Using ticket sales alone as a means of comparison is not accurate. People began paying to go to the movies in the 1920s, when the population of the United States was under 120 million. If you looked at ticket sales as a percentage of population, you might have a more correct comparison. The comparison chart that I offered looks at two factors. The first is, what was the cost of an average movie ticket in the year the film premiered. Secondly how has inflation changed the cost of the ticket so that we can compare it to tickets purchased in other years.

For instance, in 1939, the year that “Gone With The Wind” & “The Wizard Of Oz” premiered, the average price of a movie ticket was $.25. “Gone With The Wind” sold its tickets for one dollar each during its first weeks of premier.

In today’s money, that quarter is worth $4.03 and the dollar would have the equivalent buying power of over $16.

What I thought was interesting on the chart was that the first movie made after the year 2000 to appear on the chart comes in at number 14!!