Top Grossing Films of All Time

Ok, so a little bored this morning, I was checking out the top grossing films of all time.

Check out imdb's list: http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegr ... world-wide

I do find it a shame that most lists concentrate on money earned rather than actual ticket sales 'bums on seats', as the list will always favour recently released films where ticket prices are higher. In the top 100 movies only 9 movies predate 1990 of which three are the Star Wars first trilogy, two are Indiana Jones flicks and then there is Rain Man, only three of the nine predate 1980 - Jaws at 51 and Grease at 84 with the final movie the only one in the top 100 to predate 1970 - Gone With The Wind at no.80.

Can't believe that so many people forked out to see Titanic and it has been the top grossing film of all time for the last 9 years.

My favourite films (won't do a top 100 don't worry) in no particular order include:

A Matter of Life & Death (1946)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
12 Angry Men (1957)
North By Northwest (1959)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) - also one of my fave books
LA Confidential (1997)
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Aliens (1986)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Crash (2004)
The African Queen (1951)
The Philadelphia Story (1940) & High Society (1956)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Blithe Spirit (1945)
Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Usual Suspects (1995)

Add on most of Laurel & Hardy's film shorts.

No place on my list for the usual audience fave's of The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Casablanca or Taxi Driver. If you haven't heard of most of my list (most were filmed before even I was born), why not check them out at your local 'Blockbuster' and have a fabulous evening infront of the tv.

Any other suggestions, apart from ''get a life'?

Fatman very interesting. My list changes daily, weekly how do you manage to stick to one rigid list. Last night I saw a movie about Truman Capote about his book in Cold blood or something. I have not read the book but the movie was good. Very relaxing during the typhoon. He and his agent came across as being true arse holes. Is he really meant to be the greatest writer America ever had? I find this difficult to believe based on a book he plagiarised from an inmate on death row.

I thought of making a list for you but now you will just have to get, "The man without a past" truly beautifully crafted small budget Finnish film,Dir. kaurismakis (2004) original language, I just read some American crits of the film, most good but what utter crap they speak. I dont think Americans truly get foreign language films.
Lets see what else did I see in the last week or so, jaws three, no, no good. Oh yes Bambi. I saw Bambi for the first time ever, I was quite disappointed by the lack of story line, all very simple and brief. But the mighty king buck took my breath away.

Spirited away(2001) Japanese animation,Miyazaki-original language , I liked very very much,I like quite a lot of his films. The other one called, "My neighbour Totoro" (1988) is wondrous. Hmm my list grows, oh er there are some fantastic Iranian films as well, my most favourite film of all time is about a boy who drowns in a river at the end, his horse and everything washed away. More I can't remember.

American film, lets see....oh I liked "Ken Park" ,Lary Clark et al (2002) and I liked The Fluffer, there are just too many movies I liked to make a list, I even liked the original Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Bourne Identity especially the first one......um, oh yes Death of a salesman, then there is English film and Swedish film and and.
Well that is my list for today.

I've never seen Capote called the greatest writer America ever produced. In my opinion, he's a hack compared with the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, and any number of others. But what do I know?

edit destroy

More than I do on the subject thats for sure. Ernest Hemingway??? Yea gods give me a break. I was given a little hard back original as a gift some while ago, something about fishing in Florida, it must have been the very worst book I have ever read. and I like fishing. At least I had a brief enjoyment of it. But I enjoyed the film, set in Cuba I think.

That just struck a memory in me for some reason about a cuban Spanish writer, actor perhaps, with Johnny depp. Any-way I enjoyed that film no end, especially the prison scenes, well actually just all of it. I must try and remember it's name and watch it again.

... to list out the top gross films of all time?

I was waiting for that plot twist. I've seen some horribly gross adult videos.

[Aunty]

My top ten movies list in no particular order is:-

Europa Europa
Dune
The Wizard of Oz
Gone With The Wind
Schindlers List
Trainspotting
Once Were Warriors
Star Wars
The Rocky Horror Picture Show



The list is never complete.

[Smiles]

My list of favourite movies is made up from those I can actually sit back and enjoy (and find more in) more than once. This is quite a difficult criteria to use and thus my list is not long.
It's also why I never buy films on CD or DVD (though I have a few of the ones below) ... they would just sit around forlorn and unwatched, perhaps played for the occasional guest.

For what it's worth (in no order):

• Manhattan (a very old Woody Allen movie, but still his best IMHO)
  Godfather (1 & 2)
  Happy Together (My all-time favourite gay film ... beautiful & powerful. Makes all others simply sophomoric)
  Kill Bill (1)
  Barry Lyndon
  All About Eve
  Truth or Dare
  I Never Sang for my Father
  Raging Bull
  Dangerous Liasons (Steven Frears version)
  Amadeus
  In the Mood for Love
  Goodfellas
  Lolita
  All about my Mother

There is one on the list above which did not make big box office but is a terrific story about the love/hate relationship between father and son on the eve of the father's death, and that things-said and (and more importantly, not-said) bubble up to the surface with great sad power.

Not maudlin at all, 'I Never Sang for my Father' has Gene Hackman (the son) and Melvyn Douglas (the dying father) in Acting Heaven as two men who have been seperated most of their adult lives come back together at the end . . . in ways which are not expected or predicatable or particularly sentimental.
But still, this is the only movie I know of which makes me cry everytime I watch it. Very worthwhile to rent, if you can find it.

Two I forgot which deserve mention (making these lists is hard):

• Breaker Morant
  Full Metal Jacket (especially for the first mezmerising hour)

Cheers ...

[manfarang-old]

Is he really meant to be the greatest writer America ever had? I find this difficult to believe based on a book he plagiarised from an inmate on death row.

I don't think that Capote has ever been touted as Ameridca's greatest writer (Mark Twain probably has a lock on that title), but he did produce a few good books. In Cold Blood is a terrific book, but it was also the last good book he ever wrote. I certainly don't think that Capote "plagiarized" the book. The film showed how Capote manipulated Perry Smith to get the inside story on the murders and how, once he got the details, he abandoned Smith. I also thought the film hinted that Capote's friend Harper "To Kill a Mockingbird" Lee may have had a hand in making the book as good as it was.