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Thursday May 31, 2012
All-Time Box Office for Musicals
This morning's post about “Les Miserables” got me thinking about the history of musicals at the box office. The following is a chart, in reverse chronlogical order, of all the major (and not so major) musicals released in the states since 1974:
| Movie | Lifetime Gross | Theaters | Release |
| The Muppets | $88,631,237 | 3,440 | 11/23/11 |
| Burlesque | $39,440,655 | 3,037 | 11/24/10 |
| Nine | $19,676,965 | 1,412 | 12/18/09 |
| High School Musical 3: Senior Year | $90,559,416 | 3,626 | 10/24/08 |
| Mamma Mia! | $144,130,063 | 3,194 | 7/18/08 |
| Sweeney Todd | $52,898,073 | 1,507 | 12/21/07 |
| Enchanted | $127,807,262 | 3,730 | 11/21/07 |
| Across the Universe | $24,343,673 | 964 | 9/14/07 |
| Hairspray (2007) | $118,871,849 | 3,121 | 7/20/07 |
| Dreamgirls | $103,365,956 | 2,797 | 12/15/06 |
| Idlewild | $12,571,185 | 975 | 8/25/06 |
| The Producers | $19,398,532 | 978 | 12/16/05 |
| Rent | $29,077,547 | 2,437 | 11/23/05 |
| The Phantom of the Opera | $51,268,815 | 1,515 | 12/22/04 |
| Beyond the Sea | $6,318,709 | 383 | 12/17/04 |
| De-Lovely | $13,456,633 | 410 | 7/2/04 |
| Chicago | $170,687,518 | 2,701 | 12/27/02 |
| Hedwig and the Angry Inch | $3,067,312 | 101 | 7/20/01 |
| Moulin Rouge! | $57,386,607 | 2,283 | 5/18/01 |
| Dancer in the Dark | $4,184,036 | 126 | 9/22/00 |
| Blues Brothers 2000 | $14,051,384 | 2,516 | 2/6/98 |
| Evita | $50,047,179 | 1,045 | 12/25/96 |
| Everyone Says I Love You | $9,759,200 | 276 | 12/6/96 |
| Sarafina! | $7,306,242 | 700 | 9/18/92 |
| Newsies | $2,819,485 | 1,259 | 4/10/92 |
| Cry-Baby | $8,266,343 | 1,236 | 4/6/90 |
| Earth Girls Are Easy | $3,916,303 | 317 | 5/12/89 |
| School Daze | $14,545,844 | 224 | 2/12/88 |
| Little Shop of Horrors | $38,748,395 | 1,183 | 12/19/86 |
| A Chorus Line | $14,202,899 | 680 | 12/13/85 |
| Yentl | $40,218,899 | 747 | 11/18/83 |
| The Pirate Movie | $7,983,086 | 757 | 8/6/82 |
| The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas | $69,701,637 | 1,435 | 7/23/82 |
| Grease 2 | $15,171,476 | 1,250 | 6/11/82 |
| Annie | $57,059,003 | 1,102 | 5/21/82 |
| Victor/Victoria | $28,215,453 | 615 | 3/19/82 |
| Pennies From Heaven | $9,171,289 | - | 12/11/81 |
| Zoot Suit | $3,256,082 | - | 10/2/81 |
| Popeye | $49,823,037 | 901 | 12/12/80 |
| Xanadu | $22,762,571 | - | 8/8/80 |
| The Blues Brothers | $57,229,890 | - | 6/20/80 |
| All That Jazz | $37,823,676 | - | 12/20/79 |
| Hair | $15,284,643 | - | 3/14/79 |
| The Wiz | $21,049,053 | - | 10/1/78 |
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | $20,378,470 | - | 7/21/78 |
| Grease | $188,755,690 | 862 | 6/16/78 |
| New York, New York | $16,400,000 | - | 6/22/77 |
| Bugsy Malone | $2,783,840 | - | 9/15/76 |
| That's Entertainment! II | $4,979,380 | - | 5/16/76 |
| The Rocky Horror Picture Show | $112,892,319 | - | 9/26/75 |
| Tommy | $34,251,525 | - | 3/14/75 |
| Funny Lady | $39,000,000 | - | 3/9/75 |
| At Long Last Love | $1,500,000 | - | 3/6/75 |
| That's Entertainment! | $26,890,200 | - | 5/18/74 |
You'll notice that no musical in the last 40 years has grossed as much as “Grease” did ... in 1978. Pretty astonishing. Adjusted for inflation, “Grease” is actually the 26th highest-grossing domestic film of all time. But it's not close to the highest-grossing musical. You need a little Julie Andrews for that.
Here are the top eight musicals, adjusted for inflation:
| Rank | Movie | Adj. Gross | Year |
| 1 | The Sound of Music | $1,127,929,800 | 1965 |
| 2 | Mary Poppins | $619,200,000 | 1964 |
| 3 | Grease | $609,596,100 | 1978 |
| 4 | The Bells of St. Mary's | $496,941,200 | 1945 |
| 5 | My Fair Lady | $475,200,000 | 1964 |
| 6 | West Side Story | $443,284,700 | 1961 |
| 7 | The Rocky Horror Picture Show | $436,149,800 | 1975 |
| 8 | A Star Is Born | $297,464,800 | 1976 |
The hills were alive.
Travolta in “Grease” (1978), which was the No. 1 box-office hit of 1978. “Superman” was No. 2. No musical has done as well, even unadjusted, since.