Top Movies By Attendance!!!

All-Time Top 228 Movies by U.S. Theatre Attendance

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

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).

No effort is made to compensate for population growth. It can be argued that a film had greater influence by impacting a greater percentage of all people, rather than whether it impacts a greater (absolute) number of people. However, the data I have for older films is greatly deficient, and a population-adjusted list would be even less useful (and more misleading) than the list shown here. Readers should have little trouble computing the ratios between the numbers here and suitable demographic data3.

I have attempted to account for the fact that for any given film, not all 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.

This has become a far greater issue in recent years with movies such as Avatar (2009) that are seen primarily in 3-D. A 3-D showing costs more money and there is no reliable and public source of data for the 3D-vs-2D market share of each picture, necessary to calculate precisely how much (on average per viewer) a viewer pays to see each particular film.

United States movie fans also need to be aware that being a top-grossing movie in the worldwide market is no longer sufficient to put that movie at the top of this chart. Using Avatar as an example again, it broke a record for worldwide sales (reaching $2.7 billion by the end of the 2010 summer, which would be equivalent to 293 million tickets at U.S. prices), but the United States only comprised 28% of that amount ($760 million, equivalent to 82.6 million tickets at U.S. prices). Avatar made enough worldwide that it could have placed #1 on this chart, but only if that money had all been made in the United States!

