The biggest film in American history isn’t Avatar or Avengers: Endgame.

Instead, the domestic box office champ for over eighty years running is the 1939 Civil War saga Gone with the Wind.

Helped a by a series of theatrical re-releases when television sets were uncommon in American households, the historical epic raked in over $1.85 billion in modern-day numbers. By comparison, Avatar’s inflation-adjusted total tops out around $890 million, landing James Cameron’s space opera at number 15 on the all-time North American list. Trailing right behind at number 16 is Avengers: Endgame with over $871 million.

Titanic, another James Cameron blockbuster, is the most recent movie to crack the top ten, but even the ’90s juggernaut couldn’t reach the podium, placing fifth overall with $1.24 billion in ticket sales.

1	Gone with the Wind (1939)	$1.85 billion
2	Star Wars (1977)	$1.62 billion
3	The Sound of Music (1965)	$1.30 billion
4	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)	$1.29 billion
5	Titanic (1997)	$1.24 billion
6	The Ten Commandments (1956)	$1.19 billion
7	Jaws (1975)	$1.17 billion
8	Doctor Zhivago (1965)	$1.13 billion
9	The Exorcist (1973)	$1.01 billion
10	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)	$997 million

References

“Top Lifetime Adjusted Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. Accessed March 15, 2022. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross_adjusted/?adjust_gross_to=2019.