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Originally Posted by STeeLy
I agree with whoever on here said that movie success should not be how much money is made on but rather on ticket sales, I highly doubt Avatar is at the top for ticket sales.
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No. Ticket sales are a measure of general consumption and popularity but not neccessarily an monetary measure of a film's success which is really what is important to the studio.
How much money (net profit) a movie makes is much much more important.
That people are willing to pay basically double the regular cost to see a film like Avatar says something in and of itself. A lot those older films from the 40s-70s that are highly ranked on ticket sales numbers also cost from $0.20 to $2 most likely - even accounting for inflation, those were probably cheaper prices in terms of average income compared to how expensive movie tickets are getting these days. Also there was less competition in other forms of entertainment. The wide variation in theatre runs and release of many films (including re-releases) make judging by ticket sales alone unreliable.
The actual success of a movie should be gauged by the difference between production/marketing budget vs. revenue and then adjusted for inflation. Gone With the Wind certainly is a runaway winner but it benefits from less competition, being in theatres for years and years (instead of months like current films), and re-releases. For it's premiere, people paid prices jacked up 4-5 times (up to a dollar!) to see that film. Incredible!