Box Office Smash 10

The arts are a part of the entertainment industry, which means that the arts are not just a freedom of expression, but also a business. This means that the film industry is run by corporations owned by business executives who provide a product for consumers. Because of this, the first and foremost concern for distributors is making money. The film industry makes billions of dollars every year. A large percentage of this comes from only a handful of movies released each year which are gangbusters. Movies that do this well commercially need to have a reason for their success, which is studied by both investors and enthusiasts.

Which are the highest grossing films, or films which made the most money? BoxOfficeMojo tracks movies with theatrical releases as far back as a hundred years. There is a list for the highest grossing films on both a domestic and global scale, but only global numbers will be talked about today.

The number one ranking movie in terms of commercial gross is the 2009 movie, Avatar with a 2.7 billion dollar box office. Following Avatar in respective order are:

• Titanic at 2.1 billion dollars
• The Avengers at 1.5 million dollars
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at 1.3 billion dollars
• Frozen at 1.2 billion dollars
• Iron Man 3 at 1.2 billion dollars
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon at 1.1 billion dollars
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King at 1.1 billion dollars
• Skyfall at 1.1 billion dollars
• Transformers: Age of Extinction at 1 billion dollars

The Internet Movie Database has information about a movie’s production, including how much a movie cost to make. The list starts with the record holder for the highest grossing film of all time:

• Avatar cost $237,000,000
• Titanic cost $200,000,000
• The Avengers cost $220,000,000
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 cost $125,000,000
• Frozen cost $150,000,000
• Iron Man 3 cost $200,000,000
• Transformers: Age of Extinction cost $195,000,000
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King cost $94,000,000
• Skyfall cost $200,000,000
• Transformers: Age of Extinction cost $210,000,000

With the exception of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King falling $6 million short of a $100,000,000 budget, every movie in the top ten biggest grosser list has a 9-digit production cost. In comparison, one of the most well-known movies, The Godfather, has a $6,000,000 budget.

With these high budgets, one might think that the overall profit made from subtracting the cost of the production from the box office gross would be low, but the opposite is true.

Avatar, the number one spot holder, has an overall 2.4 billion dollar profit. Following in second place:

• Titanic, has an overall 1.9 billion dollar profit. 
• The Avengers has a 1.2 billion dollar profit. 
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has a 1.1 billion dollar profit. 
• Frozen has a 1.05 billion dollar profit. 
• Iron Man 3 has a 1 billion dollar profit. 
• Transformers: Age of Extinction has a 905 million dollar profit. 
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has a 1.006 billion dollar profit. 
• Skyfall has a 900 million dollar profit. 
• Transformers: Age of Extinction 790 million dollar profit. 

The Godfather, once again, in comparison made a 239 million dollar profit, which is about one-third of what the tenth place movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction made. The Godfather is in the 443rd place in terms of box office success for clarity’s sake.

Looking in 2014, just as before, Box Office Mojo has tracked all the movies and IMBD has stated production information about each title released for the year. Looking at the top ten of the highest grossing films of the year 2014 gives a good insight to the continuing trend.

The top ten films include:

• Transformers: Age of Extinction in first place at 1 billion dollars
• Guardians of the Galaxy at 771 million dollars
• Maleficent at 757 million dollars
• X-Men: Days of Future Past at 746 million dollars
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier at 714 million dollars
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at 708 million dollars
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at 708 million dollars
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 with 565 million dollars
• Godzilla (2014) at 524 million dollars
• The LEGO Movie at 468 million dollars

Taking a look at what has been established, we can compare what factor continued to work for these newer releases. In fact, the #1 movie of the year, Transformers: Age of Extinction, is also 10th place for highest grossing movie of all time.

 
Excluding Transformers: Age of Extinction, the budgets for these movies, in order from the highest grossing to least, was:

• Guardians of the Galaxy at 170 million dollars
• Maleficent at 180 million dollars
• X-Men: Days of Future Past at 200 million dollars
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier at 170 million dollars
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at 200 million dollars
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at 170 million dollars
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 at 125 million dollars
• Godzilla (2014) at 160 million dollars
• The LEGO Movie at 60 million dollars.

All but The LEGO Movie have a 9-digit production budget just like the top 10 highest grossing of all time.

This is an interesting relationship. It brings up the question as to whether an expensive movie is more appealing for movie goers. In my interpretation, I believe much of the money goes to marketing those movies. This spreads awareness which in turn draws a bigger audience to buy a ticket. I also believe the top 10 highest grossers are made to be able to appeal to any side of the spectrum. The movies are simple and easily understood so a large audience can enjoy them without needing to struggle to understand what is going on. That is also the reason why they have worldwide appeal since movies dealing with politics or social issues of America would not interest a person living in Hong Kong. Instead the writing features a good guy against a bad guy with as many explosions money can buy.

This was just something I noticed, and I cannot claim to be an expert. But the relationship is there, just not factually proven. Maybe someday there will be a scientific study done, I'd be interested in it. Until then every movie maker crosses their fingers to deliver a box-office hit.