Article
The Top 50 Movie Hits
Written by Scott
First Posted: December 16th, 2001
Lists, lists, and more lists, my brother Patrick loves lists, but here's one not created by him. Out of curiousty I looked up the current top 50 all time box office champs (as of 3/1/02). I was quite surprised to discover that on this site, my brothers and I have reviewed 23 of them, and without even trying!
Some other interesting information, Gone With The Wind (1939) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) are the oldest two movies by far to appear on this list. The oldest besides those two, is the The Exorcist (1973), which is one of just three movies to be on list from the 1970's, the others being Star Wars, and Jaws. Which means that the 45 other movies on this list were released from 1980 onwards!
Spielberg has to be most successfull director of all time, with seven movies in the top fifty, including two (E.T. and Jurassic Park), in the top five! Although Chris Columbus, already in the top fifty three times with Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the first Harry Potter installment, could potentially catch up, if all of the Harry Potter films are as successfull as the first.
Harrison Ford, while still assured of being the actor to star in the most movies in the top fifty, has been reduced from once having starred in most of the movies in the top ten, to just two, The original Star Wars, and Return of the Jedi.
The list belows lays out the top fifty movies. The first column shows their rank, then you have the title and year, the next column shows to date domestic gross, and the final column indicates whether or not the movie was reviewed on this site. If it has been, than you may click on the title of the movie to go to that review.
| Rank | Title | Total Box Office | Reviewed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Titanic (1997) | $600,743,440 | Yes |
| 2 | Star Wars (1977) | $460,935,655 | Yes |
| 3 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) | $431,065,444 | Yes |
| 4 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | $399,804,539 | No |
| 5 | Jurassic Park (1993) | $356,763,175 | No |
| 6 | Forrest Gump (1994) | $329,452,287 | No |
| 7 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) | $314,675,739 | Yes |
| 8 | Lion King, The (1994) | $312,775,367 | No |
| 9 | Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) | $309,064,373 | Yes |
| 10 | Independence Day (1996) | $306,200,000 | No |
| 11 | Sixth Sense, The (1999) | $293,501,675 | No |
| 12 | Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) | $290,158,751 | Yes |
| 13 | Home Alone (1990) | $285,761,243 | No |
| 14 | Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) | $283,191,086 | Yes |
| 15 | Shrek (2001) | $267,652,016 | Yes |
| 16 | How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) | $260,031,035 | Yes |
| 17 | Jaws (1975) | $260,000,000 | Yes |
| 18 | Monsters, Inc. (2001) | $252,177,407 | Yes |
| 19 | Batman (1989) | $251,188,924 | No |
| 20 | Men in Black (1997) | $250,147,615 | No |
| 21 | Toy Story 2 (1999) | $245,823,397 | No |
| 22 | Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | $242,374,454 | Yes |
| 23 | Twister (1996) | $241,700,000 | No |
| 24 | Ghostbusters (1984) | $238,600,000 | No |
| 25 | Beverly Hills Cop (1984) | $234,760,478 | No |
| 26 | Cast Away (2000) | $233,630,478 | Yes |
| 27 | Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997) | $229,074,000 | No |
| 28 | Rush Hour 2 (2001) | $226,138,454 | Yes |
| 29 | Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) | $219,195,051 | No |
| 30 | Ghost (1990) | $217,631,306 | No |
| 31 | Aladdin (1992) | $216,967,404 | No |
| 32 | Saving Private Ryan (1998) | $216,119,491 | Yes |
| 33 | Mission: Impossible II (2000) | $215,397,307 | Yes |
| 34 | Back to the Future (1985) | $210,609,762 | No |
| 35 | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) | $205,399,422 | No |
| 36 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) | $204,843,345 | No |
| 37 | Exorcist, The (1973) | $204,565,000 | yes |
| 38 | Mummy Returns, The (2001) | $202,007,640 | Yes |
| 39 | Armageddon (1998) | $201,600,000 | No |
| 40 | Gone with the Wind (1939) | $198,655,278 | Yes |
| 41 | Pearl Harbor (2001) | $198,539,855 | Yes |
| 42 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) | $197,171,806 | No |
| 43 | Toy Story (1995) | $191,773,000 | No |
| 44 | Gladiator (2000) | $187,670,866 | Yes |
| 45 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | $184,925,485 | No |
| 46 | Dances with Wolves (1990) | $184,208,842 | No |
| 47 | Batman Forever (1995) | $184,031,000 | No |
| 48 | Fugitive, The (1993) | $183,752,965 | No |
| 49 | What Women Want (2000) | $182,805,123 | Yes |
| 50 | Perfect Storm, The (2000) | $182,618,434 | Yes |