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Do you consider inflation when talking about the highest grossing movies?


Personally, I don't. Gone With the Wind is still the highest grossing movie of all time if it's adjusted for inflation, but it wouldn't have made as much if the value of the dollar wasn't as low as it is now.

Not only that, but some of the highest grossing movies have been re-releases multiple times and no one seems to really take that into account either.

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If people are interested in gross receipts, I would hope they would take into account inflation. Unless it's actually YOUR movie, then who cares?

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Present value is necessary for comparison purposes.

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But shouldn't it also be taken into account that if it were released these days it wouldn't make nearly as much as inflation makes it seem like it would?

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How do you know it wouldn't make an enormous amount if released today? How do you know that Gone With The Wind wouldn't gross a billion dollars?

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Because a movie like that isn't as much of a spectacle or as original these days as it was when it was released. Not only that, but it's just shy of four hours long. It's hard enough getting people to stay seated for a three hour movie.

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I certainly do. Avengers: Endgame is only the top grossing movie because of the freaking high price of a movie ticket.

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I guess it depends where you live and what time you go to the movies. Where I live we have an AMC theater and at the earlier show times tickets are $6 while later ones are only $8. 3D I think is $12, but I'm not someone who goes to see movies in 3D.

The only reason Avatar was the highest grossing for so long was due to 3D ticket sales and three re-releases. Where I live when that movie came out, 3D ticket prices were higher than they are now.

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You've got all that 4DX crap now, which is ridiculously expensive.

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Only if people decide it's worth their money. In my opinion most movies aren't really enhanced by 3D and it typically gives me a headache anyway. 4D right now is still pretty much a gimmick. I don't think I'll ever really buy into it.

Ultimately on tickets in general, I feel if people thought it was too expensive they wouldn't be buying any.

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If it's a hype, people will pay for it. There was no 4DX (and hardly 3D) back then, so it certainly makes a difference.

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Yeah it was revolutionary, but still not worth the cost. I didn't see it until it was out on DVD.

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Most people don't, but I think it should be at least noted. Ticket prices have drastically increased over the years. I tend to mostly just go to matinees so the prices are cheaper.

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It's tricky because there was a deflation from the start -- When movies were new and kind of disposable mixed-attraction venues, they were cheaper, they had very little competition on entertainment, they were at some point the #1 place to go for air conditioning, and so the popularity in the early days lead to ticket sale numbers you can't see today despite the larger population... So if inflation is going to be taken into account, all the numbers on record have to be contextualized with the total numbers at the time and the general change from that point to now.

It is done, and other factors can cause change quicker than inflation, so it's obviously not worth attempting as a perfect science. Maybe if some A.I. algorithm was helping, but that would have to be a pretty dedicated marketing/strategy type company to go to those kinds of lengths.

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"Gone With the Wind is still the highest grossing movie of all time if it's adjusted for inflation"

May I ask what is the source of this statement? I thought Titanic is the highest one.

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You can literally just look up "highest grossing movie adjust for inflation" on Google and every result will tell you the same thing.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

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Right, as I thought. Try to figure out the adjusted worldwide gross of those movies and you will see.

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I do. In addition for domestic gross I consider the per capita amounts since US population has gone up dramatically since the golden age of Hollywood.

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No, but I do have a passing interest when considering inflation.

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