#DailyGFX: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is NOT the highest-grossing film ever

Quite a stupid headline, ain’t it?

I mean, didn’t the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ just trump ‘Avatar’ to become the world's highest-grossing film of all time?

What’s more, both the directors expressed heartfelt admiration for each other publicly. James Cameron shared an art picture that had Ironman surrounded by Pandoran woodsprite seeds; the Russo Brothers repaid the compliment by saying that his movies inspired him to make movies.

Congratulations, @MarvelStudios! pic.twitter.com/DWZDX0uDVi

— Avatar (@officialavatar) 22 July 2019

To @JimCameron- you're a monumental reason why we fell in love with film in the first place. Thank you for always inspiring us and opening the world’s eyes to what’s possible. We can’t wait to see where you take us next... pic.twitter.com/nrOqKVjGFa

— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) 22 July 2019

But there’s one crucial factor missing: inflation!

‘Avatar’ was released a decade before the ’Endgame’. Wouldn’t it be a fair comparison to adjust the US box office for a general increase in the ticket prices?

However, the film industry doesn’t really measure a film’s success based on movie ticket inflation. The reason: well, there are a lot of factors involved.

For one, we’re spoilt for choice. We can choose to spend our money on sporting events, concerts and even stream movies at home on OTT platforms, like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

And for that very reason, the 1939-released ‘Gone with the Wind’ sold more than 200 million tickets since its initial release and the additional seven re-releases. Conversely, Disney’s ‘Endgame’ has sold only around 94.8 million tickets until now.

Meanwhile, the number of theatres have increased as well. For example, the 1982-released drama/ fantasy ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ was released in about 1,350 theatres and ‘Avatar’ (2009) in 3,450 theatres. The ‘Endgame’, on the other hand, saw an all-time highest 4,662 theatre openings.

The next major factor is that more and more films are now being released in international markets. And that’s a nightmare for an analyst who will have to factor in the inflation rate in each country.

However, it’s an interesting exercise, and offers us the correct picture about the popularity of a film.

SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ is the highest-grossing movie in India at Rs 1429.83 crore. 

However, if we factor in global gross figures as well, the highest-grossing Indian film is the 2016-released ‘Dangal’, which earned a massive Rs 2,024–2,100 crore — credit the China Box Office.

Nonetheless, it’s the 1960 epic historical drama, ‘Mughal-e Azam’ that trumps ‘em all with an inflation adjusted gross earnings of Rs 2,000 crore. ‘Mother India’ (1957), and ‘Sholay’ (1975) are ranked second and third in the list with adjusted domestic figured of Rs 1,600 crore and Rs 1,500 crore respectively.