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. Also 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
1 225.7 Gone With the Wind (1939) (MGM) AA M
2 194.4 Star Wars (Ep. IV: A New Hope) (1977) (Fox) n M
3 156.4 The Sound of Music (1965) (Fox) AA M
4 148.4 ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (Univ) n M
5 130.0 The Ten Commandments (1956) (Para) n M
6 126.3 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (BV) M
7 123.6 The Jungle Book (1967) (BV) M
8 121.7 Titanic (1997) (Fox) AA
9 120.7 Jaws (1975) (Univ) n
10 120.1 Doctor Zhivago (1965) (MGM) n
11 117.1 101 Dalmatians (1961) (BV) M
12 107.8 Ben-Hur (1959) (MGM) AA
13 105.6 The Lion King (1994) (BV) M
14 100.8 Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (Fox) M
15 100.4 Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Fox) M
16 98.9 The Exorcist (1973) (WB) n M
17 92.8 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (Para) n M
18 90.3 Mary Poppins (1964) (BV) n M
19 88.4 The Sting (1973) (Univ) AA
20 87.2 Star Wars Ep. I: Phantom Menace (1999) (Fox)
21 84.4 Fantasia (1940) (BV) M
22 80.4 Jurassic Park (1993) (Univ)
23 79.4 The Graduate (1967) (AVCO Embassy) n
24 78.3 Avatar (2009) (Fox) n
25 77.4 Sleeping Beauty (1959) (BV) M
26 75.0 Bambi (1942) (BV) M
27 74.1 Forrest Gump (1994) (Para) AA
28 73.0 The Godfather (1972) (Para) AA M
29 72.1 Shrek 2 (2004) (DW)
30 72.0 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (Columbia) M
31 71.9 Grease (1978) (Para) M
32 70.9 My Fair Lady (1964) (WB) AA M
33 69.8 Ghostbusters (1984) (Sony)
34 69.7 Home Alone (1990) (Fox)
35 68.3 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (Fox) n M
36 68.2 The Dark Knight (2008) (WB)
37 68.0 Love Story (1970) (Para) n
38 68.0 Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) (UA) AA M
39 67.2 Spider-Man (2002) (Sony)
40 65.3 Cleopatra (1963) (Fox) n
41 65.2 Pinocchio (1940) (BV) M
42 65.2 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) (Para)
43 64.4 Independence Day (1996) (Fox)
44 63.7 American Graffiti (1973) (Univ) n
45 63.3 The Robe (1953) (Fox) n
46 63.0 Lady and the Tramp (1955) (BV) M
47 62.8 Thunderball (1965) (UA)
48 62.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) (BV)
49 61.4 Aladdin (1992) (BV)
50 61.0 Airport (1970) (Univ) n
51 60.7 The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) (RKO) n
52 60.4 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (NL) AA
53 60.0 Cinderella (1950) (BV) M
54 59.6 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) (Para)
55 59.1 Blazing Saddles (1974) (WB)
56 58.8 National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (Univ)
57 58.7 Batman (1989) (WB)
58 58.6 Superman (1978) (WB)
59 58.3 West Side Story (1961) (MGM) AA
60 58.3 Back To The Future (1985) (Univ)
61 58.2 Tootsie (1982) (Sony) n
62 58.1 Spider-Man 2 (2004) (Sony)
63 58.1 The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) (Para) AA M
64 57.9 Let's Make Love (1960) (Fox)
65 57.3 The Towering Inferno (1974) (Fox) n
66 57.3 Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (Fox)
67 57.2 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (WB)
68 57.1 Finding Nemo (2003) (BV) C
69 56.9 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (NL) n
70 56.7 This Is the Army (1943) (WB)
71 56.7 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) (RKO) AA
72 55.8 Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (Univ)
73 54.4 Saturday Night Fever (1977) (Para) M
74 54.4 Quo Vadis (1951) (MGM)
75 54.0 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (NL) n
76 53.8 Rocky (1976) (UA) AA
77 53.7 The Sixth Sense (1999) (BV) n
78 53.2 From Here to Eternity (1953) (Columbia)
79 53.1 The Poseidon Adventure (1972) (Fox)
80 52.8 Goldfinger (1964) (UA)
81 52.6 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (Columbia) AA
82 52.6 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (Para)
83 52.3 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) (MGM)
84 52.1 Toy Story 2 (1999) (BV)
85 52.1 Swiss Family Robinson (1960) (BV) M
86 52.0 Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (Fox)
87 52.0 M.A.S.H. (1970) (Fox) n
88 51.9 The Passion of the Christ (2004) (Newmarket Films)
89 51.8 For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) (Para)
90 51.6 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (UA) AA
91 51.5 The Transformers (2007) (Para)
92 51.3 White Christmas (1954) (Para) M
93 50.9 Twister (1996) (WB)
94 50.8 Toy Story 3 (2010) (BV) n C
95 50.7 Men In Black (1997) (Sony)
96 50.6 Ghost (1990) (Para) n
97 50.2 How the West Was Won (1962) (MGM / Cinerama) M
98 49.9 Samson and Delilah (1949) (Para) M
99 49.9 The Longest Day (1962) (Fox)
100 49.7 South Pacific (1958) (Fox) M
101 49.5 Song of the South (1946) (BV) M
102 49.5 Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (Univ)
103 49.4 Duel in the Sun (1946) (Selznick Releasing)
104 49.3 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (Columbia) M
105 49.2 Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones (2002) (Fox)
106 48.9 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) (BV)
107 48.9 House of Wax (1953) (WB)
108 48.6 Peter Pan (1953) (BV) M
109 48.5 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (Para)
110 48.5 Rear Window (1954) (Para)
111 48.3 Monsters, Inc. (2001) (BV)
112 48.2 Shrek (2001) (DW) C
113 47.6 Shrek the Third (2007) (Para)
114 47.5 Toy Story (1995) (BV)
115 47.3 Spider-Man 3 (2007) (Sony)
116 47.1 Giant (1956) (WB) M
117 46.8 Fiddler on the Roof (1971) (UA)
118 46.6 The Wizard of Oz (1939) n M
119 46.6 Sergeant York (1941) (WB) n M
120 46.5 Top Gun (1986) (Para)
121 46.4 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) (Univ)
122 46.3 Every Which Way But Loose (1978) (WB)
123 46.2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011) (WB)
124 46.0 Crocodile Dundee (1986) (Para)
125 45.8 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (WB)
126 45.6 The Jolson Story (1946) (Columbia)
127 45.4 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) (Columbia) n
128 45.4 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Sony)
129 44.7 Going My Way (1944) (Para)
130 44.4 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) (MGM)
131 44.3 Young Frankenstein (1974) (Fox)
132 44.0 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) (BV)
133 43.7 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) (WB)
134 43.6 The Fugitive (1993) (WB) n
135 43.6 Funny Girl (1968) (Columbia) n
136 43.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) (BV)
137 43.4 Meet the Fockers (2004) (Univ)
138 43.0 The Caine Mutiny (1954) (Columbia) n
139 42.8 Iron Man (2008) (Para)
140 42.7 Saving Private Ryan (1998) (DW) n
141 42.7 Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) (Para)
142 42.7 Jaws 2 (1978) (Univ)
143 42.7 Home Alone 2 (1992) (Fox)
144 42.7 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (Para)
145 42.7 Billy Jack (1971)
146 42.6 An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (Para)
147 42.5 Tom Jones (1963) (UA)
148 42.3 Cast Away (2000) (Fox)
149 42.3 Psycho (1960) (Univ)
150 42.2 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (MGM)
151 42.1 Three Men and a Baby (1987) (BV)
152 42.0 Armageddon (1998) (BV)
153 41.9 Peyton Place (1957) (Fox) n
154 41.8 Mrs. Miniver (1942)
155 41.8 Spartacus (1960)
156 41.7 Gremlins (1984) (WB)
157 41.6 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (Columbia) AA
158 41.5 Rain Man (1988) (MGM) AA
159 41.5 Dances With Wolves (1990) (Orion Pictures) AA
160 41.5 On Golden Pond (1981) (Univ) n
161 41.5 Pretty Woman (1990) (BV)
162 41.4 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (BV)
163 41.1 Rocky III (1982) (MGM)
164 41.0 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) (WB)
165 40.9 Earthquake (1974) (Univ)
166 40.9 Alice in Wonderland (2010) (BV)
167 40.8 Beauty and the Beast (1991) (BV) n
168 40.7 Sayonara (1957) (WB)
169 40.7 The Incredibles (2004) (BV) C
170 40.6 The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (WB)
171 40.6 Bonnie and Clyde (1967) (WB)
172 40.6 Heaven Can Wait (1978) (Para)
173 40.2 My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) (IFC Films)
174 40.1 20000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) (BV)
175 40.1 Mission: Impossible (1996) (Para)
176 39.8 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (WB)
177 39.5 Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) (Sony/TriStar)
178 39.4 Batman Forever (1995) (WB)
179 39.3 Fatal Attraction (1987) (Para) n
180 39.0 Mission: Impossible II (2000) (Para)
181 39.0 A Bug's Life (1998) (BV)
182 38.9 Mister Roberts (1955) (WB) n
183 38.9 Bruce Almighty (2003) (Univ)
184 38.9 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (WB)
185 38.8 Rush Hour 2 (2001) (NL)
186 38.8 Apollo 13 (1995) (Univ) n
187 38.7 Patton (1970) (Fox)
188 38.7 Liar Liar (1997) (Univ)
189 38.6 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) (WB)
190 38.5 The Guns of Navarone (1961) (Columbia)
191 38.3 Pocahontas (1995) (BV)
192 38.3 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Fox) M
193 38.2 Iron Man 2 (2010) (Para)
194 38.2 The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) (Summit)
195 37.9 Tarzan (1999) (BV)
196 37.7 Up (2009) (BV) n C
197 37.7 9 To 5 (1980) (Fox)
198 37.7 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) (NL)
199 37.6 Superman II (1981) (WB)
200 37.6 The Firm (1993) (Para)
201 37.5 What's Up, Doc? (1972) (WB)
202 37.1 Stir Crazy (1980) (Columbia)
203 37.0 Night at the Museum (2006) (Fox)
204 36.9 Some Like It Hot (1959)
205 36.8 Air Force One (1997) (Sony)
206 36.8 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) (Summit)
207 36.8 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) M
208 36.7 There's Something About Mary (1998) (Fox)
209 36.7 Porky's (1982) (Fox)
210 36.6 Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) (Para)
211 36.5 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
212 36.4 Batman Returns (1992) (WB)
213 36.4 The Song of Bernadette (1943)
214 36.4 Mom and Dad (1948)
215 36.3 Platoon (1986) (Orion Pictures) AA
216 36.3 A Star Is Born (1976) (WB)
217 36.3 The Dirty Dozen (1967) (MGM)
218 36.2 Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) (WB)
219 36.2 The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
220 36.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010) (WB)
221 36.1 Signs (2002) (BV)
222 36.0 The Goodbye Girl (1977) (WB)
223 36.0 The Santa Clause (1994) (BV)
224 36.0 I Am Legend (2007) (WB)
225 36.0 Cars (2006) (BV)
226 35.9 The King and I (1956)
227 35.8 Welcome Stranger (1947)
228 35.8 Inception (2010) (WB)


