Avatar's Onslought

So, Avatar is now the number one grossing movie, both domestically and worldwide, ever, even beating the unbeatable Titanic. It is being touted as the most successful movie ever. But is it?

Ticket prices and populations have been rising, so we would actually expect the record to be continually broken, and not because of a movie's quality. Someday, given infinite inflation, the worst performing movie will still outgross Avatar. (Ticket prices have risen 2000% in the past hundred years; at that rate of inflation, a hundred years from now patrons could be paying $20,000 per ticket. Hopefully the Bay Theater will reconsider its cash-only policy.)

If we really want to compare the success of movies in the United States, we need to ignore anything having to do with money, and only consider tickets sold per capita. Below I list the 100 movies who have sold the most tickets (source: Box Office Mojo), the U.S. population in the year of the movie's release (primary source: U.S. Census Bureau), and the tickets sold per capita.

Avatar has done well, selling tickets to 26% of the country's population. But that only ranks it 59th on the list, trailing behind such recent films as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (31%), Jurassic Park (33%), and Titanic (48%). Half the country saw Pinocchio. Three quarters saw The Ten Commandments. And not only did everybody see Gone with the Wind, but half of them saw it twice.

A lot of movies have been re-released over the years, which makes it a bit murky to determine the population to be used in the per capita. But even if we omit all the re-released films, Avatar is still only 35th in the ranking.

Avatar's greatest achievement is having reached its standing so quickly, in fewer than seven weeks. For contrast, The Phantom Menace had sold approximately 8 million fewer tickets by the same point in its run (source: The Numbers). If Avatar sells another 16 million tickets (possible), it will surpass The Phantom Menace.

I enjoyed Avatar, and am excited that it is performing so well, but let's not steal the thunder from the movies of the past.

