All-Time Top 218 Movies by U.S. Theatre Attendance

This chart lists movies ranked by the number of movie tickets sold in the United States1.

The data are computed by taking box office receipt data and dividing by ticket price. This is pretty much the only way to do it for United States and United Kingdom data (and is also the method used by Lumiere2).

I have attempted to account for the fact that not all movie tickets cost the same. In particular, many movies are seen by a greater number of children, or are seen more often during matinees or with discounts ("passes" or frequent buyer tickets). Such movies sell more tickets per million dollars of box office receipts than other movies showing alongside them. There are also movies that cannot be seen by children or for which the distributor has prohibited the use of discounts. I try to adjust the position of individual films by accounting for these variations.

Please read the section after the chart for the list of sources I used in my research, and a brief description of how the table was created. In particular I want to point out that data is incomplete for movies before the 1960's.

Recent movies (which includes re-releases even if the original release is not recent) are in bold. The studio abbreviations and notes are listed at the bottom.

Rank Admissions
(millions)
Title (year) (studio) Notes
1 206.4 Gone With the Wind (1939) (MGM) AA M
2 197.0 Star Wars (Ep. IV: A New Hope) (1977) (Fox) n M
3 153.5 The Sound of Music (1965) (Fox) AA M
4 150.4 ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (Univ) n M
5 131.7 The Ten Commandments (1956) (Para) n M
6 125.3 The Jungle Book (1967) (BV) M
7 123.2 Titanic (1997) (Fox) AA
8 122.3 Jaws (1975) (Univ) n
9 121.8 Doctor Zhivago (1965) (MGM) n
10 119.7 101 Dalmatians (1961) (BV) M
11 118.6 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (Disney) M
12 111.1 Ben-Hur (1959) (MGM) AA
13 102.2 Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (Fox) M
14 101.8 The Exorcist (1973) (WB) n M
15 101.7 Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Fox) M
16 94.9 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (Para) n M
17 93.1 Mary Poppins (1964) (BV) n M
18 89.9 The Sting (1973) (Univ) AA
19 88.9 The Lion King (1994) (BV) M
20 88.3 Star Wars Ep. I: Phantom Menace (1999) (Fox)
21 86.3 Fantasia (1940) (RKO/BV) M
22 81.8 The Graduate (1967) (WB) n
23 81.5 Avatar (2009) (Fox)
24 81.1 Jurassic Park (1993) (Univ)
25 79.1 Sleeping Beauty (1959) (BV) M
26 76.6 Bambi (1942) (Disney) M
27 74.6 Shrek 2 (2004) (DW)
28 74.5 The Godfather (1972) (Para) AA M
29 74.1 Forrest Gump (1994) (Para) AA
30 73.0 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (Columbia) M
31 70.7 Grease (1978) (Para) M
32 70.6 The Dark Knight (2008) (WB)
33 70.3 Ghostbusters (1984) (Sony)
34 70.2 Home Alone (1990) (Fox)
35 69.5 Spider-Man (2002) (Sony)
36 69.2 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (BV) n M
37 68.7 Love Story (1970) (Para) n
38 67.3 Cleopatra (1963) (Fox) n
39 66.7 Pinocchio (1940) (RKO/BV) M
40 65.9 Thunderball (1965)
41 65.7 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) (Para)
42 65.3 Independence Day (1996) (Fox)
43 64.8 The Robe (1953) (Fox) n
44 64.7 American Graffiti (1973) (Univ) n
45 64.6 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) (BV)
46 63.4 Around the World in 80 Days (1956) (UA) AA M
47 62.8 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) (Para)
48 62.5 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (NL)
49 62.2 Aladdin (1992) (BV)
50 61.8 Cinderella (1950) M
51 61.6 Airport (1970) (Univ) n
52 61.5 The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) (RKO) n
53 60.6 Lady and the Tramp (1955) (BV) M
54 60.2 Spider-Man 2 (2004) (Sony)
55 60.1 Blazing Saddles (1974) (WB)
56 60.0 West Side Story (1961) (MGM) AA
57 59.7 Batman (1989) (WB)
58 59.6 Tootsie (1982) (Sony) n
59 59.4 The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) (Para) AA M
60 59.3 My Fair Lady (1964) (WB) AA M
61 59.3 Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (Fox)
62 59.2 Finding Nemo (2003) (BV)
63 58.9 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (WB)
64 58.8 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (NL)
65 58.8 Billy Jack (1971)
66 58.7 Back To The Future (1985) (Univ)
67 58.6 Let's Make Love (1960) (Fox)
68 58.5 This is the Army (1943)
69 58.4 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) (RKO) AA
70 58.3 The Towering Inferno (1974) (Fox) n
71 56.9 National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (Univ)
72 56.7 Superman (1978) (WB)
73 56.2 Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (Univ)
74 56.0 Saturday Night Fever (1977) (Para) M
75 56.0 Quo Vadis? (1951)
76 55.6 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (NL) n
77 54.9 From Here to Eternity (1953)
78 54.5 Rocky (1976) (MGM) AA
79 54.4 The Sixth Sense (1999) (BV) n
80 54.4 Goldfinger (1964)
81 54.3 The Poseidon Adventure (1972) (Fox)
82 53.9 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) (MGM)
83 53.7 The Passion of the Christ (2004) (Newmarket Films)
84 53.4 For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)
85 53.4 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (Col) AA
86 53.3 The Transformers (2007) (Para)
87 53.0 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (Para)
88 52.8 Toy Story 2 (1999) (BV)
89 52.8 Swiss Family Robinson (1960) (UA) M
90 52.7 MASH (1970) (Fox) n
91 52.4 Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (Fox)
92 52.1 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (MGM) AA
93 51.6 Twister (1996) (WB)
94 51.4 Samson and Delilah (1949) M
95 51.4 The Longest Day (1962)
96 51.3 Men In Black (1997) (Sony)
97 51.0 Song of the South (1946) M
98 50.9 Ghost (1990) (Para) n
99 50.8 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) M
100 50.8 Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones (2002) (Fox)
101 50.8 White Chirstmas (1954) M
102 50.6 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) (BV)
103 50.5 Duel in the Sun (1946) (Selznick)
104 50.4 South Pacific (1958) M
105 50.3 Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (Univ)
106 49.7 Monsters, Inc. (2001) (BV)
107 49.7 Shrek (2001) (DW)
108 49.7 Peter Pan (1953) (BV) M
109 49.6 House of Wax (1953) (WB)
110 49.1 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (Para)
111 49.1 Rear Window (1954) (Para)
112 48.9 Shrek the Third (2007) (Para)
113 48.9 Spider-Man 3 (2007) (Sony)
114 48.6 Giant (1956) M
115 48.3 Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
116 48.1 How the West Was Won (1962) M
117 48.1 The Wizard of Oz (1939) n M
118 48.0 Toy Story (1995) (BV)
119 47.6 Sergeant York (1941) (WB) n M
120 47.3 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (WB)
121 47.2 Top Gun (1986) (Para)
122 47.1 The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
123 47.0 The Jolson Story (1946)
124 47.0 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) (Univ)
125 46.7 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1968) (Col) n
126 46.6 Crocodile Dundee (1986) (Para)
127 46.1 Going My Way (1944)
128 45.7 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Sony)
129 45.7 Young Frankenstein (1974) (Fox)
130 45.5 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) (BV)
131 45.2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) (WB)
132 45.2 Peyton Place (1957) n
133 45.0 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) (MGM)
134 45.0 Toy Story 3 (2010) (Walt Disney Pictures)
135 45.0 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) (BV)
136 45.0 Meet the Fockers (2004) (Univ)
137 44.8 Every Which Way But Loose (1978) (WB)
138 44.3 Iron Man (2008) (Para)
139 44.3 Alice in Wonderland (2010) (BV)
140 44.2 Funny Girl (1968) (Col) n
141 44.2 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (Para)
142 43.9 The Fugitive (1993) (WB) n
143 43.8 Tom Jones (1963)
144 43.7 An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (Para)
145 43.6 Psycho (1960) (Para)
146 43.5 The Caine Mutiny (1954) (Col) n
147 43.5 Home Alone 2 (1992) (Fox)
148 43.4 Saving Private Ryan (1998) (DW) n
149 43.1 Mrs. Miniver (1942)
150 43.0 Spartacus (1960)
151 43.0 Cast Away (2000) (Fox)
152 42.8 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (MGM/UA)
153 42.6 Armageddon (1998) (BV)
154 42.5 Three Men and a Baby (1987) (BV)
155 42.4 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) (WB)
156 42.4 On Golden Pond (1981) (Univ) n