Following are some recent hit movies with lower admissions figures than the top 228 on the chart. Because my historical movie data is incomplete, the rank number would be almost meaningless.
35.7 The Hangover (2009) (WB)
33.9 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) (Summit)
33.2 Star Trek (2009) (Para)
33.0 The Blind Side (2009) (WB) n
30.8 The Hangover Part II (2011) (WB)
30.8 Despicable Me (2010) (Univ)
29.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) (BV)
29.2 Shrek Forever After (2010) (Para)
28.3 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) (Fox)
26.9 Sherlock Holmes (2009) (WB)
26.6 How to Train Your Dragon (2010) (Para)
25.5 Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (Para)
25.4 Fast Five (2011) (Univ)
25.3 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) (Fox)
24.6 Tangled (2010) (BV)
23.2 Cars 2 (2011) (BV)
23.2 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) (Fox)
22.8 Night at the Museum 2 (2009) (Fox)
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 (2011) movie would have to gross at least $295.5 million at the box office.
Studios:
BV Buena Vista, Disney, Walt Disney, etc.
DW DreamWorks
Fox includes 20th Century Fox
MMax Miramax
NL New Line
Para Paramount
Sony
UA United Artists
Univ Universal
WB Warner Brothers
Notes:
AA: This film received an Academy Award® for Best Picture.
C: This film won a restricted "best feature" Academy Award® (Best Animated Feature).
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 (formerly here
The top 25 of the same list, from Washington Post, on digitallibrary.com
Box Office Report's list (was also here)
BOXOFFICE.COM's similar list
Box Office Mojo's list
Sources of average movie ticket price data:
A Google search for "average cinema ticket price 7.18 7.50 7.89 2011" (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.
3 : See Wikipedia, Demographic history of the United States.
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.
Robert Munafo's home pages on HostMDS © 1996-2012 Robert P. Munafo. about contact Google+ mrob27 @mrob_27
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. Details here s.13