One of our latest movie pages here at Ultimate Movie Rankings.com was one that looked at the movie career of Jerry Lewis. The first 16 movies of Lewis’ career were with his screen partner, Dean Martin. As we were looking at the fantastic box office numbers of those 16 movies….a question popped into our heads…..who are the Top 15 Screen Duos of all-time? So the awesome wife went to our massive database ….wrote some code….did a query search and up popped some possible answers to that question.
The first thing we realized when we saw the search results was that we needed to have some rules. The 8 Harry Potter movies provided us lots of possible combos. We like Alan Rickman and Rupert Grint…..but we’re not thinking they are considered one of the greatest screen duos of all-time. So the first rule was if actors appeared together in a movie franchise, then they needed to have two other non-related movies to qualify. So goodbye to Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, and Keira Knightley and their Pirate movies…..goodbye to Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and the Back to the Future movies. Goodbye to all the Harry Potter alumni and goodbye to almost every successful movie franchise out there. This really hurt us….because we really wanted to include the Screen Duo team of Michael Caine and Christian Bale.
The second rule we came up with was that the actors had to have a decent size role (preferable a lead role) in the movie. Cameos would not count towards the accumulated box office grosses. That rule eliminated more screen duos. The third rule was not to include computer animated franchises. A single “Voice Role” was ok…..but not more than one. Once again more screen duos were eliminated. So with the rules in place our list was looking more acceptable. We found 15 screen duos that have grossed more than $1 BILLION in adjusted domestic box office. The Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon team just missed the Billion Dollar Club by $7 million dollars. Below you will find a table with the Top 15 and following that table is a list of those screen duos that did not make the Billion Dollar Club. We are sure we have forgotten some obvious screen duos that could crack the Billion Dollar Club….we look forward to hearing from you about duos we have carelessly left off.
Top 15 Screen Duos of All-Time – Ranked by Box Office Results
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the screen duos anyway you want.
- Column 1 lists the different Screen Duos
- Column 2 lists the years the Screen Duos made their movies
- Column 3 lists how many movies they made
- Column 4 lists the total number of tickets sold for their movies
- Column 5 lists the total adjusted domestic box office gross for the Screen Duos
- Column 6 lists the average adjusted domestic gross for the Screen Duos
- Column 7 lists the Screen Duos biggest box office hit
| Rank | Screen Team | Years Active | Movies | Tickets Sold | Total Adjusted Domestic Box Office | AVG Gross Per Movie | Biggest Hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bud Abbott & Lou Costello | 1940-1956 | 36 | 310.84 million | $2.58 billion | $71.66 million | Ride 'em Cowboy (1942) | |
| Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis | 1949-1956 | 16 | 233.73 million | $1.94 billion | $121.25 million | Living It Up (1954) | |
| Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy | 1930-1951 | 26 | 231.16 million | $1.93 billion | $74.53 millions | Sons of the Desert (1930) | |
| Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson | 1996-2014 | 10 | 171.50 million | $1.38 billion | $138.00 million | Night At The Musuem (2006) | |
| Chris Evans & Scarlett Johannson | 2004-2015 | 5 | 166.26 million | $1.37 billion | $274.00 million | The Avengers (2012) | |
| Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn | 1942-1967 | 9 | 162.65 million | $1.35 billion | $150.00 million | Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967) | |
| Paul Newman & Robert Redford | 1969-1973 | 2 | 161.44 million | $1.34 billion | $670.00 million | The Sting (1973) | |
| Bing Crosby & Bob Hope | 1940-1962 | 8 | 157.83 million | $1.31 billion | $163.75 million | Road To Morocco (1942) | |
| Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy | 1935-1942 | 8 | 150.60 million | $1.27 billion | $158.75 million | Maytime (1937) | |
| Bill Murray & Harold Ramis | 1981-1993 | 4 | 151.85 million | $1.23 billion | $307.50 million | Ghostbusters (1984) | |
| William Powell & Myrna Loy | 1934-1956 | 14 | 142.16 million | $1.18 billion | $84.28 million | The Great Ziegfeld (1936) | |
| Errol Flynn & Alan Hale Sr. | 1937-1948 | 12 | 139.75 million | $1.16 billion | $96.73 million | The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) | |
| Burt Reynolds & Sally Field | 1977-1980 | 4 | 136.14 million | $1.13 billion | $282.50 million | Smokey and the Bandit (1977) | |
| Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton | 1963-1972 | 10 | 132.53 million | $1.10 billion | $110.00 million | Cleopatra (1963) | |
| Clint Eastwood & Sondra Locke | 1976-1983 | 6 | 130.06 million | $1.08 billion | $180.00 million | Every Which Way But Loose (1978) | |
| Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon | 1941-1953 | 8 | 129.96 million | $1.08 billion | $135.00 million | Mrs. Miniver (1942) | |
| Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet | 1997-2008 | 2 | 129.70 million | $1.08 billion | $540.00 million | Titanic (1997) | |
| Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers | 1933-1949 | 10 | 120.48 million | $1.00 billion | $100.00 million | Top Hat (1935) | |
| Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland | 1937-1943 | 8 | 120.26 million | $1.00 billion | $125.00 million | Babes on Broadway (1941) |
Screen Duos That Were Successful But Fell Short of the Billion Dollar Mark
- Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon – 11 movies – $993.00 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Gary Cooper/Walter Brennan – 6 movies – $927.30 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter – 6 movies – $903.39 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Marjorie Main & Percy Kilbride – 8 movies – $786.80 million in adjusted box office gross
- Errol Flynn/Olivia de Havilland – 8 movies – $784.30 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Clark Gable/Spencer Tracy – 3 movies – $723.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Clark Gable/Joan Crawford – 8 movies – $703.20 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Claudette Colbert/Fred MacMurray – 8 movies – $674.80 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall…..4 movies….$648.80 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor – 4 movies – $613.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Julia Roberts/Richard Gere – 2 movies – $605.29 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Clark Gable/Myrna Loy – 7 movies – $568.20 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin – 6 movies – $566.90 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Bruce Willis/Samuel L.Jackson – 3 movies – $553.24 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Jean Harlow/Clark Gable…..6 movies…$540.70 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Dean Martin/Sammy Davis, Jr. – 4 movies – $528.60 in adjusted domestic gross
- Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan – 3 movies – $524.60 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Doris Day/Rock Hudson – 3 movies – $522.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Doris Day/Gordon MacRae – 5 movies – $515.00 million in adjusted domestic gross
- James Cagney/Pat O’Brien – 7 movies – $514.80 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Johnny Weismuller/Maureen O’Sullivan – 6 movies – $509.90 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra – 3 movies – $507.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Claude Rains/Bette Davis….4 movies – $495.30 million in adjusted domestic gross.
- Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong – 7 movies – $479.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Woody Allen/Diane Keaton – 5 movies – $454.68 million in adjusted domestic gross
- John Wayne/Maureen O’Hara – 5 movies – $451.62 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Paul Rudd/Steve Carell – 4 movies – $451.62 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Dean Martin/Shirley MacLaine – 5 movies – $446.60 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas – 6 movies – $432.80 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Simon Pegg/Nick Frost – 9 movies – $416.20 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Clark Gable/Claudette Colbert – 2 movies – $415.70 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Shailene Woodley/Ansel Elgort – 3 movies – $415.52 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Jeanette MacDonald/Maurice Chevalier – 4 movies – $413.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- James Stewart/Jean Arthur – 2 movies – $378.40 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Robert DeNiro/Joe Pesci – 6 movies – $370.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd – 3 movies – $369.03 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman – 3 movies – $362.90 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Ben Affleck/Matt Damon – 3 movies – $360.43 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Howard Keel/Kathryn Grayson….3 movies….$353.20 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Shirley Temple/ Bill Robinson – 4 movies – $334.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Brian Keith/Maureen O’Hara – 3 movies – $300.40 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Bradley Cooper/Jennifer Lawrence…. 3 movies….. $295.63 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Goldie Hawn/Chevy Chase…. 2 movies….. $293.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Anna Kendrick/Elizabeth Banks – 3 movies – $292.58 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Cary Grant/Irene Dunne…. 3 movies….. $289.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn – 4 movies – $287.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis – 4 movies – $273.70 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Fred MacMurray/Barbara Stanwyck – 4 movies – $271.90 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten – 4 movies – $263.50 million in adjusted domestic gross
- Charlie Chaplin/Edna Purviance – 4 movies – $258.54 million in adjusted domestic gross
- John Cusack/John Malkovich…. 2 movies….. $220.10 million in adjusted domestic gross
- James Garner/Julie Andrews – 2 movies – $150.30 million in adjusted domestic gross
So who did we forget? We look forward to suggestions. If your suggestion cracks the 1 Billion Club…..we will add the Screen Duo and give you all the credit.
How we calculated adjusted box office grosses. We took the actual box office grosses….divided that total by the average ticket price the year the movie was released. That gave us tickets sold. We then multiplied tickets sold by today’s average movie ticket price.
