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The highest-grossing movies (adjusted for inflation)
All this talk about Avatar racing toward Titanic's record as the highest-grossing movie of all time made me wonder: If these movies (and many others) were released the same year, which would really be the biggest money maker? Well, the results are surprising. Thanks to Box Office Mojo, you can actually see how these movies stack up when you adjust them for inflation. For example, when I saw Star Wars back in 1977, the average price for a ticket was $2.23. Today, the average price is $7.35. So, here's the list: (^ indicates multiple releases) | Rank | Title (click to view) | Adjusted Gross | Unadjusted Gross | Year^ | | 1 | Gone with the Wind | $1,485,028,000 | $198,676,459 | 1939^ | | 2 | Star Wars | $1,309,179,000 | $460,998,007 | 1977^ | | 3 | The Sound of Music | $1,046,753,000 | $158,671,368 | 1965 | | 4 | E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial | $1,042,629,400 | $435,110,554 | 1982^ | | 5 | The Ten Commandments | $962,850,000 | $65,500,000 | 1956 | | 6 | Titanic | $943,342,300 | $600,788,188 | 1997 | | 7 | Jaws | $941,379,300 | $260,000,000 | 1975 | | 8 | Doctor Zhivago | $912,395,600 | $111,721,910 | 1965 | | 9 | The Exorcist | $812,679,700 | $232,671,011 | 1973^ | | 10 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | $801,150,000 | $184,925,486 | 1937^ | | 11 | 101 Dalmatians | $734,391,800 | $144,880,014 | 1961^ | | 12 | The Empire Strikes Back | $721,627,700 | $290,475,067 | 1980^ | | 13 | Ben-Hur | $720,300,000 | $74,000,000 | 1959 | | 14 | Return of the Jedi | $691,336,700 | $309,306,177 | 1983^ | | 15 | The Sting | $655,200,000 | $156,000,000 | 1973 | | 16 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | $647,842,600 | $242,374,454 | 1981^ | | 17 | Jurassic Park | $633,612,900 | $357,067,947 | 1993 | | 18 | The Graduate | $628,949,700 | $104,901,839 | 1967^ | | 19 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | $623,469,700 | $431,088,301 | 1999 | | 20 | Fantasia | $610,369,600 | $76,408,097 | 1941^ | So, as you can see, Avatar is nowhere to be found, but Titanic is. The way this is calculated is through estimated number of tickets sold. For Star Wars, the number of estimated tickets is 178,119,600. Here are the estimated tickets sold for Titanic and Avatar: | Rank | Title (click to view) | Studio | Est. Tickets | Unadjusted Gross | Year^ | | 6 | Titanic | Par. | 128,345,900 | $600,788,188 | 1997 | | 52 | Avatar | Fox | 60,917,000 | $441,024,441 | 2009 | It makes you realize that while Titanic did indeed sell a lot of tickets, Avatar is making most of its money from higher ticket prices -- both from inflation and the higher cost of the IMAX and 3-D format. If Avatar were released the same year as Star Wars, it would only have grossed $135,844,900 instead of $441,024,441. (As of 1/13/09.) Either way, James Cameron and George Lucas are both very wealthy. And they both make pretty good movies. Labels: Film, random
posted by AndyO @ 8:12 PM
Chicken little says "The storm is coming!"
This has been a helluva week so far (and it's only Wednesday). Here's what's happened: Saturday night: It snows in Seattle (rare, but it does happen). The kids go outside instead of going to bed. Sunday - The temperature drops in to the 20s. Snow doesn't melt. Drivers are confused. Monday - The phone rings at 6:30 a.m. In my bedroom. I don't move, hoping Brenda will get it. She does. School is two hours late. I take Drew to pre-school, which opens at 9:30. Brenda and Cameron wait for a school bus that never arrives. (Why did they send out that snow schedule?) Tuesday - Brenda has moved the phone out of the bedroom. It doesn't matter; when it rings at 7:30 a.m., she jumps up to get it. It's a friend calling to tell us that school is, yet again, two hours late. This time, it's my turn to wait around with the kids. We go to McDonald's for breakfast. I hear about a HUGE storm coming in after midnight. Meetings are cancelled at work. Wednesday - Even though it's not snowing, Seattle Schools are ALL CLOSED in preparation for THE STORM. Brenda and I stay home with the kids, taking turns working remotely. The storm never arrives. But we hear it's snowing everywhere else (Olympia, Tacoma, Port Townsend, etc). Recommendations: - Fire the meteorologists who came up with this forecast for Seattle.
