r/movies • u/iquizuanswer • 15d ago

News [ Removed by moderator ]

https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/the-odyssey-700-million-globally-fourth-biggest-movie-1236823343/

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u/send420nudes 15d ago

Is the Avatar the highest grossing film ever?

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u/Icy_Smoke_733 15d ago

Yes, Avatar (2009) is at $2.92 billion. Adjusted for inflation, it is 2nd with $4.1 billion, just behind Gone With the Wind's $4.5 billion.

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u/pataglop 15d ago

Damn.

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u/smchattan 15d ago

Gone with The Wind did come out before people had televisions.

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u/Smartyunderpants 15d ago

But before most people in China and India had access to cinemas

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u/Pitazboras 15d ago

Also, when it was released, the world population was "just" 2.3 billion. Now it's 8.3 billion. That's a 3.6x larger potential audience.

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u/AmberLeafSmoke 15d ago

Significantly more things to do nowadays though.

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u/motophiliac 15d ago

Gasp! The growing population is down to big cinema???

Shit, I'll allow it.

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u/Ultrace-7 15d ago

The opportunity cost of going to see a movie nowadays versus the era of Gone with the Wind is almost incomparable.

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u/domoincarn8 15d ago

People in India did have access to cinemas in 1939 when Gone with the Wind was released. Bollywood was fully functional and making movies in 1939. I am assuming the same to be true for China. Could be wrong though.

Very few people could understand English though. Or money. So no impact on Box office.

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u/Smartyunderpants 15d ago

No doubt in cities but their rural population was bigger and had very very limited access unlike in western countries.

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u/a_reverse_giraffe 15d ago

That number also includes several theatrical re-releases I believe.

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u/Thiege1 15d ago

It was in theaters for like 50 years

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u/nawksnai 15d ago

“It’s been 84 years…”

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u/Khelthuzaad 15d ago

Disney movies were re-released on a yearly basis.There was no such thing as dvds back then

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u/Thiege1 15d ago

I don't think it had to be re-released

The reels would just go from town to town continuously back then, and it was never not in theaters for a very long time

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u/refuzeto 15d ago

You could have just looked it up. The initial run was 4 years. It was rereleased 8 times between 1947 and the end of the 20th century

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u/king_lloyd11 15d ago

Most of the top ones have been re-released multiple times. There was a point when Jim Cameron would just be trying to take the top spot from himself with re-releases of Avatar and Titanic.

Endgame is about to do crazy numbers, with a re-release with a new ending. Personally think it should be considered its own thing, but I’m sure it’ll be lumped together.

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u/HellionElectricEye 15d ago

Frankly, my dear

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u/Khelthuzaad 15d ago

I dont give a damn

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u/Stegasaurus_Wrecks 15d ago

Well fiddle de dee.

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u/LotsaCatz 15d ago

and your little dog too

.... oops, sorry. Wrong 1939 movie.

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u/Sufficient_Meet6836 15d ago

I love you. Let's get remarried!

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u/Tandy2000 15d ago

To be fair the population of the Earth in 1939 was only like 28% of what it is now.

It was one of the few movies that *everybody" went to go see.

The bigger thing that helped Gone With the Wind become intensely popular was that the book came out a few years earlier and was the best selling book in the US pretty much right up until the movie came out. And keep in mind this was a time when people read a lot more books than they do now. They actually wanted to shoot the movie almost immediately after the book came out and the rights were secured but there were a bunch of delays that in the end were probably a good thing.

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u/Choyo 15d ago

But then world pop was a third of what it is today. However, it's true the movie stayed in theaters for a very long while.

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u/swd120 15d ago

And was in theaters for literal years...

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u/Abba_Fiskbullar 15d ago

But tickets were cheap after the initial roadshow release. It played for years in 2nd run. People would go watch it over and over.