Page Notes: Since writing this page we have gotten lots of suggestions for possible members of the 1 billion dollar club. Amazingly so far it looks like we only missed two Screen Duos. PS1999 correctly identified that the screen duo of Bill Murray and Harold Ramis had grossed over $1 Billion in adjusted domestic gross while She Lew correctly identified Errol Flynn and Alan Hale Sr. as members of the club. Thanks for the input PS1999 and She Lew….your movie knowledge is truly impressive.
Mickey Rooney/Lewis Stone? Andy and Judge Hardy!
Thank you George….they made 15 movies together in the Andy Hardy series….with an adjusted box office gross of $1.30 BILLION! That is a lot of butts in seats.
Crawford & Gable – my favorite screen duo. They made eight films together and most of them were hugely popular. Ah, just read your lists and found they missed the billion dollar mark. But over 703 million ain’t too bad!
Hey Kyle…..Crawford and Gable were a great team. I actually find it strange that their film partnership does not get mentioned more. Looking at their average gross per movie they were not that far behind Astaire/Rogers. Thanks for checking out our latest movie page…it is greatly appreciated.
Hmmm. Interesting theme. Regarding rules;
When I think of the term “screen duo’ in regards to a timeline, I think of leading pairs who were paired multiple times where you automatically think of the second person when you say the first.
Ie, when you say Fred Astaire, you automatically think “Ginger Rogers.” Contrast that with Gene Kelly, who never had a regular screen partner.
As such, I wouldn’t include anyone who had not appeared in at least five films together regardless of the type of film. And I would have them ordered not in terms of gross alone but gross on average of film or number of films together, period as in particular during the studio system era fans wanted to see specific pairings.
Ignoring the placement for a moment, some of these pairings I have never even heard of before.
And some pairings, you haven’t done either of the stars yet such as Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth; or only one of them such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Not that 36 films of Abbot and Costello can be topped in number, but I think a better theme would be comparing duos based on either the number of the movies they made alone, or comparing duos who made the same number of films as other duos.
Ie: Greer and Walter made the same number as Judy and Rooney at 8.
I can’t really say anything about the rankings within the chart . But regarding Steve’s comment-you only needed a quarter to see movies before. I have not gone out to the movies in years. I couldn’t possibly afford it.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Thanks for the comment and the visit.
2. I think your “leading pairs who were paired multiple times where you automatically think of the second person when you say the first. Ie, when you say Fred Astaire, you automatically think “Ginger Rogers.” That seems like a good way to id great screen pairs.
3. You make some good suggestions on possible movie subjects in the future. I used box office totals in this one because I was curious if anybody could top Martin and Lewis. As you wrote it took Abbott and Costello 36 movies to knock Dean and Jerry to 2nd place.
4. Bogart and Bacall did 4 movies and those movies had an adjusted gross of $648.80 million
5. Ford and Hayworth did 5 movies and those movies had an adjusted gross of $466.40 million.
6. Speaking of Hayworth…I just watch her Pal Joey last night…she was top billed and did not get to keep Frank…I wonder how many times the top billed performer does not get the love interest?
7. The way my calculations work….the price of admission the year the movie got released is used to figure out tickets sold….you can compare tickets sold to tickets sold…I just do the adjusted so you can compare the numbers to the box office numbers today.
8. As always….thanks for stopping by and talking movies.
Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
Hey Ron B. The Day/Hudson team is in 30th place when looking at the screen duos box office grosses…..which is the criteria we used when we were doing the rankings….that is not to say they are the 30th best overall….just when looking at box office grosses….We greatly appreciate you taking the time to make a suggestion.
Percy Kilbride, Marjorie Main, Doris Day and Rock Hudson , Bruce and Rathbone
1. Day and Hudson are at $522.10 for their 3 movies.
2. Main and Kilbride box office numbers
The Egg and I ….$265.50 in adjusted box office
Ma and Pa Kettle…..$103.90 in adjusted box office
M & P Go to Town….$81.20 in adjusted box office
M & P Back on Farm…..$83.60 in adjusted box office
M & P At Fair……$81.20 in adjusted box office
M & P Vacation…..$65.80 in adjusted box office
M & P At Home….$ 54.40 in adjusted box office
M & P Waikiki…..$51.20 in adjusted box office
8 movies for a total of $786.80 in adjusted box office gross.
3. Sadly the Bruce/Rathbone box office grosses are hard to find….so I can not get a box office figure.