Thanksgiving 2024 has seen some major box office earners — namelyWicked, Gladiator II, andMoana 2— but none are close to taking away James Cameron’sTitanic’s significant box office status. The landmark 1998 movie won three Oscars — Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography — but those would not be the only achievements for the historical disaster epic. Along with being Cameron’s first Best Picture and Best Director nominations and wins at the Academy Awards,Titanicwould make history at the box office.
Titanic’slifetime gross is currently $674,292,608 at the domestic box office and $2,264,750,694(viaBox Office Mojo), and the third-highest-grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation.Titanicalso held the top box office spot for 12 years, up until it was knocked down by Cameron’s other multi-Oscar-nominated film,Avatar. While it is no longer number one,Titanicremains one of the top domestic box office earners, and out of the 20 top domestic box office films, it stands out because of its earlier release date.
Titanic Is The Only Movie In The Top 20 Domestic Box Office That Was Released Before 2000
Titanic Is The Ninth-Largest Domestic Box Office Film
Out of the top 20 domestic box office films of all time, only one of them is from before the 2000s, and that movie isTitanic, which is also thefirst movie to make $1 billion at the box office. Currently, the 1997 film sits at the ninth spot in this ranking, betweenJurassic WorldandAvengers: Infinity War. All the other films on the list are from the 21st century, with the number one movie unsurprisingly beingStar Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
$936,662,225
$858,373,000
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$785,221,649
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$700,426,566
$684,075,767
$678,815,482
$674,292,608
$653,406,625
$652,980,194
$636,745,858
$636,238,421
$632,357,910
$620,181,382
$608,581,744
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$534,987,076
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(2016)
$533,539,991
Looking beyond the top 20, it’s evident that the next film on this list released before the year 2000 would beStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace(1999), which sits at number 23. After that is 1982’sE.T. the Extra-Terrestreialat 31, 1994’sThe Lion Kingat 35, and 1993’sJurassic Parkat 38. The rest of the top 50 are all from the 21st century. This makesTitanic’sninth position all the more impressive, especially when a majority of the top 20 are not just from the 21st century, but are also predominately from 2010 onward.
Titanic Being An Outlier Shows How Much The Domestic Box Office Has Changed This Century
Every Movie In The Top 20 Is A Sequel Or Connected To An Established IP, Unless It’s Titanic Or The First Avatar
The box office this century is drastically different from the box office of the past. For instance, nearly every movie among the top 20 domestic box office earners list is a sequel, a remake, or connected to an established IP. The only two that are not areAvatar —which would eventually become a franchise — andTitanic, which is based on real events of the 20th century, withseveralTitaniccharacters being based on real people.
It is much harder nowadays for movies with an entirely original premise to become a movie event.
Going further down the list, it’s notable thatmost of the highest-grossing films from before the 21st century were original ideas, while a majority of the films of the 21st century are not. While the higher earnings are also obviously attributable to simple inflation, the high-grossing movie culture has simply changed to revolve more around properties the audience is always familiar with. It is much harder nowadays for movies with an entirely original premise to become a movie event.
Will Titanic Ever Be Knocked Out Of The Domestic Box Office’s Top 20 All-Time?
There’s A $20 million Difference Between Titanic’s Domestic Gross Spot & Jurassic World
It will be very difficult for a film to surpassTitanicand steal its ninth position — there is a $20 million difference between it and the next title on the list,Jurassic World. Additionally,Inside Out 2came in just shy of beatingJurassic Worldfor its spot. It’s already a challenge to break into the top 10 list; breaking in and then surpassingTitanicwould be an even larger feat. Most importantly,Titanicis comfortably in the top 10 on this list,as it would take many wildly successful movies for it to go from ninth place to the 21st slot.
Box Office: Glicked Weekend Sees Wicked Defying Gladiator 2 With Huge $100M+ Projections [Full Chart Update]
During the pre-Thanksgiving weekend at the domestic box office, the “Glicked” competition sees Wicked taking a massive lead over Gladiator II.
While major blockbusters have pushed it lower and lower on the list over the past 20-plus years, some of the biggest films recently, likeDeadpool & Wolverine,which broke records and toppled major box office milestones,still did not come close to tying withTitanic. Additionally, as all the films that have surpassedTitanichave massive production budgets,it’s a high investment to make a film of such scale in the hopes that it could come close.
Meanwhile, there’s agrowing movie problem Hollywood needs to fix, where some of the biggest budget films are destined to become flops because it’s almost impossible to make back the money put into these productions and earn a profit afterward. James Cameron’s first Oscar-winning film has been one of the top domestic box office earners for nearly 30 years, while many of its competitors have only enjoyed this success for a handful of years. Chances are,Titanicwill continue to enjoy this accolade for years to come.
Titanic
Cast
Titanic is the 1997 blockbuster romantic/disaster epic based on the events surrounding the sinking of the legendary “unsinkable” vessel. Flashing back to the past and forward to the present, the film primarily follows the stories of the well-to-do and somewhat timid Rose and the poor but lively Jack, star-crossed lovers who meet aboard the doomed ship. In addition, the film tells true and fictionalized accounts of the passengers of the RMS Titanic, with an older Rose recounting her tale to the crew of a research ship.
