10 Highest-Grossing Movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age

It’s by no means unfair to say that, for many decades, Hollywood has been the international capital of filmmaking. Although it has had many golden periods throughout its history, perhaps none of them have been quite as groundbreaking and game-changing as the era of Classic Hollywood. Generally agreed to span roughly between the late ’20s and the late ’60s, it saw the production of multiple timeless masterpieces, from tremendous historical epics to musicals that all cinephiles love.

Though it certainly had the ups and downs that one can expect from a period so long, the years of Classic Hollywood were fantastic for the box office. When adjusting for inflation, many of history’s highest-grossing films were made during this time, from Disney classics like Fantasia to stunning epics like the remake of The Ten Commandments.

10 ‘Mary Poppins’ (1964)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $715.2 Million

Winner of five Academy Awards, including Julie Andrews‘s sole Best Actress Oscar for what was effectively her theatrical feature film debut, Mary Poppins is one of Disney’s most beloved live-action classics. It follows a magical nanny in turn-of-the-century London, where she employs music and adventure to help two neglected kids grow closer to their father.

With its clever use of catchy musical numbers, genuinely funny jokes and gags, and a blend of live-action with animation, Mary Poppins is still the perfect family film. With career-best Dick Van Dyke and Andrews leading the movie’s irresistible charm, it’s no wonder why it’s one of Disney’s highest-grossing movies, adjusting for inflation. Its domestic lifetime gross was $715.2 million USD, making it the 27th highest-grossing film of all time adjusted for inflation, and the love that audiences had for it since the beginning hasn’t died out.

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9 ‘Fantasia’ (1940)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $759.7 MIllion

During the early years of classic Hollywood, Disney was one of the most revolutionary studios around, allowing it to be experimental and wow audiences with movies unlike anything they’d seen before. Fantasia (directed by a whopping 12 men), which was only the studio’s third animated feature, was one of their most successful experiments. It’s comprised of several segments set to pieces of classical music, all of them telling unique and magical stories.

Though the film was initially a box office bomb due to its high production costs and the distribution-related consequences of WWII, its 1985 and 1990 re-releases brought its adjusted domestic lifetime gross up to $759.7 million, making it the 24th highest-grossing movie of all time. What’s certain is that history has been quite kind to it, as it’s remembered as one of Disney’s best animated movies.

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8 ‘The Graduate’ (1967)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $782.9 Million

One of the few films that won the Best Director Oscar and nothing else, The Graduate is a coming-of-age dramedy about a disillusioned college graduate who finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter. Though it’s often quite funny, it’s best known for being an emotionally stirring and thematically powerful character study about the search for identity and the limbo of the generational divide.

Often regarded as one of the most intense romantic movies ever made, The Graduate features one of classic Hollywood’s greatest scripts and what might just be the best performance of Dustin Hoffman’s illustrious career. Its adjusted domestic lifetime gross of $782.9 million, which makes it the 23rd highest-grossing film ever, a well-earned honor for such a timeless classic.

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7 ‘Ben-Hur’ (1959)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $897 Million

William Wyler was one of the directors who best personified Hollywood’s Golden Age. Although he was best known for his romantic comedies, he explored multiple different genres over the course of his career. When he delved into the historical epic with Ben-Hur, the results were exceptional. It’s about a Jewish prince who’s betrayed and sent into slavery, having to fight for his freedom and sweet revenge.

Its historic win of 11 Oscars made it the first movie to achieve such a feat, an honor that only two other films have ever attained. Though it’s G-rated, it’s an intense and exciting experience that all cinephiles ought to have at least once. It’s the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time, thanks to an adjusted domestic lifetime gross of $897 million dollars.

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6 ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ (1961)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $914 Million

Though it might not often be spoken of in the same breath as the most popular Disney classics, One Hundred and One Dalmatians is one of the studio’s most endearing efforts of the classic Hollywood era. When a litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of a despicable villain, the owners must find them before she uses them for a fashion statement.

A delightfully simple romp, this is a movie that never truly gets old. It has beautiful animation, plenty of memorable scenes, and one of Disney’s most legendary villains, making it worthy of much more recognition than it usually gets. With its adjusted gross of $914 million USD, it’s the 12th highest-grossing film of all time domestically, nothing short of an admirable accomplishment.

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5 ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $997.1 Million

It may not truly have been the first animated feature like many people believe it was, but Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs certainly pioneered 2D hand-drawn animation, changing the face of cinema forever. A true revolutionary masterpiece like no other, it’s the story of a princess exiled into a dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, and her life with the seven dwarf miners who rescue her.

The grandmother of all modern animated fairy tale movies, Snow White is still every bit as enrapturing today as it surely must have been for its astonished audiences in the ’30s. Its novelty has certainly worn off, but its quality hasn’t. Thanks to its innovativeness, it made an adjusted $997.1 million dollars, making it the 10th highest-grossing movie domestically.

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4 ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1965)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $1.1 Billion

David Lean was the king of directors on exceptional classic epic movies, and Doctor Zhivago was one of his best works. Based on the famous novel by Russian writer Boris Pasternak, it’s a romantic tragedy about the life of a Russian physician-poet who, though married to another, falls in love with a woman during the hardships of World War I.

With an enthralling depiction of history and thrilling character arcs, Doctor Zhivago stands out as one of the best romantic dramas of the time. It made an admirable $1.1 billion dollars at the domestic box office, making it the 8th highest-grossing movie. A must-see for fans of the genre, it’s a masterwork that’s easy to fall in love with and practically impossible to hate.

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3 ‘The Ten Commandments’ (1956)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $1.2 Billion

Arguably the best universally-enjoyable Biblical epic ever put on the silver screen, The Ten Commandments is an adventure epic about Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt, as he learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery. Visually staggering, masterfully directed, and with a fantastic script, it’s a spectacle unlike anything modern Hollywood could ever hope to produce.

The movie’s adjusted domestic lifetime gross was $1.2 billion dollars, making it the 6th highest-grossing film at the American box office ever. It isn’t hard to see why it was such a massive success: It’s brilliantly made and a feast to the eyes, as well as one of the best instances of a director remaking his own film. Cecil B. DeMille‘s outstanding 1923 original is great in its own right, but pales in comparison to the beauty of a picture.

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2 ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $1.3 Billion

For those who enjoy the cozy feel of classic musicals, as well as the emotional potency and thought-provoking nature of anti-war films, The Sound of Music has a little bit for everyone. Based on the story of the real von Trapp family, it’s about a young novice who’s sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.

One of the longest movie musicals of all time, The Sound of Music makes perfect use of every minute of its runtime with iconic musical numbers, gripping character arcs, and a profoundly investing story touching on a variety of different tones and themes. It was a huge hit when it came out, making its adjusted domestic lifetime earnings $1.3 billion USD, which makes it the 3rd highest-grossing movie of all time domestically.

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1 ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939)

All-Time Box Office Gross: $1.8 Billion

It will take an awful lot to ever overtake the true highest-grossing movie of all time: Gone With the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell‘s seminal novel of the same title. Spanning many years during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction period, it follows a manipulative Southern belle and a rougish profiteer who face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles and re-builds itself.

Even though the movie has garnered a lot of well-earned controversy due to its depiction of the Civil War and the Confederacy, the fact remains that it’s one of the greatest works of art of Hollywood’s classic period. It made an astonishing $1.8 billion dollars adjusted for inflation, a number that (at least at first glance) seems impossible to beat. It was massively popular back then, and it remains worthy of high praise today.

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