DB7

Some interesting entries and a more varied chart than I expected. Glad to see I'm Alright Jack and my second favourite PnP'er 49th Parallel chart in the first part. (the first time Olivier will be compared to Allo Allo)

Looks like maybe 1/4 of the chart will be family films.

ollie

"Flatley my dear,i dont riverdance!" [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

cheers Ollie.

"Bullseye !!"

DB7

THE FAMOUS AND THE FORGOTTEN – MOVIES WHICH HAVE DRAWN THE BIGGEST AUDIENCES
The complete list of the top 100 films as listed by Channel 4's The Ultimate Film, with estimated audience figures for the top 20 films, is:
1. Gone with the Wind (1940) 35m admissions
2. The Sound of Music (1965) 30m admissions
3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938) 28m admissions
4. Star Wars (1978) 20.76m
5. Spring in Park Lane (1948) 20.5m
6. The Best Years of Our Lives (1947) 20.4m
7. The Jungle Book (1968) 19.8m
8. Titanic (1998) 18.9m
9. The Wicked Lady (1946) 18.4m
10. The Seventh Veil (1945) 17.9m
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) 17.56m
12. Grease (1978) 17.2m
13. South Pacific (1958) 16.5m
14. Jaws (1976) 16.2m
15. Jurassic Park (1993) 16.1m
16. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 15.98m
17. The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947) 15.9m
18. Thunderball (1966) 15.6m
19. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 15.22m
20. The Bells of St.Mary's (1946) 15.2m
21. The Ten Commandments (1957)
22. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
23. The Full Monty (1997)
24. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
25. Mary Poppins (1964)
26. The Third Man (1949)
27. Goldfinger (1964)
28. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)
29. The Blue Lamp (1950)
30. Ben Hur (1959)
31. E.T (1983)
32. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
33. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
34. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
35. The Great Caruso (1951)
36. Doctor in the House (1954)
37. Toy Story 2 (2000)
38. Random Harvest (1943)
39. The Towering Inferno (1975)
40. Fanny by Gaslight (1944)
41. The Jolson Story (1947)
42. Piccadilly Incident (1946)
43. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
44. Dr.Zhivago (1967)
45. The Sting (1974)
46. The Godfather (1972)
47. Independence Day (1996)
48. Carry on Nurse (1959)
49. I Live in Grosvenor Square (1945)
50. Mrs Miniver (1942)
51. Superman (1979)
52. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
53. Monsters Inc (2002)
54. A Clockwork Orange (1972)
55. Crocodile Dundee (1987)
56. Finding Nemo (2003)
57. Men in Black (1997)
58. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1944)
59. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
60. High Society (1956)
61. Moonraker (1979)
62. I'm All Right Jack (1959)
63. 49th Parallel (1941)
64. Lost Horizon (1937)
65. Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (2002)
66. 101 Dalmatians (1961)
67. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
68. Saturday Night Fever (1978)
69. Live and Let Die (1973)
70. The Great Dictator (1941)
71. The Big Country (1958)
72. Bambi (1942)
73. Rebecca (1940)
74. Oliver! (1968)
75. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
76. Ghost (1990)
77. Love Actually (2003)
78. Reach for the Sky (1956)
79. My Fair Lady (1965)
80. Die Another Day (2002)
81. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978)
82. The Citadel (1939)
83. Pinocchio (1940)
84. A Bug's Life (1999)
85. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
86. The Dambusters (1955)
87. Return of the Jedi (1983)
88. Mr.Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
89. The Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
90. You Only Live Twice (1967)
91. The Exorcist (1974)
92. The King and I (1956)
93. Chicken Run (2000)
94. The Lion King (1994)
95. Notting Hill (1999)
96. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
97. The Private Life of Henry VIII (1934)
98. Cinderella (1951)
99. Gladiator (2000)
100. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

MrDrakesDuck

Fascinating to see the classic era films tucked away in the list.

The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947) at 17, nice film but never would have guessed that in a million years. Just shows how popular Anna Neagle really was.

The Seventh Veil (1945) in the top 10 eek! , how ridiculous does Ann Todd loook in a school uniform, when she was in her mid 30's? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img]

Nice to see The Dambusters & Reach for the Sky. scarf

"I thought I had to shoot Germans, not chew 'em"

Guybrush Threepwood

Oh dear, Oh dear....

"Enid.."

"eh"?

"Enid...can you hear me....."

"eh?"

"Enid..do you remember Friday 29th 1957"?

"They make you wait for tea in here you know..."

"No...Enid...can we ask you a few questions?"

"Eh?....you gotta speak up luv...these teeth dont fit.."

"No....Enid....listen dear...these nice men have come all the way from Channel 4 to ask you a few questions...."

" I'm 94 you know"

"No...Enid..think back my love...think back to when you worked at the Regal..were there many in on that Friday in 1957"

"Where?"

"At the Regal darlin'....the Regal... can you remember what film was on and how many came in that night?"

"Did you say 'Neagle'?...she was lovely in them days....always dancing with that Kenneth Gregson she was, and those films....The Barrets of Curzon Street..Springtime for Hitler in Park Lane....Arsenic and Port Wine.....ah...they dont make like that now you know..."

"yes Enid.....but can you remember how many came in the cinema that night?"

"Eh?......I'm 94 you know....wheres me zimmer?"

"O.K Enid....*sighs*...do you remember what your biggest audience ever was...what film did most people come to see.."

" sorry....luv...you'll have to ask Doris..she was on front of house...I just did the Ice Creams during the ABC minors ....we had that Tommy Steele in once...luverly man...."

"well thanks for your help Enid..."

" eh?...I'm 94 you know......is it tea time yet?...."


Well done Channel 4. Another spot-on list.


Threep.

Steve Crook

hysteric clap

Steve Crook

PaPAS

MissGossage

The number of 1940s films isn't at all surprising when you consider that that was when British cinema admissions were at an all-time high. Remember when we trumpeted cinema admissions topping 150 million a few years ago? That was a mere tenth of the heights scaled between 1944 and 46, where one-and-a-half billion tickets per year was more the order of things!

Hilarious though Guybrush Threepwood's interpretation was, "anecdotal evidence" actually refers to contemporary accounts in the press of the time referring to a film's success (or otherwise) but without giving precise figures.

This helps point researchers in the right direction - the box-office figures for older titles are often available, but usually not in a conveniently compiled form, so it helps to know in advance which films are likely to be worth further investigation. It's a pretty reliable system, though, as the really huge hits are always going to be mentioned somewhere, so the chances of anything slipping through the net and being ignored are pretty minimal.

Oh, and it was the BFI who did the research, not Channel Four - they merely publicised it.

Guybrush Threepwood

Fair point...however, to be totally serious for a mo...

The forgotten componet here is television. By that I dont mean the obvious ( that the arrival of TV stopped people going to the movies ) no, it's more subtle than that...

During the 30s, 40s, and 50s, the only way you could watch and see and keep up with world events was on Movietone and Pathe News and the like..people went every week ( often regardless of what was on ) to see footage of the D Day landings, Hiroshima etc etc..I'll just bet if you find the week the first footage of the fall of Berlin was shown you would find a huge number of Cinema attendances....and that this would be REGARDLESS of what was being shown as the main feature. (Fanny by Gaslight anyone?)

This is not an old phenomena..a few years ago one of the highest grossing films ( name escapes me ) was put into that bracket by virtue of it being run with the new Star Wars ( Episode1 ) trailer...


Threep

42ndStreetFreak

I have to agree on the general view.
An pointless exercise.

What the hell does 'attendence' prove?
Like already mentioned..TV hit the cinema attendence. It had nothing to do with WHAT was on at the cinema in quality or even later popularity.

During the 80's cinema attendences were severly hit by various things, not least of which was the boom in home video.
Guess it was just bad luck for ceertain films released at a certain time..nothing to with genuine comparisons of quality or even popularity!

Add a month or so of bad weather, or too good weather, down turn in the economy, ticket prices and what films happen to be released at the same time creating competition that may not exisy the next year, or even the nest month when the schedules change...etc etc....All facets that have nothing to do with any of the actual films out at the time.

And in the small UK market, what was a HUGE hit here may have been nothing but an average hit in the U.S.A due to the massive difference in population. Again, nothing to do with the actual films.

An utterly pointless poll.

Rennie

I was a very perplexed to see that although 'Doctor In The House' is listed at No 36 in BFI's 'Ultimate Top 100 Films', there is no mention of 'Genevieve', which, as I definitely recollect, was double billed with the former on their release. I would be also interested to hear any information as to why these two classic British films were shown on the same bill, and for how long did this practice continue

I can only summise that 'Genevieve' was considered to be of 'B' quality film standard. If so someone made one almighty financial gaff. I would also like to hear of any similar badly judged double bills in British cinemas during the magic period when we got to see two films for our shilling front stalls.