The first film to earn $1 billion at the box office was James Cameron's "Titanic," released in 1997. It achieved this milestone due to its massive popularity and critical acclaim, becoming a cultural phenomenon. "Titanic" held the record for the highest-grossing film until it was surpassed by Cameron's own "Avatar" in 2009.
The first film to make a million dollars at the box office was "The Birth of a Nation," directed by D.W. Griffith and released in 1915. This silent film, which was controversial for its portrayal of race and its depiction of the Ku Klux Klan, had a significant impact on the film industry and popular culture. Its financial success marked a turning point, demonstrating the potential for films to generate substantial revenue.
"One Million Years B.C.," a 1966 film directed by Don Chaffey, grossed approximately $2 million at the box office. Despite its modest earnings, the film gained notoriety for its special effects and the iconic performance of Raquel Welch, which contributed to its cult status over the years. However, it was not a major financial success by Hollywood standards.
Film negatives began to be used in the mid-19th century, with the introduction of photographic processes. The first successful permanent photograph, created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827, utilized a bitumen-coated plate rather than film. However, the development of flexible film negatives came with George Eastman's introduction of roll film in the late 1880s, which revolutionized photography by making it more accessible to the general public. This innovation paved the way for the widespread use of film negatives in photography.
To disguise the fact the year that the film was actually released.
On March 1st in 1998, Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 Billion worldwide.
As of 2010, Toy Story 3 remains the first and only animated film to ever gross over $1 billion.
James Cameron's "Avatar". Released in 2009, Avatar became to earn more than 2 billion dollars worldwide in 2010. It earned $2.742 billion worldwide.
On March 1st in 1998, Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 Billion worldwide.
$1.02 billion ~ Wikipedia
The Lord of the Rings trilogy made a revenue of three billion dollars in DVD sales alone. The trilogy took in another whopping $2.96 billion at the box office. That equals a combined revenue of almost $6 billion dollars.
Golden How to Make a Billion Dollars the Easy Way - 2007 was released on: USA: 20 January 2007 (Gem City Film Festival)
As of my last update, the total gross sales for five popular Disney movies are approximately: "The Lion King" (2019) at $1.66 billion, "Frozen II" at $1.45 billion, "Avengers: Endgame" at $2.798 billion (though primarily a Marvel film, it is under the Disney umbrella), "Frozen" at $1.29 billion, and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at $2.068 billion. When combined, these films gross over $10 billion globally. Note that these figures can change as new releases and re-releases occur.
The Avengers had the biggest opening weekend ever. They brought in $200.3 million dollars. This surpasses the previous record held by Harry Potter's final film which held the record at $169.2 million dollars. Additionally, The Avengers added $151.5 million dollars from overseas showings. This brings the weekend total to $441.5 million dollars.
The franchise is 6.1 billion dollars and it is still counting. When the franchise comes to a close, the film series is too be around 7+ billion dollars.
The Harry Potter brand is worth over 15 billion dollars.The film series grossed about 8 billion dollars.With over 450 million copies of the various titles sold it is difficult to estimate the gross made by the books. It is the highest selling series of books on a single theme.
A film's gross is the dollar amount earned in total from ticket sales.