Spider-Man: Brand New Day has become the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office, besting 11-year champ Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a massive $937,441,963 total. That’s an impressive take through any lens, but also a distorted one.
The release benefits from an average ticket price of $16.30, boosted by surcharges for premium screens (IMAX, ScreenX and Dolby) which means that, while the total gross is the largest, it’s far from having sold the most tickets. Taking into account actual tickets sold, the picture is very different. Far from a chart-topper, Brand New Day barely cracks the Top 25.
When viewing the full scope of best-selling movies — instead of highest-grossing — so much of what we know about box office records begins to shift in a way that anoints a new (or rather, very old) all-time winner.
Check out the difference between actual gross and tickets sold in the interactive table below, and go deeper for our notes on the biggest changes.
7
The Top 10 Is Almost Entirely Pre-1983
While the unadjusted box office only includes one movie not released this century (Titanic), the ticket-based list reframes it. There, nine of the top 10 came out before Return of the Jedi.
The only exception is, of course, Titanic. That movie was a true phenomenon, playing in theaters for eleven months as people revisited James Cameron’s epic drama again and again.
Remarkably, though, The Force Awakens is close by, placing at #11.
6
Gone With The Wind Is The Clear Winner
It should surprise nobody with even a passing knowledge of box office behemoths, but Gone with the Wind comfortably tops the ticket sales list, with almost 25 million more tickets sold than the next movie (Star Wars).
In 1939, Gone with the Wind was a massive release, an anticipated adaptation of a contentious book, and it played for years, with multiple re-releases seeing its box office cume only increase. It’s unlikely any movie will ever come close.
5
Avatar Doesn’t Crack The Top 25
A criticism often leveled at Avatar is that it carries very little cultural impact for the once-and-again highest-grossing movie of all time. This domestic ticket data may explain that.
It sits at #26 on the adjusted ticket data, despite having the fifth-largest raw gross, highlighting the value add of 3D and IMAX surcharges.
4
Mario Has The Biggest Fall
While a lot of modern movies fall down the rankings when adjusting for ticket sales, none drops quite as hard as The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Its actual gross is a strong $574 million, placing #18 in the all-time list. However, its 53 million tickets see it drop a whopping 83 places, out of the Top 100.
3
Average Ticket Price Has Grown Substantially
In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick‘s average ticket price was $10.59. That’s over 21 times the cost of a ticket for 1956’s The Ten Commandments: a mere 50 cents.
The contrast between the two movies is stark: Maverick sold 67 million tickets for a $718.7 million total, while Commandments sold almost double that —131 million — for only $65M total.
2
The Most Successful Decade Is The 1960s
Despite marking the end of The Golden Age of Hollywood, the 1960s is the best-represented decade in the Top 50, with nine movies in total. In contrast, the 2020s only have three films (including Brand New Day).
While conventional wisdom would suggest the 1940s or 1950s would have more hits given higher attendance, the proliferation of major roadshow exhibitions and Disney reissues powered many 1960s releases to big heights.
1
After 2010, Every Single Movie Is From A Bigger Franchise
Ten movies since 2010 appear in the list, itself impressive given the pandemic years. However, there is a sharp distinction between these and earlier movies. All ten are sequels, reboots or shared-universe entries. If you look prior to 1980, the exact opposite is true.
While many bemoan the franchise-swamped multiplexes, nowhere is that shift more clearly seen than in the raw ticket sales.
