Just in time for Halloween, Hollywood.com has released the list of the top 25 most popular and highest grossing domestic horror movies of all time, and the only post millennium films to rank in the top 10 are The Mummy Returns and What Lies Beneath.
By tallying total box office receipts and then adjusting the thrillers' performances to current U.S. average ticket prices, Hollywood.com was able to deliver accurate gross sales results.
Jaws and The Exorcist still outrank any recent film, as 1970's classic horror films accounted for six of the top 10 highest earners.
However, film franchises released after 1995 including The Mummy and Scream movies fared well, while Halloween creepily only ranked 18. Below is Hollywood.com's Top 25 Highest Grossing Domestic Horror Films of All Time:
Rank / Title / Year /Studio / Adjusted Gross Domestic Box Office (1) / Gross Domestic Box Office
1 Jaws
(1975) UNIVERSAL $795,369,426 / $260,000,000
2 The Exorcist
(1973) WARNER BROS $686,631,452 / $232,671,011
3 The Sixth Sense
(1999) BUENA VISTA $357,566,366 / $293,506,292
4 The Mummy Returns
(2001) UNIVERSAL $221,650,716 / $202,019,785
5 Jaws 2
(1978) UNIVERSAL $215,603,340 / $81,766,007
6 The Amityville Horror
(1979) AMERICAN INT. $213,841,738 $86,432,000
7 Alien
(1979) FOX $200,233,659 / $80,931,801
8 The Mummy
(1999) UNIVERSAL $189,949,583 / $155,385,488
9 What Lies Beneath
(2000) DREAMWORKS $179,115,699 / $155,464,351
10 The Omen
(1976) FOX $177,620,519 / $60,922,980
11 The Blair Witch Project
(1999) ARTISAN $171,800,749 / $140,539,099
12 Interview with the Vampire
(1994) WARNER $155,538,215 / $104,694,000
13 Scream (1996) MIRAMAX $144,714,476 / $103,001,286
14 Seven (1995) NEW LINE $142,937,987 /$100,125,643
15 Aliens (1986) FOX $142,545,860 / $85,160,248
16 The Ring
(2002) DREAMWORKS $137,432,001 / $128,579,698
17 Scream 2
(1997) MIRAMAX $137,017,261 / $101,273,628
18 Halloween
(1978) COMPASS $124,730,769 / $47,000,000
19 Bram Stoker's Dracula
(1992) SONY $123,601,446 / $82,600,000
20 Sleepy Hollow
(1999) PARAMOUNT $123,550,077 / $101,068,340
21 Van Helsing
(2005) UNIVERSAL $120,177,084 / $120,177,084
22 Haunting
(1999) DREAMWORKS $111,473,051 / $91,188,905
23 The Grudge
(2004) SONY $110,175,871 / $110,175,871
24 The Others
(2001) DIMENSION $105,846,318 / $96,471,845
25 Scream 3
(2000) DIMENSION $102,704,845 / $89,143,175
TOTALS $5,191,828,508 / $3,110,298,537
Additionally, Hollywood.com conducted a search of the highest grossing films that bridged the horror and comedy genres. The results revealed that these comedic scary films, including Ghostbusters and the 1975 classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, often earned more than traditional horror movies. Below are the top six films in this hybrid category:
Title / Year / Studio / Adjusted Gross Domestic Box Office (1) / Gross Domestic Box Office
Ghostbusters
(1984) SONY $439,237,084 / $238,632,124
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
(1975) FOX $341,981,110 / $112,892,319
Young Frankenstein
(1974) FOX $283,469,520 / $86,273,333
Scary Movie
(2000) MIRAMAX $180,907,751 / $157,019,771
Ghostbusters II
(1989) SONY $175,967,840 / $112,494,738
Scary Movie 3
(2003) DIMENSION $113,286,895 / $110,003,217
TOTALS $1,534,850,200 / $817,315,502
(1) Adjusted Gross Domestic Box Office figures are derived based on the
total domestic gross of the film, divided by average ticket price in
the year of release, multiplied by 2004 average ticket price ($6.21).
Average annual ticket prices source: MPAA.
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