 1920 to 1936 being the lowest is confirmed by ticket sales during the depression and when many americans thought of motion pictures as evil. things loosened up with the war. morally and financially. I saw 70.
a few items I would like to request:
1) add last 2 decades to actors by decade. great info
2) can WoC give us totals on columns for domestic and world wide box office for each actor?
I do this a lot myself, very time consuming, if it can be programmed a big help. got idea from top actor by decade page, awesome
3) can you update request page? I do not need if/when done or commenter/date requested. would love to know which actors you have requested so I can add my votes for new pages. I am old and have forgotten some of my old requests. LOL
4) can you add to the site menu the commenter AFI preferences and commenter favorites? I love the lists and I am having trouble remembering how to find them. did I mention I am old? I forget. LOL. it also might encourage more participation.
5)would you consider a page for top 100 or so umr movies each decade. or letting us sort the top 500 page(really top 1000) by decade? I love having your UMR yearly pages and letterbox lets us sort by decade can WoC do this for UMR?. this info may be somewhere already and I cannot find it. did I mention I am old and forgetful? this age/forgetfulnes does not lead to good computer skills. I may even repeat myself.
too much time on my hands. I love UMR, yea Cogerson, yea WoC.
Hey bob cox…..let’s see…glad you like this page…..it is amazing that it was already a few years old….just added in the 5th biggest movies of 2016 and 2017. As for a worldwide column for actors….generally if we have a lot of the overseas numbers we use a table that shows both…but if there are many missing numbers….we tend to go with the yearly rank column…..space issues require us to limit the amount of columns. On the trailer pages you will find the numbers listed side by side. I will update the request page soon.
Currently we do not have a decade page that lists all the movies…but I imagine we could do a Top 100 by decade…..I will see…if I can dig out those numbers. As for the AFI preference commentor page…seems I had a page that did that….I wonder where I put it. Thanks for all the kind words.
the emphasis on box office numbers should be on word total for actor not just by movie though clearly by movie is most important and you do a great job and I can total each column myself. just hoping it was an easy adjustment to program to add a total at bottom of column. thanks .
I am awed by your family support. wonderful, heart warming, trying not to be jealous.
Interesting list. I have to admit your 5th place movies do not match my 5th place movies. I guess I should say they do not match the places I usually find my historic box office information. Like Wikipedia and some books I have. Plus your grosses do not match The Numbers numbers. Please explain.
Hey Confused. This is the Top 5 based on the year IMDb assigned them. From 2015 to 1980 I used BoxOfficeMojos Top 5….from 1979 to 1939 I used Hollywood Reporters Top 5….and from 1938 to 1920 I used many sources like http://filmindex.0catch.com/boxoffice.htm.
As for the difference in gross….The Numbers looks like they were using my old equation….I have since found some better information that showed my numbers were underestimating the box office gross. Ultimately these are only estimations….hopefully my estimations continue to get closer to the actual box office…that is for movies made before 1980….hope that helps…but I do appreciate the visit and the comment.
Interesting how many of the top adjusted grosses here have similar totals. There’s no big winner.
I’ve seen 63 of the 96 films you’ve listed. I’ve seen the top 18 box office actuals, haven’t watched The Waterboy. And I have to confess I have yet to see The Goodbye Girl which is your no.1 adjusted, was it that successful, bigger than Harry Potter and Furious 7? wow. Richard Dreyfuss won an Oscar for that film. I’ll check it out eventually.
Too many favorites here to list. The oldest movie I’ve seen on the list is The Lost World. Voted Up!
Hey Steve.
1. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
2. Overall I think the numbers look pretty good.
3. Tally counts….me 67…you 63 and Flora 56….I am sure if this was 1920-1980…Flora would have beaten both of us.
4. Waterboy has some moments…..but overall it is a typical Adam Sandler movie…and you are not missing anything.
5. The Goodbye Girl was the 28th biggest hit of the entire 1970s…Dreyfuss was on fire when this movie came…Jaws, Close Encounters and Goodbye Girl. Goodbye Girl out grossed Airplane (29th in the 1970s)…and was right behind Rocky 2 in grosses. Hard to believe Dreyfuss almost took out Rocky.
6. I had never even heard of the Lost World before doing this page.
Our discussion on The Vikings got me motivated to look at all of the 5th biggest hits….I appreciate your input.
Hi, Bruce.
I can guess who the other nameless person is 😉
The most recent movie I have seen is UP.
As this is ordered in chronological order, I will just give you my overall total.
The oldest movie I’ve seen is Don Juan, by the way.
I have seen 56 of these movies, so over 50%. Most of the movies I have seen are between 1930 and 1990.
5th biggest box office hit was a good choice.
Hey Flora.
1. Yes it is not hard to figure out who Grieve Trendsman. Grieve is always challenging my ranking system….but it keeps me on my toes…lol.
2. Tally count….me 67…Steve 63 and you 56. The more current movies gets me the victory…I have seen all the movies until Herbie Rides Again…and I pretty sure I saw that one….just I can’t separate it from all the Herbie movies I saw…so I did not count it.
3. My oldest movie that I have seen was The King Of Kings.
4. I think doing this table…helped me decide that my new equation seems better…..so it was worth the effort….though not that it is done….I am thinking I should have done the #1 movie…it would probably be more interesting.
As always thanks for the thoughts, visit and comments.
My next three pages….Jessica Chastain, Sam Peckinpah and…drumroll…..Buster Keaton.
I know the two men you have listed.
Drumroll Keaton indeed. Yeah!