157 42.2 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (Columbia) AA
158 42.2 Earthquake (1974) (Univ)
159 42.2 Rain Man (1988) (MGM) AA
160 42.1 The Incredibles (2004) (BV)
161 42.0 The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (WB)
162 42.0 Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) (BV)
163 42.0 Sayonara (1957)
164 41.8 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
165 41.8 Heaven Can Wait (1978)
166 41.8 Dances With Wolves (1990) (Orion Pictures) AA
167 41.7 Pretty Woman (1990) (BV)
168 41.6 My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) (IFC Films)
169 41.5 Gremlins (1984) (WB)
170 41.3 Jaws 2 (1978) (Univ)
171 41.3 Rocky III (1982) (MGM)
172 41.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (WB)
173 41.1 Beauty and the Beast (1991) (BV) n
174 41.0 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (WB)
175 41.0 Iron Man 2 (2010) (Para)
176 40.6 Mission: Impossible (1996) (Para)
177 40.3 The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) (Summit Entertainment)
178 40.3 Bruce Almighty (2003) (Univ)
179 40.0 Rush Hour 2 (2001) (NL)
180 39.9 Patton (1970)
181 39.8 Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) (Sony/TriStar)
182 39.8 Up (2009) (BV)
183 39.8 Batman Forever (1995) (WB)
184 39.7 The Guns of Navarone (1961)
185 39.6 Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) (Para)
186 39.6 Fatal Attraction (1987) (Para) n
187 39.6 A Bug's Life (1998) (BV)
188 39.4 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Fox) M
189 39.2 Liar Liar (1997) (Univ)
190 39.1 Apollo 13 (1995) (Univ) n
191 39.1 Mister Roberts (1955) n
192 38.9 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) (WB)
193 38.6 Pocahontas (1995) (BV)
194 38.5 Superman II (1981) (WB)
195 38.4 Tarzan (1999) (BV)
196 38.3 Night at the Museum (2006) (Fox)
197 38.2 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) (NL)
198 38.1 9 To 5 (1980) (WB)
199 38.1 Some Like It Hot (1959)
200 37.9 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) M
201 37.8 The Firm (1993) (Para)
202 37.7 The Hangover (2009) (WB)
203 37.7 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
204 37.5 Porky's (1982) (Fox)
205 37.5 The Song of Bernadette (1943)
206 37.5 Stir Crazy (1980) (Fox)
207 37.3 The Dirty Dozen (1967)
208 37.3 There's Something About Mary (1998) (Fox)
209 37.3 Air Force One (1997) (Sony)
210 37.3 Signs (2002) (BV)
211 37.3 I Am Legend (2007) (WB)
212 37.3 Cars (2006) (BV)
213 37.1 The Goodbye Girl (1977)
214 37.0 The King and I (1956)
215 36.9 Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) (Para)
216 36.9 Platoon (1986) (Orion Pictures) AA
217 36.9 Welcome Stranger (1947)
218 36.9 Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Following are some recent hit movies with lower admissions figures than the top 218 on the chart. Because my historical movie data is incomplete, it is not possible to compute the exact rank for each of these movies.
35.0 Star Trek (2009) (Para)
34.8 The Blind Side (2009) (WB)
33.1 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) (Univ)
32.0 National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) (BV)
31.7 Hancock (2008) (Sony)
31.6 Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) (Fox)
31.2 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) (Summit Entertainment)
31.2 WALL-E (2008) (BV)
31.0 Shrek Forever After (2010) (Para)
30.6 300 (2007) (WB)
30.0 Ratatouille (2007) (BV)
30.0 Kung Fu Panda (2008) (Para)
29.8 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) (Fox)
28.8 How to Train Your Dragon (2010) (Para)
28.4 Sherlock Holmes (2009) (WB)
26.9 Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (Para)
26.7 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) (Fox)
26.7 Twilight (2008) (Summit Entertainment)
26.6 The Simpsons Movie (2007) (Fox)
25.1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) (Para)
24.4 Wild Hogs (2007) (BV)
24.4 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) (Fox)
24.1 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) (Fox)
23.6 Quantum of Solace (2008) (Sony)
All other recent movies have even fewer total admissions, unless I haven't gotten around to updating the totals (if it's more than a month out of date, email me)

To receive a rank number, a newly-released (2009) movie would have to gross at least $271.5 million at the box office.

< -

Studios:
BV Buena Vista
DW DreamWorks
Fox includes 20th Century Fox
MMax Miramax
NL New Line
Para Paramount
Sony
Univ Universal
WB Warner Brothers

Notes:
AA: This film received an Academy Award® for Best Picture.
n: This film was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best Picture category.
M: This film has been released more than once (or has been showing every year since its release, in the case of Rocky Horror); the admission total shown here is the total for all release years. In all such cases, the box office for each year was adjusted for inflation separately before adding the years together.

Method

In order to generate these figures (which are only estimates) I had to take many factors into account.

Box office gross figures are the easiest statistic to find. However, many movies have been released more than once and it is very important to find out how much the movie grossed in each different year, because the ticket prices differ from one year to the next. Also, for older movies the box office gross is itself an estimate, because exhibitors (theatres) and studios didn't really keep consistently accurate records on this type of thing until the 1970's.

Adjusted box-office gross figures come from Exhibitor Relations (see below) and account for changes in movie ticket prices (not the "consumer price index", which varies at a different rate).

Current and historical movie ticket prices are published by the Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) in their annual report (see below) but for years not mentioned in their report I had to derive estimated ticket prices from the adjusted and unadjusted box office gross figures. Note that these prices might seem low because they include subsequent runs, senior and child discounts, and special pricing.

MPAA ratings are available for movies that received a rating, a process that began around 1968. They are used to estimate child attendance ratios (children throw off the numbers because they pay less). For unrated movies a guess is made as to how much child attendance the movie would have gotten, using other more recent movies as a guide, and assuming that for older movies the audience was generally more balanced because of the lack of ratings and enforcement.

Sources for general information about movies were used to learn more about what movies attract what types of audiences, and to learn about movies whose studios have placed restrictions on discount ticket sales.

All of this information is used to compile a database of movies, each with an average ticket price index (which varies depending on the movie's audience demographics) and a total adjusted gross figure (which properly adjusts the grosses in each year the movie made money). Then, the attendance estimate is computed simply by dividing one by the other.

Future Improvements:

- Some data is lacking for years before 1960, and even more data is lacking for years before 1940.

- I want to find a comprehensive list of movies that have been released with restrictions on discount tickets. While many films restrict discounts during the first few weeks of release, a few restrict discounts during a much longer period.

- I am also in search of information that will help improve estimates of matinee attendance rates and attendance by seniors.

Things That Will (Probably) Never Change:

- Expanding the data to a global (worldwide) context. The problem here is that each nation (or group of nations, as might be the case in certain parts of Europe) has a greater interest in its own local statistics than in the non-local statistics. In other words, if I include movies that aren't popular in the United States, the list will be of less interest to readers in the United States. This list mainly exists for my own benefit, and since I never see movies outside the United States, I have no interest in a global list. I don't want to maintain multiple lists, one is hard enough!

Sources

This data was compiled from many sources, including the following. (I know some of the links are dead, but I cannot do anything about that.)

Sources of inflation data (I divide the adjusted gross by the actual gross to get an average ticket price index):

Mr. Showbiz box office receipts adjusted for inflation
The Movie Times' version of the same list
The top 25 of the same list, from Washington Post, on digitallibrary.com
Box Office Report's list (was also here)
Box Offic Mojo's list

Sources of average movie ticket price data:

A Google search for "average admission price 5.39 5.66 5.81 2003" (or similar, with more recent numbers) will yield re-published reports of the data released by MPAA.
MPAA's 2006 US Theatrical Market Statistics report
MPAA's 2001 economic review
MPAA's 2000 economic review
MPAA's 1999 economic review
MPAA's 1998 economic review
Lee's Movie Info Adjuster

Sources of MPAA ratings (used to estimate child attendance rates):

Amazon

Sources of old (unadjusted) box office receipts:

Infoplease top 100 all-time list (from Exhibitor Relations) (click on the "Movies and Videos" link to see some other related lists) This chart of historical yearly totals at Infoplease has ticket price figures since 1990
The AMUG list of $100 million movies
The Washington Post list of $100 million movies
The same list, on digitallibrary.com
Box Office Guru's box office archive
vex.net's box office archive

Sources of current box office receipts:

The Numbers: Box Office Data, Movie Stars, Idle Speculation
The Movie Times
Yahoo! Movies: Weekly U.S. box office actuals
IMDB's box office charts

Also of interest:

MPAA 2000 report on movie audience demographics
The Internet Movie Database

Industry periodicals (not on-line, but at the library):

Variety
Hollywood Reporter
Motion Picture Daily

Not used but possibly interesting:

The United States consumer price index data was not used, because the MPAA average movie ticket price data was more relevant.



Footnotes

1 : For those interested in data for countries other than the United States, here are some links:

Inside Kino has figures for almost all of Europe and Australia. (In German, but easy to navigate: Quartral = "season"; Woche = "week")

Lumiere presents a searchable database and actually gives data in the form of admissions! They have data for Europe and Quebec.

Paul Boschen's Aussie box office lists

2 : The Lumiere database describes their methods and limitations here. Of particular note is this paragraph referring to US and UK data:

Figures provided by the United Kingdom and United States refer to box office receipts rather than the number of tickets sold. In such cases, the number of admissions is estimated by dividing box office recipts by the average ticket price for the year concerned.



Other acknowledgments:

Some information contributed by: Rolf Polier.

Dead websites:

The Sci Fi Paradise box office list was at http://www.geocities.com/~scifi_paradise/Movies/boxoffice.html

ShowBizData switched to payment-only.



"Academy Award®" is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.



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