What do you think is the most watched movie in history?

According to IMBD 1. Titanic 2. E.T. 3. Wizard of Oz

[quote] I would say Grease.

Tell me more, tell me more

Wizard of Oz. I think everyone has seen it. Pretty impressive for a movie from 1939.

I would have thought Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind

Dawson't 50-Load Weekend.

R1, I wouldn't trust online sources. According to Letterboxd, the most-seen movies are Joker, Parasite and Fight Club. It's a very unrepresentative audience.

It has to be a movie that parents make their children watch, so I'd guess it's between The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars. E.T. doesn't have the same pervasiveness in pop culture that Star Wars does, even though Spielberg's film outgrossed Lucas's originally, so I doubt as many people have seen it in recent decades.

Gone With the Wind is far too long and appeals to adults. The audience for Titanic skews a bit younger (teenagers loved it), but it's still not a movie that parents would show their kids.

Dawson's 50-Load Weekend

Jaws

I came home from work yesterday and put on Grease. It's definitely up there for me.

I've read that it's The Wizard of Oz, which sounds about right to me. I also imagine "Over the Rainbow" must be up there as one of the songs heard by the most people.

R10 mostly gays

It's definitely The Wizard of Oz. It's also the most beloved movie of all time.

From the past 10 years, it's Crazy Rich Asians. It's the most watched movie ever on airplanes.

The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins

Also, R1, that IMDb list is ridiculous bullshit. Among the movies that the list includes as the most-watched of all time are Terminator 2, Fight Club, City of God, Scarface and The Seven Samurai. It's a bunch of film bro movies, including a Brazilian film that earned some surprise Oscar nominations over twenty years ago then was immediately forgotten. Sure, more people have seen City of God than another Oscar nominee from that year, Finding Nemo.

There's the claim that The Jesus Film is the most-watched movie of all time because evangelicals gave away so many copies of the movie, but like almost everything religious people claim, there's little reason to believe it. They might have mailed out millions of copies, but there's guarantee people actually watched it.

It’s the Wizard of Oz. I didn’t think there was a debate.

Grease

Wizard of Oz has been out for 85 years and is still a go-to movie parents show their kids. For the most part, anyone over the age of 2 has seen the movie at least once.

r7 Yes, dear, we saw that at r5

It's a wonderful life

Stars Wars

I watch The Wizard of Oz every two years or so and still manage to find moments that seem new.

It's so brilliant and entertaining, I really love it.

R20 It might be surprising but that was a hard movie to find growing up as a kid.

I was born in the late 80s. I didn’t see the movie until I was about 11 or 12 when The Phantom Menace came out and I think it was because they put out multiple rentals of the movie instead of having just one (which was usually rented out) at the video store.

Pam and Tommy!!!!

No-one under 50 has ever watched The Wizard of Oz.

According to IMDB, Titanic.

Then ET, then Wizard of Oz.

Thank you R24. Finally some sense.

I must be the only person over 60 who has never watched The Wizard of Oz. I don’t recall ever even seeing it in the TV listings.

I’ve never seen Titanic or any Star Wars film, but I have watched Grease several times.

There's no way it's The Wizard of Oz. That film is mostly an American institution - it's not exactly unknown outside the US but it's nowhere near as popular elsewhere. It's a Wonderful Life is an even more extreme example of a movie that enjoys a yuuuge cult following in the US (thanks to it being repeated ad nauseam on American cable networks in the past) but mention George Bailey to a European and you'll hear only crickets.

[quote]I would say Grease. I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this movie.

Well, if you don't know anyone who hasn't seen it...what more authority do we need than that?

[quote]I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this movie.

Well, you don't know me, but I have never seen this movie. I did see the play in 1975, though.

I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this movie.

I've never seen the movie or the play.

Titanic is such dreck.

It only starts getting even a little fun when everyone starts running for the lifeboats!

The Paramount Channel might as well be renamed The Titanic Channel. It's always on

[QUOTE]I would have thought Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind

Being a child of the 70s, I thought so, as well. They'd be televised every couple of years or so and they were massive TV events with huge ratings. Remember, there were only three networks and a UHF channel or two.

Adjusting for inflation, isn't "Gone With the Wind" the highest grossing film ever? With the original "Star Wars" second?

Back in the day when there were only three networks and limited TV content, they would broadcast The Wizard of Oz every year. (Since color TV wasn't invented yet you had to imagine the color sequences.) I'm surprised it isn't #1 based on the number of people who watched it annually.

Titanic makes sense, although I barely made it through once. My friend once posted a picture he took of the shelves and shelves of Titanic VCR tapes in a thrift store.

Speaking of which, just last night my partner and I watched 'A Night to Remember' (1956) and chuckled at all the scenes Cameron stole in making his bloated soap opera. He has admitted as much but it was funny anyway.

I only seen Grease in part- small part. The music has never appealed me- the story is close to satire. I don’t. And as much as I liked Ilivia, I do not like her singing voice. And Travolta can’t sing af all.

I would say without any data to back me up- Wizard of Oz and or Gone With the Wind.

I watched it every year when I was a kid and knew most of the dialogue. The book is about populism.

Today, 'Wizard of Oz' represents political deceit.

In 1964, the American historian Henry Littlefield argued that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a parable for the 1890s Populist movement — a campaign by disenfranchised farmers and factory workers to seize power from the business elite.

I don’t think the Wizard of Oz has been watched much in the last 20 years.

The book is about a teenage girls dream. Jesus fuck.

"It's A Wonderful Life."

I haven’t seen Grease.

Then you didn't have HBO in the 80s.

