Yup.

To hit 600 million, you have to rely on multiple repeat viewings (notice that I did not just say repeat but multiple repeats). 9/11 movie, as good as it can get will not get a lot of people watching it over and over again. It's a sad subject people might not want to be subjected to reliving again and again and again.

Well, I think that the movie that will top Titanic won't have such exceptional legs, but just get a great release date and open with $130+ million. Decent legs will then help it to top $600 million.

I mean, Shrek 2 was very successful, but ultimately, in its third week it was hurt by the arrival of Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban. Without that, I believe it'd have made close to $480 million.

Also, I believe, a movie like The Passion of the Christ...IF it was actually a good movie and IF it wasn't so gruesome and R-rated, it'd have made its way to $400+ million.

While all of these are good examples Doc, making it to 400 mill still leaves you 200 mill shy. And POTC and Shrek have been two of the biggest BO phenoms in recent memory. A better example is the LOTR series. ROTK, with all of it's glory and Oscar wins and fanboys and such still could come anywhere near the great ship. And to get even further into it, none of these films could come within 800 mill of Titanic on a WW basis. Titanic is a film that did something that no other film has perhaps ever done, and that is it appealed to EVERYONE. Teens, kids, ADULTS and the elderly. There was something for everyone and that is something that Spidey, Passion, LOTR and SW cannot boast. Titanic is a beast and a once in a lifetime kind of phenom, and it will be quite a while before anything comes close to it.

It definitely would have to be a movie that opens during the Christmas holidays, so that it has the January wasteland to take advantage of with it's legs.

On the worldwide basis none will come close anytime soon. $1.8+ billion is just insane.

The Passion appealed to a huge mass and could have appealed to even more if it wasn't for the factors I have mentioned. Shrek 2, if it wasn't for Harry Potter, would have stopped $120-130 million shy off Titanic. Now imagine a movie perorming like Shrek 2 in about 9-10 years. With inflation, it'll easily pass Titanic.

me thinks that breaking the international gross of a movie might happen before domestic. Look at it. The percentage gap in recent memory is much less over there and far more movies are grossing huge numbers in the international market as of late. The true potential of the international market has only been recently tapped and theres a long way to go before topping it out.

I don't know, I mean domestically, Shrek 2 was at least "only" $160 million off, but worldwide, the closest movie is about $700 million off....

no no .. just international .. not worldwide.

Shrek 2 was one movie. The potter series and LOTR did amazing internationally.

plus look at TDAT and troy n all. THe market was well exploited last year and i think theres still a lot of undiscovered terriroty there. Just look at Russia and a few more places over the last year and how the records are tumbling there all the time.

Russia is one of the few developing markets, but not all of them skyrocket like Russia.

ROTK came the closest, but even that fell $500 million short (!) I doubt that within the next 20 years any movie will manage that $500 milion barrier...

Yup

Thats the thing. Recently, we've seen movie grosses go significantly up in the international market. ROTK was short yes but in general, the market picked up.

The thing is that the unexplored markes are still small. Russia won't bring in more than $25-30 million anytime soon (even if it manages that). The big markets like Japan, Germany, UK and France don't really gain that much anymore.

you know nothing of the German market.

True, I've never been to Germany in my entire life.

I told you so.

If I knew what kind of movie it would take to beat Titanic, and who should star, and when it should be released...

I certainly wouldn't tell you all on this movie board. I'd go to Hollywood and make the studios pay me for it. :-$

Hollywood will be a long, long time trying to duplicate that particular phenomena again. But if I was looking for a formula, I would notice that the two largest of all the super movies ever made, Gone With the Wind and Titanic, are near clones of one another:

-Both are set around a highly sensationalized historical tragedy (And both were made 70 or 80 years after the events they depict when few people are alive who actually remember what really happened. Or object to the fictionalization/sensationalizing of the tragedy.)

-Both of these movies are highly melodramatic, with clear good guys and mustache twirling villains. And yet the stock characters and situations didn't stop either of them from being critically acclaimed and showered with awards. That is not an easy trick to pull off.

-Like all melodramas there is a Plucky Heroine (But you better strike gold and cast just the right person)

-And a Dashing Hero (Ditto above.)

-There is lots of violence (Nearing, but not crossing, the Kid friendly line.)

-A HUGE Romance

-A Big Budget and state of the art special effects for their time

-Both also had extraneous factors such as GWTW's highly publicized search for Scarlett, and Titanic's seemingly bad publicity about its cost over-runs.

(Note, Pearl Harbor tried to use this formula, but they forgot that the movie has to be really, really good to pull it off.)

Imagine a 9/11 movie that has a plucky heroine (Rose/Scarlett) trying to escape Atlanta, oops, I mean the buring towers, rescue her boyfriend, maybe a treasure or two, while being chased by a mustache twirling villain. Obviously such a movie would not go over well right now because many would find it offensive. Just wait 70 years or so.

So, what I'm saying is, wait a generation or two.

I agree with Maverikk on this one... Titanic can be seen as the biggest film ever made (in my opinion also beating Gone With the Wind, because the time was different back in the 30-50s - no VHS or DVDs, just one movie playing at a cinema for some years). And thats exactly how the impact of 3D-movies will be: the people won't see a "normal" film again, they will prefer the 3D-technology and therefore VHS and DVDs will get unimportant until the day you can watch a film with 3D at home...

Funny thing: it could be James Cameron who will be the first to beat his own movie "Titanic"... :wink:

Excellent post cujoy. I agree with everything you just said here. It'll probably happen in the summer of 2058...lol

American Idol the movie

But that wont stop me from puking my guts out if I see a commerical for that

Still I think that Leo probably added half to a 1/3 of the gross to Titantic.

Like most of you have said, it'll be a totally unexpected movie with lots of appeal to almost everyone. You never know, could even be a movie coming out this year but i think it's not gonna happen anytime soon. In any case, inflation will take care of it sooner or later...

As for the 3d thingy, it'll certainly help drawing more people to the theaters again but this gimmick alone won't be enough to propel a movie to such heights IMHO.

Have you seen any of the recent 3D films? It's not a gimmick.

Sorry but this is bollocks. If so why didn't Romeo and Juliet become huge, or Man with Iron Mask, or The Beach etc.? Half the movies have cute boys in it...

Ok, i take back the gimmick but i stick to what i said about it not being enough.

Alone, not enough. But coupled with the right project, :razz: