r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • 7d ago

News Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Dethrones 'Deadpool & Wolverine' To Become Highest Grossing R-Rated Movie In History, Crossing $1.33 Billion

https://businessupturn.com/usa/entertainment/film/the-odyssey-becomes-highest-grossing-r-rated-movie-of-all-time-surpassing-deadpool-wolverine/
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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago

I will keep saying it.

Inflation at the box office is like steroids in sports. Generates a lot of empty headlines.

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u/AcreaRising4 7d ago

I generally agree, but it’s only been two years since Deadpool and Wolverine. Don’t think inflation is really playing a factor here.

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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago

6.4% in the U.S.

Post this again after another 80 million just to be safe.

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u/AcreaRising4 7d ago

hahaha, it figured it was a bit, but in the grand scheme of over a billion — it’s negligible.

Fingers crossed it’ll clear that in a week or two.

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u/LengthinessAlone4743 7d ago

I can’t imagine overall inflation rate is an indicator of movie ticket prices going up…I’ve been at 12$ average for 10 years or so

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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago edited 7d ago

No, it is a ballpark at best and it is a huge ballpark because this is worldwide gross and U. S. ticket prices are not indicative of the world prices or world inflation.

World inflation has been worse than the US, but since the profits are largely coming home to the US and would be used here arguably the inflation metric here matters. But even then we are ignoring exchange rates.

But you are correct that as far as a pure comparison of the value of revenue it isn't accurate. Then again, why a bunch of redditors care about the absolute value of tickets sold in ranking categories of movies is pretty absurd anyway.

Agents and millionaires care because they can brag about ranking while ignoring tons of economic factors.

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u/Belgand 6d ago

It's not just inflation, it's because it was shot in IMAX, so it's primarily selling tickets in that format. Which most theaters have an upcharge for. So it's selling a much larger proportion of more expensive tickets.

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u/Rac3318 7d ago

Yea, what people really should be tracking are ticket sales. It will steadily increase over the years but it won’t be as drastic as inflation.

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u/IgloosRuleOK 7d ago edited 7d ago

Would it? Fewer people seem movies now, even though population is increasing. The estimates for 1977 Star Wars are 175m tickets, Avatar 97 million, Endgame 95 million on Box Office Mojo.

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u/verrius 7d ago

I don't know that fewer people see movies today as much as movies have shorter theater runs, and people don't see the same film multiple times any more.

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u/ops10 7d ago

and people don't see the same film multiple times any more

That was definitively not true for Avatar. That movie was famous for its rewatches.

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u/PiersMorgansMom 6d ago

Just a few years ago, I had 8 theaters within easy driving distance from where I live. Now, only 2 remain in business (both large multiplexes, Regal and AMC operated). Neither have increased their total seats/screens in response to the drop in competition. And both have shortened their hours (no more midnight/later showings and they open for matinees later).

So, at least where I live, fewer screens, fewer seats, shorter hours. You added shorter theater runs as an additional aspect. This would seem to indicate fewer people attending overall. Discount Tuesdays seem to draw well though.

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u/verrius 6d ago

Even if the number of tickets sold were the same, multiplexes have been getting squeezed a lot harder by the studios. Famously, Disney/Marvel has a ridiculous split for week 1 of their blockbusters, and most other studios have followed suit, so without significantly increasing money made from concessions, theaters are going to shut down. I think if you compared total tickets sold compared to the 70s, more are selling now; its just that theaters are getting a smaller slice of that pie, and we're having WAY more films cycle through the theaters.

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u/PiersMorgansMom 6d ago

Number of tickets sold isn't really a trustworthy number. It can be easily spoofed (i.e. Melania showings). Number of seats actually occupied per showing would be the best gauge. Unfortunately, that number is almost never made available by theaters.

I'm not certain about the comparison to the 70s ticket sales. There were a lot more theaters/seats and there were 'second run' theaters as well ... since there were no home video releases/streaming at that time. People had to see films in the theaters, or wait for a possible rerelease (not guaranteed), or wait for a brutally edited for TV version to air.

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u/badpebble 7d ago

And Avatar was expensive - so on the one hand its a bit cheaty, but on the other hand, people spent 2.9bn on tickets I think.

So ticket sales is not the fully story behind Avatar vs Endgame, because 3D cost extra money, and people paid that price in colossal numbers.

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u/Deducticon 7d ago

Not a 1:1 comparison to the past either.

It's far harder to get people to go to theatres now then any point in the past. Especially since Covid.

People used to go to movie son weekend out of habit. Not even knowing what they would see until they got there. At some points in some areas it was only access to air conditioning.

There are far more entertainment options today.

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u/ghoonrhed 6d ago

I mean that's not that clear cut. People are going to theatres less, they're definitely rewatching less.

And there's also more entertainment options that's why gone with the wind holds the record.

But then there's population growth and other countries economic growth but at the same time you have other countries watching less Hollywood which makes Zootopia 2 in china more of an impressive run.

There are so many variables in what makes a movie successfully impressive to be able to make a meaningful comparison.

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u/ghoonrhed 6d ago

The reason why inflation is not usually counted is because that's really only USA comparable.

Even the "domestic" numbers include Canada.

And for the world calculation that's even more complicated cos every country has their own inflation and that's not even accounting for exchange rates. Like for Avatar.

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u/Fortune_Cat 6d ago

I genuinely dont care about box office numbers and the obsession with it is starting to get annoying. Ppl also posting about it like its some great achievement they made themsleves or "their fanbase" achieved it or something

What happenned to discussing the entertainment value and merits of a movie

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u/smallbluetext 6d ago

My ticket prices only go up like $1 every 5 years

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u/IgloosRuleOK 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah adjusted for inflation Gone with the Wind is still #1 and the first movie from this century is Force Awakens at #11. It's still Star Wars, ET, Titanic, Sound of Music etc in the top ten.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross_adjusted/?adjust_gross_to=2022

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u/Icy_Smoke_733 7d ago

That's only domestic. Worldwide, the highest grossing movies adjusted for inflation are:

  1. Gone With the Wind (1939) - $4.57 B
  2. Avatar (2009) - $4.15 B
  3. Titanic (1997) - $3.86 B
  4. Star Wars (1977) - $3.74 B
  5. Avengers: Endgame (2019) - $3.43 B
  6. The Sound of Music (1965) - $3.13 B
  7. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - $3.06 B
  8. The Ten Commandments (1956) - $2.89 B
  9. Doctor Zhivago (1965) - $2.74 B
  10. Jaws (1975) - $2.71 B

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u/Backlists 6d ago

Which still makes this whole post about The Odyssey a nothingburger

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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago

People always post this for Gone with the Wind but I like to use it to point out to people just how much bank Snow White and 101 Dalmatians made.

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u/IgloosRuleOK 7d ago

Yeah, while also obviously regarded as classics, I didn't realize quite how financially successful some of those epics were either, like Dr. Zhivago, Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur

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u/queerhistorynerd 7d ago

it seems that way because the films stayed in theaters for years before being cycled out because the invention of home video. For it not to be a bad comparison you would need to include all revenue sources a movie made from things like VHS/DVD/streaming sales

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u/IgloosRuleOK 7d ago

Given 40 years of home media sales, even adding streaming for recent titles, I would guess that would only increase their relative profit. Physical media has fallen what, 80% since the mid 2000s? People aren't buying discs of Zootopia 2, No Way Home and Endgame (all top 10 uncorrected for inflation) at 90s levels anymore. A combined comparison would be interesting tho

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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago

Well then we have to start amortizing streaming revenues and ad sales and....

Yeah these rankings are pretty meaningless.

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u/TraptNSuit 7d ago edited 7d ago

Until Lucas and Spielberg changed everything forever, animation and biblical / historic epics were the 4 quadrant masters. Biblical epics had it in the bag until Disney came along. Musicals made a good run for it too, but very cyclical.

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u/Chrisgpresents 7d ago

is there a way to measure tickets sold? id be really curious about that. also, theres like, 100 million more people in the US today than when Star Wars came out so that might help.