Rank	Title	Year	Admissions	Population	Per Capita
1	Gone with the Wind	1939	202,044,600	130,879,718	154%
2	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	1937	109,000,000	128,824,829	85%
3	Star Wars	1977	178,119,600	220,239,425	81%
4	The Ten Commandments	1956	131,000,000	168,903,031	78%
5	The Sound of Music	1965	142,415,400	194,302,963	73%
6	Doctor Zhivago	1965	124,135,500	194,302,963	64%
7	Fantasia	1941	83,043,500	133,402,471	62%
8	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	1982	141,854,300	231,664,458	61%
9	Jaws	1975	128,078,800	215,973,199	59%
10	Ben-Hur	1959	98,000,000	177,829,628	55%
11	101 Dalmatians	1961	99,917,300	183,691,481	54%
12	The Exorcist	1973	110,568,700	211,908,788	52%
13	Pinocchio	1940	67,403,300	132,122,446	51%
14	Titanic	1997	128,345,900	267,743,595	48%
15	Bambi	1942	63,712,400	134,859,553	47%
16	The Bells of St. Mary's	1945	62,745,100	139,928,165	45%
17	The Empire Strikes Back	1980	98,180,600	227,224,681	43%
18	The Graduate	1967	85,571,400	198,712,056	43%
19	The Sting	1973	89,142,900	211,908,788	42%
20	Sleeping Beauty	1959	72,676,100	177,829,628	41%
21	The Robe	1953	65,454,500	160,184,192	41%
22	Mary Poppins	1964	78,181,800	191,888,791	41%
23	Return of the Jedi	1983	94,059,400	233,791,994	40%
24	The Best Years of Our Lives	1946	55,000,000	141,388,566	39%
25	Thunderball	1965	74,800,000	194,302,963	38%
26	Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981	88,141,900	229,465,714	38%
27	Around the World in 80 Days	1956	64,615,400	168,903,031	38%
28	The Greatest Show on Earth	1952	60,000,000	157,552,740	38%
29	The Godfather	1972	78,922,600	209,896,021	38%
30	The Jungle Book	1967	73,679,900	198,712,056	37%
31	Duel in the Sun	1946	51,020,400	141,388,566	36%
32	Sergeant York	1941	48,123,200	133,402,471	36%
33	Cleopatra (1963)	1963	67,183,500	189,241,798	36%
34	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	1969	70,557,900	202,676,946	35%
35	Grease	1978	76,921,800	222,584,545	35%
36	Goldfinger	1964	66,300,000	191,888,791	35%
37	Love Story	1970	69,998,100	205,052,174	34%
38	Lady and the Tramp	1955	55,734,900	165,931,202	34%
39	Jurassic Park	1993	86,205,800	257,746,103	33%
40	Airport	1970	66,111,300	205,052,174	32%
41	The Bridge on the River Kwai	1957	54,400,000	171,984,130	32%
42	House of Wax	1953	50,531,900	160,184,192	32%
43	My Fair Lady	1964	60,000,000	191,888,791	31%
44	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	1999	84,825,800	272,690,813	31%
45	American Graffiti	1973	65,714,300	211,908,788	31%
46	Rear Window	1954	50,354,700	163,025,854	31%
47	West Side Story	1961	55,970,300	183,691,481	30%
48	Forrest Gump	1994	78,545,600	260,289,237	30%
49	Ghostbusters	1984	70,730,600	235,824,902	30%
50	Swiss Family Robinson	1960	53,808,000	180,671,158	30%
51	Lawrence of Arabia	1962	55,383,600	186,537,737	30%
52	The Lion King	1994	77,231,800	260,289,237	30%
53	Blazing Saddles	1974	63,227,500	213,853,928	30%
54	The Towering Inferno	1974	61,375,700	213,853,928	29%
55	Beverly Hills Cop	1984	67,150,000	235,824,902	28%
56	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	1963	53,875,400	189,241,798	28%
57	Home Alone	1990	67,734,200	249,438,712	27%
58	National Lampoon's Animal House	1978	59,890,300	222,584,545	27%
59	Avatar	2009	80,582,000	307,006,550	26%
60	M.A.S.H.	1970	53,684,200	205,052,174	26%
61	The Poseidon Adventure	1972	54,902,000	209,896,021	26%
62	Independence Day	1996	69,268,900	265,189,794	26%
63	Smokey and the Bandit	1977	56,832,900	220,239,425	26%
64	Superman	1978	57,358,100	222,584,545	26%
65	Batman	1989	62,954,600	246,819,230	26%
66	The Rocky Horror Picture Show	1975	55,069,400	215,973,199	25%
67	Rocky	1976	55,040,000	218,035,164	25%
68	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	1977	55,575,500	220,239,425	25%
69	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975	53,685,400	215,973,199	25%
70	Back to the Future	1985	59,050,700	237,923,795	25%
71	Tootsie	1982	56,903,900	231,664,458	25%
72	The Dark Knight	2008	74,282,100	304,374,846	24%
73	Shrek 2	2004	71,050,900	293,638,158	24%
74	Spider-Man	2002	69,484,700	288,125,973	24%
75	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	1984	53,532,800	235,824,902	23%
76	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	2006	64,628,400	299,398,484	22%
77	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	2003	61,538,100	290,796,023	21%
78	The Sixth Sense	1999	57,579,100	272,690,813	21%
79	Ghost	1990	51,465,200	249,438,712	21%
80	Twister	1996	54,688,100	265,189,794	21%
81	Aladdin	1992	52,442,300	254,994,517	21%
82	Spider-Man 2	2004	60,158,700	293,638,158	20%
83	Mrs. Doubtfire	1993	52,684,400	257,746,103	20%
84	Men in Black	1997	54,616,700	267,743,595	20%
85	The Passion of the Christ	2004	59,704,800	293,638,158	20%
86	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989	49,416,500	246,819,230	20%
87	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	2005	59,324,600	296,507,061	20%
88	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	2002	57,630,400	288,125,973	20%
89	Top Gun	1986	47,651,400	240,132,887	20%
90	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	2001	55,913,000	285,226,284	20%
91	Finding Nemo	2003	56,337,500	290,796,023	19%
92	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	1991	48,656,400	252,127,402	19%
93	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	2001	54,703,900	285,226,284	19%
94	The Lost World: Jurassic Park	1997	49,910,000	267,743,595	19%
95	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	2002	53,468,500	288,125,973	19%
96	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	2009	56,004,400	307,006,550	18%
97	Toy Story 2	1999	47,836,500	272,690,813	18%
98	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	2003	50,648,900	290,796,023	17%
99	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	2000	48,106,800	281,421,906	17%
100	Spider-Man 3	2007	48,914,300	301,579,895	16%