"The Interview" has been making news and making money, but rest assured the controversial comedy that is the reason hackers attacked Sony and Kim Jun Un all but lost what's left of his mind won't ever make a list of the Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time. It might make a list of the most infamous, however.
The highest grossing movies of all time run the gambit from sci-fi to weepy waterlogged romance to boy wizards to superhero adventures. What thrills audiences one year may be unseated by next year's big box office hit. James Cameron's "Titanic" held the top spot for 13 long and lucrative years until another Cameron film, "Avatar," surpassed it in 2010. Interestingly, those two films are the first two films to make more than $2 billion in worldwide box office receipts.
James Cameron is not the only director to make this list with two films. Michael Bay also holds that distinction with the Transformers franchise.
However, box-office gross isn't the only way for a film to make money. Video, DVD, television broadcasts, and stage adaptations all increase the profits of a film. For example, "The Lion King" earned over $2 billion in box-office and home video sales but this pales in comparison to the $6 billion the stage adaptation took in around the world.
In the list below, the top grossing films are ranked by worldwide box office receipts only. Some of them are expected. Others are surprising. Still others have had millions singing, "Let it Go" for over a year now. Let's take a look at the Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies of all time.
#10. Transformers: Age of Extinction
Release date: June 27,2014
Opening Box Office: $100,038,390
Total Box Office: $1,087,404,499
Director: Michael Bay
Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Ehren Kruger, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammar, TJ Miller, Jack Reynor
#9. Skyfall
Release date: November 9, 2012
Opening Box Office: $88,364,714
Total Box Office: $1,108,561,013
Director: Sam Mendes
Actors: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris
#8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Release date: December 17, 2003
Re-release date: June 28, 2011
Opening Box Office: $72,629,713
Total Box Office: $1,119,929,521
Director: Peter Jackson
Actors: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett
#7. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Release date: June 29, 2011
Opening Box Office: $97,852,865
Total Box Office: $1,123,794,079
Director: Michael Bay
Actors: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich
#6. Iron Man 3
Release date: May 3, 2013
Opening Box Office: $174,144,585
Total Box Office: $1,215,439,994
Director: Shane Black
Actors: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau
#5. Frozen
Release date: November 22, 2013 (limited)
Opening Box Office: $243,390 in ONE theatre
Wide Release date: November 27, 2013
Wide Opening Box Office: $67,391, 326
Total Box Office: $1,274,219,009
Director: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Actors: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Alan Tudyk
#4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Release date: July 15, 2011
Opening Box Office: $169,189,427
Total Box Office: $1,341,511,219
Director: David Yates
Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson
#3. The Avengers
Release date: May 4, 2012
Opening Box Office: $207,438,708
Total Box Office: $1,518,594,910
Director: Joss Whedon
Actors: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Gwyneth Paltrow
#2. Titanic
Release date: December 19, 1997
Opening Box Office: $28,638,131
Total Box Office: $2,186,772,302
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton
#1. Avatar
Release date: December 18, 2009
Opening Box Office: $77,025,481
Total Box Office: $2,787,965,087
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi
