The Highest Grossing Movie for Every Year I’ve Been Alive

In a little over a week I will turn 50. But more importantly, The Godfather turns 50! It was released in theatres the day after I was born, which got me thinking… What would be the highest grossing movies for every year over the past half century?

I decided to go with domestic earnings, not worldwide. Also, each entry is based on the year they were released as opposed to sales within the year. I don’t know if that makes sense, but take The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for example. It was actually the biggest box office hit of 2004, despite being released in 2003 (It opened on Dec 17). I simply picked the highest earner of the movies released for that particular year. So in this case, Return of the King is under 2003.

But first, let’s take the highest earners for the decades preceding 1972:

• The 20’s:Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), $10.7M

• The 30’s:Gone With the Wind (1939), $198.6M

• The 40’s:Bambi (1942), $102.8M

• The 50’s:The Ten Commandments (1956), $122.7M

• The 60’s:The Sound of Music (1965), $163.2M

And the biggest box office hauls for 1970 and 1971 were Love Story ($50M) and Fiddler on the Roof ($40.5M) respectively.

And now, from March 24, 1972 and on. When you see a dollar figure that highlighted in blue (including Gone With theWind listed above), that signifies a new all-time record breaker.

1972:The Godfather, $86.300M

1973:The Exorcist, $193M

1974:Towering Inferno, $50M (Interesting to note that Blazing Saddles and Young Einstein came in second and third that year!)

1975:Jaws, $133.4M

1976:Rocky, $117.2M

1977:Star Wars, $307.2M

1978:Superman, $138.2M

1979:Kramer vs Kramer, $106.2M

1980:The Empire Strikes Back, $181.4M

1981:Raiders of the Lost Ark, $212.2M

1982:E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, $314.9M

1983:Return of the Jedi, $252.6M

1984:Beverly Hills Cop, $234.6M

1985:Back to the Future, $210.6M

1986:Top Gun, $176.7M

1987:Three Men and a Baby, $167.8M

1988:Rain Man, $162.8M

1989:Batman, $251.2M

1990:Home Alone, $285.7M

1991:Terminator 2: Judgment Day, $204.8M

1992:Aladdin, $217.3M

1993:Jurassic Park, $357M

1994:The Lion King $295.6M

1995:Toy Story, $191.8M

1996:Independence Day, $306.1M

1997:Titanic, $600.8M

1998:Saving Private Ryan, $216.5M

1999:Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, $431M

2000:How the Grinch Stole Christmas, $260M

2001:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, $317.6M

2002:Spider-Man, $403.7M

2003:The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, $377M

2004:Shrek 2, $441.2M

2005: Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, $380.3M

2006:The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, $423.3M

2007:Spider-Man 3, $336.5M

2008:The Dark Knight, $533.3M

2009:Avatar, $749.8M

2010:Toy Story 3, $415M

2011:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II, $381M

2012:The Avengers, $623.3

2013:The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, $424.7M

2014:American Sniper, $350.1M

2015:The Force Awakens, $936M

2016:Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, $532.1M

2017:Star Wars: The Last Jedi, $620.2M

2018:Black Panther, $700M

2019:Avengers: Endgame, $858.4M

2020:Bad Boys for Life, $204.4M

2021:Spider-Man: No Way Home, $761M

Congratulations Jurassic Park. This is your week.

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic

Best Actor: Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump

Best Quote: “Hasta la vista, baby.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day

This weekend I’m hoping to see what may be the biggest blockbuster of 2022: The Batman!

*NOTE: At first I had Endgame highlighted as a record breaker when it should have been The Force Awakens. I made this mistake because I had it in my mind that Endgame beat the record of TFA. It did, but not domestically. Globally, however, it did.