- The Seattle School district should stop cancelling school based on any forecast. (My guess is there were millions of dollars of lost productivity today based on this one mistake.)
- Seattle needs to get tough about snow. It's just rain that's a little frozen.
Thursday - 1:02 a.m. I just looked out the window. Still no snow. 
Labels: adventures of a parent, random
posted by AndyO @ 1:06 AM
The world's biggest, largest, and longest
I'm on a few e-mail lists, and sometimes I receive some real gems. Here's the body from one such mail that shows pictures of some of the world's biggest, largest, and longest buildings, machines, vehicles, etc. If you haven't seen this before, it's pretty interesting. And you'll have some great facts to dish out at the next party or event you attend. WORLD'S LARGEST CHURCH 
Basilica of our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro
Inside sitting capacity.....18,000. Outside overflow capacity..100,000
WORLD'S BIGGEST INDOOR SWIMMING POOL
World Water Park ... Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...SIZE..5 Acres
WORLD'S BIGGEST OFFICE COMPLEX ... CHICAGO
Chicago Merchandise Mart... Illinois , USA WORLD'S BIGGEST SHOPPING MALL
South China Mall, Dongguan, China ...892,000 meter-square
Shops on 6 floors
WORLD'S BUSIEST AIRPORT..... NEW YORK
J.F.K International Airport, New York........USA
WORLD'S WIDEST BRIDGE... AUSTRALIA
Sydney harbor bridge, Australia ....(Updated on 5/22/09): It carries six lanes of road traffic on its main roadway, two lanes of road traffic (formerly two tram tracks) and a footpath on its eastern side, and two railway tracks and a bicycle path along its western side, being 305 mm (1 ft) larger than the east side.
WORLD'S LONGEST BRIDGE..... CHINA
Donghai Bridge, China ........32.5 kilometers WORLD'S BIGGEST PASSENGER SHIP
MS Freedom of the Seas...4300 passenger capacity inside
WORLD'S BIGGEST PLANE
Airbus A380.....555 Passengers
WORLD'S BIGGEST BUS
Neoplan Jumbo cruiser....2 in 1 bus..double deck bus...170 passenger capacity
WORLD'S HIGHEST STATUE...... BRAZIL
CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE...RIO.D.J... BRAZIL
WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING... DUBAI
Burj Dubai....900 meters high. To be finally completed 2008
WORLD'S BIGGEST STADIUM... . BRAZIL
MARACANA STADIUM.... RIO D.J.... BRAZIL .....CAPACITY.199,000 -- only at 1950 FIFA World Cup. The stadium's current capacity is listed as 95,000.
WORLD'S COSTLIEST STADIUM... ENGLAND
New WEMBLEY STADIUM, London ..90,000 capacity......cost...$1.57 billion
WORLD'S BIGGEST EXCAVATOR
Built by KRUPP of Germany .....45,500 tons..95 meters high..215 meters long
WORLD'S LARGEST MOSQUE...... PAKISTAN
 
Shah Feisal mosque... Islamabad .. Pakistan
Inside hall capacity ..35,000 outside overflow capacity.. 150,000
WORLD'S BIGGEST HOTEL... LAS VEGAS
MGM Grand Hotel... Las Vegas ..5,044 rooms
WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOTEL...DUBAI. U.A.E
Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai ..only 7 Star Hotel in the World
Cheapest room.$1000 per night....Royal suit.$28,000 per night Check out these pictures of Tiger Woods at the Burj Al Arab Hotel. WORLD'S BIGGEST CHURCH BUILDING... NIGERIA
Winners` Chapel...Canaanland .... Otta.... Nigeria
Inside Sitting Capacity..50,000 Outside Overflow Capacity..250,000
Here are some additional Wikipedia links I found: Largest buildings Tallest buildings and structures Labels: Fun, or interesting, random
posted by AndyO @ 10:52 PM
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