Top films thingie

[angelophile]

Just finished watching the Ultimate 100 Films on Channel 4, a 6 hour run down of the UK's most popular films. Such polls are ten a penny, there seems to be a different one each year but this one caught my fancy because it wasn't voted for by anyone. Neitherwas it on gross at the box office or financial reasons like that. No, this chart was compiled form the number of people that actually went to see the films.

This let to a bit of variety in the run down. For once Star Wars wasn't number one. There were some surprising entries in the upper end of the chart. It seems that blockbusters these days may take more money but that doesn't mean they're getting the most people to see the damn things.

Statistically speaking almost two thirds of the population of Britain at the time must have gone to see the top movie at theatres. Scary.

Anyway, the top 20 was:



20 The Bells Of St.Mary's (1946) - Estimated Admissions 15.2m
19 The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King (2003) - Estimated Admissions 15.22m
18 Thunderball (1966) - Estimated Admissions 15.6m
17 The Courtneys Of Curzon Street (1947) - Estimated Admissions 15.9m
16 Lord Of The Rings The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) - Estimated Admissions 15.98m
15 Jurassic Park (1993) - Estimated Admissions 16.17m
14 Jaws (1976) - Estimated Admissions 16.2m
13 South Pacific (1958) - Estimated Admissions 16.5m
12 Grease (1978) - Estimated Admissions 17.2m
11 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001) - Estimated Admissions 17.56m
10 The Seventh Veil (1945) - Estimated Admissions 17.9m
9 The Wicked Lady (1946) - Estimated Admissions 18.4m
8 Titanic (1998) - Estimated Admissions 18.91m
7 The Jungle Book (1968) - Estimated Admissions 19.8m
6 The Best Years Of Our Lives (1947) - Estimated Admissions 20.4m
5 Spring In Park Lane (1948) - Estimated Admissions 20.5m
4 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1978) - Estimated Admissions 20.76m
3 Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1938) - Estimated Admissions 28m
2 The Sound Of Music (1965) - Estimated Admissions 30m
1 Gone with The Wind (1940) - Estimated Admissions 35m

It's not even a close run thing between Star Wars and the other top entries either. Helluva leap.

Wonder if there's a similar chart for the US? Be interesting to see.

Interesting too to see not every film there came out in the last 2 years, as is the norm with this sort of thing.

The 50s must have been a bad time for movie making.