“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” considered one of the greatest films ever made, earned about $37 million during its initial theatrical run.
“Dude, Where’s My Car?” pulled in $73 million.
Twice what the Paul Newman/Robert Redford classic brought in. Which should tell you something is off.
When you glance at the list of all-time box office champions, 38 of the top 39 have come out since 2003. Only four of the top 100 came out before 2000, and you won’t find a movie released prior to 1990 until you get to #116. That’s “E.T.”
The original “Star Wars”—a legendary film by any standard—shows up at #124.
The game of measuring films by their box office numbers is silly, and everyone knows it. We’re left with a rather meaningless list.
When “Star Wars” debuted in 1977, the average price of a movie ticket was $2.23. Today, the average has crept above $16. An IMAX ticket to see the upcoming third “Dune” movie sold out at $50. Fifty dollars.
We’re not comparing apples to apples. We’re not even comparing apples to oranges. This is more like apples to screwdrivers.
Yes, a few lists attempt to show box office totals for older movies in today’s dollars—but even that’s not a good measurement. It assumes movies follow some natural curve of overall prices, when in reality the price increases of different commodities fluctuate wildly.
A Big Mac that cost about 90 cents in 1977 should cost $4.81 today according to inflation calculators. Instead, the average is nearly seven dollars. Meanwhile, gasoline that ran 62 cents a gallon in 1977 should be $3.32 — but war fears have pushed that closer to $4.50, and rising.
So simply applying inflationary numbers to the box office doesn’t cut it. Is there a better way?
For years, I suggested we simply count butts in seats. Cost be damned—how many people actually paid to see the movie?
Then I realized that’s not entirely fair either, because the U.S. population in 1977 was around 220 million, and today it’s just shy of 350 million. That’s a lot more people eligible to plop their butts in a seat.
So here’s where I’ve landed: percentage of butts in seats compared to the population.
Now we’re getting somewhere!
If “Star Wars” earned about $307 million domestically in 1977—a staggering number given that $2.23 ticket price—that works out to roughly 138 million tickets sold. Sure, some die-hard fans went multiple times. But that’s still 138 million tickets out of a population of 220 million. The math: 138 divided by 220 equals about 63%.
Now let’s try 2024’s box office champ, “Inside Out 2.” It raked in $638 million. With an average ticket price of roughly $11, that’s about 58 million tickets sold in a population of around 335 million, or about 17%.
So while comparing raw box office dollars places “Inside Out 2” as the 10th biggest movie of all time, it isn’t even in the same galaxy as “Star Wars” from nearly 50 years earlier.
You can try this with almost any film.
“Jaws,” the iconic 1975 masterpiece, was the first movie to ever surpass the $100 million mark at the box office—reaching that number in just 38 days. It earned $260 million during its initial run and held the number one spot for a remarkable 14 straight weeks.
With tickets running around $2.03—and I’m sure my dad grumbled about that—it works out to about 128 million butts in seats.
Stir in the U.S. population of 216 million that year, and the calculation comes out to 59%.
A few others for comparison:
“Avatar” — 34%. The number one box office champion of all time . . . but not on this list.
“Avengers: Endgame” — 29%. Number two all-time, but far less impressive here.
“The Godfather” — 38%
“Titanic” — 54%
“Barbie” — 18%
Perhaps the most striking example, though, is “Gone With the Wind.” When it came out in 1939, it pulled in $32 million, a stunning figure for the time. With an average ticket price of 23 cents, that means about 139 million tickets were sold. And the U.S. population then was only 131 million.
Our calculation: 106%. On average, every American saw the movie, with some going back for more.
Today’s biggest movies make more money. Yesterday’s biggest movies reached more people. They weren’t just “successful”—they were cultural events in a way modern films can’t quite match.
Is that because of audience fragmentation, thanks to an explosion of entertainment choices? Or is it a reflection of quality? You’d have to decide that for yourself.
But maybe the more interesting question isn’t how much money a movie made. Maybe it’s simpler than that. And more human.
How many people couldn’t avoid it?
Dom Testa writes fiction and nonfiction, and saw “Jaws” twice in the theater—and has the therapy bills to prove it.
Find his work at DomTestaBooks.com.
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