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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

With Inflation, Older Movies Would Be Tops

Associated Press

Talk up “Titanic” all you want - Scarlett and Rhett still rule when it comes to box office dollars.

The nation’s top film for the past three months has earned $427 million in North America, just $34 million short of the record set by “Star Wars.”

But counting admissions and adjusting for inflation, “Gone With the Wind” would have sold $1.29 billion in tickets at current prices, according to calculations made by Variety, a Hollywood trade newspaper.

That would put “Titanic” in 23rd place behind the 1939 Academy Award-winning epic tale of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler.

Other inflation-adjusted leaders are 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” ($1.03 billion in 1998 dollars), 1977’s “Star Wars” ($812 million), 1982’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” ($725.4 million) and 1961’s “101 Dalmatians” ($656.6 million).

Still, “Titanic” has become the first film to pass $1 billion in global box office receipts, 20th Century Fox said.