| A movie that has achieved great popularity is called a | | | | exceeds the expectations. For example, Fried Green |
| 'blockbuster'. This term originates from the theater | | | | Tomatoes was worth $13,000,000 to make, but then it |
| industry, because when a very successful play is | | | | earned about $80,000,000 at the box office. The same |
| released, all other competing theaters on the block are | | | | goes out for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', |
| busted and taken out of business. Ever since 1995, the | | | | 'Fahrenheit 9/11', 'The Blair Witch Project'. |
| movie industry categorizes a given production as a | | | | There is a list with the top blockbuster movies, |
| blockbuster if it makes more than $100,000,000 in ticket | | | | arranged by the money earned from ticket sales, not |
| sales. Jaws was the first movie that went beyond the | | | | including the earnings from video rentals, DVD sales, or |
| $100,000,000 mark. From that moment after, movie | | | | TV broadcasts. All amounts are in USD and the |
| producers and directors decided to start creating | | | | blockbuster list doesn't take inflation into account. |
| pictures that will have a more mass appeal and will be | | | | Because of the inflation factor, ticket prices have |
| watched by the widest audience possible. They | | | | increased and this favors the most recent films. That's |
| started to release high budget productions and rely | | | | why this list should serve only as a guide. The top five |
| extensively on advertisements. The beginning of the | | | | blockbuster movies currently are: Titanic, The Lord of |
| blockbuster era happened when Steven Spielberg and | | | | the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the |
| George Lucas released the first episode of Start | | | | Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Harry Potter and the |
| Wars in 1977. Of course, there is a lot of risk | | | | Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, The Lord of the Rings: |
| associated with blockbusters, because one can never | | | | The Two Towers. |
| be sure that the given movie will be successful and | | | | Titanic still holds the number one blockbuster spot of all |
| accepted by the audience. There are a lot of movies | | | | time, with total earnings of $1,845,034,188. Titanic was a |
| that went for blockbuster status, but turned out to be | | | | production of 20th Century Fox / Paramount and was |
| a complete flop. | | | | released back in 1997. Titanic also shares the record |
| Sometimes even lower budget movies are labeled as | | | | for most Oscar awards with Ben-Hur (1959) and The |
| blockbusters. This happens when a low budget movie | | | | Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). |