It's kind of sad that the decades-long ubiquity and excitement of the annual CBS airing of The Wizard of Oz is no more. It was a big deal in the 60s and 70s and I probably watched it every year until I was in high school.

Ahhh, change.

Jaws.

R40, Wicked was a massive hit on Broadway twenty years ago and remains popular, while even the terrible Oz the Great and Powerful from a decade or so ago made a ton of money.

Neither would have happened if The Wizard of Oz didn't still have a place in the popular culture.

Bridesmaids!

I believe I saw recently that The Wizard of Oz is on record for being the most watched film of all time. Not "box office," since tickets back then were 25¢ and obviously modern movies with a population nearly 3x what it was in 1939.

But butts in the seat? Going by the ticket grosses and the population at the time (135,000,000+), every man, woman and child in America would have (theoretically) seen that movie 4.3 times.

Wizard of Oz wins in part because of its longevity. The longer a film has been around, the more people will have exposure to it. I mean, think of how many millions of people born in the 19th century saw The Wizard of Oz (which can't be said for, say, Titanic).

[quote]I think everyone has seen it.

Ahem.

Funny you should post that, r51. The only person I know of who hasn't seem The Wizard of Oz is from Ethiopia. (Yes, I know Darfur is not in Ethiopia.)

Might as well be.

R28 is correct. Given the question doesn’t appear to be limited to the USA, The Wizard of Oz has in no way the reasonance it has in America. Here (Portugal) the movie that is repeated almost everyChristmas is The Sound of Music. In terms of older movies i would say Gone with the Wind.

Jaws.

r55 = Flipper

R56 no, I'm Willy. And I'm Freeee

The Shawshank Redemption is on TV somewhere playing 24 hours a day.

Honorary Bollywood mention:

The crime thriller Caravan (1971) sold 19 million tickets in India and nearly 300 million tickets in China, for an estimated total of nearly 319 million tickets sold in Asia.

[quote]No-one under 50 has ever watched The Wizard of Oz.

Are you high? You dont know young people do you? Even my grand niece has shown that to her little kids. It's a classic, they do not go out of style.

R27 sounds like a cloistered nun.

Wizard of Oz

Titanic

The Lion King

Passion of the Christ

The Godfather

Forest Gump

Spider Man 1

Gone with the Wind

Jaws

Dark Knight

to round out the Top 10.

It's probably some Bollywood movie that's been watched by the 1 billion people in India, or some Chinese historical drama that no one's ever heard of.

No one under 50 has seen the Wizard of Oz??

Most kid sees the Wizard of Oz at least once. Even if parents are “too young and hip” and their go-to is “The Lion King”, their grandparents will turn it on.

There’s neglect going on if you’re a kid and haven’t seen “The Wizard of Oz” or at this point, “The Lion King”.

It’s probably one of the easiest movies to entertain kids.

I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz as a kid. I wore nylon stockings over my head for Dorothy braids. I had ruby red slippers too.

This isnt a wish list people, why are guys like r63 posting stupid lists like that.

Children are fascinated by The Wizard of Oz and are a bit freaked out because in a few scenes it's absolutely terrifying!

[quote]I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz as a kid. I wore nylon stockings over my head for Dorothy braids. I had ruby red slippers too.

r66 and a future DLer was born!

I've never seen Grease, Sound of Music, GWTW or Forrest Gump. But Wizard of Oz, yes, every time it was on TV.

Another IMDB list, this one "The Real Most Watched Films of All Time" with 57 titles, The Wizard of Oz landing at #53.

It's Raining on Prom Night

Of course, box office doesn’t count as much as it used to, but for over half a century it did. The top three movies of all time, adjusted for inflation, are:

Gone With the Wind

Star Wars

The Sound of Music

Correction to R71:

Grease is in 53rd place on this list and Wizard of Oz absent.

Loads of children's films

Sink the Bismarck!

The Zapruder film.

The Wizard of Oz has been traumatizing young children for nearly a century. It's usually the first horror film that they see. Parts of the movie are truly dark and terrifying.

MARY r77!!

I agree it would be a kids or at least family friendly film that's old enough to have spanned various generations. So The Wizard of Oz or The Sound of Music.

The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston, it is so campy.

I was born in '69 and Gone With The Wind was an annual TV viewing event for many, many years. Really.

I was born in 1970, and I can remember watching Wizard of Oz every year—when I was really little, it scared the crap out of me. When I was about 8 or 9, my mom thought I was old enough to finally see Gone With the Wind. I was pretty bored with it, but was super freaked out when Scarlett kills the Union soldier.

I also remember lots of viewings of Sound of Music (hated it), The Poseidon Adventure, and The Ten Commandments. I remember next to nothing about that one other than baby Moses in a basket on the river.

[quote]Back in the day when there were only three networks and limited TV content, they would broadcast The Wizard of Oz every year. (Since color TV wasn't invented yet you had to imagine the color sequences.)

Color TVs had been on the market since 1954. The first showing of The Wizard of Oz on TV was in 1956. The film was broadcast in color. Of course very few people had a color TV in 1956, but if you had one you could see it in color.

[quote]I must be the only person over 60 who has never watched The Wizard of Oz. I don’t recall ever even seeing it in the TV listings.

I guess Flying Monkeys weren't a thing in North Korea, unless it was Thanksgiving,

R77 It’s nothing compared to its sequel “Return to Oz” which came out in the 80s when I was little. It’s a horror movie. It’s crazy to think Disney thought was a kids movie.

But kids movies were rough if you were born in the late 80s. My grandma would put on “Return to Oz” and “The Witches” and leave the room to do whatever not knowing those were straight up horror movies marketed as kids movies.

I love those movies now but they absolutely traumatized me. For years as a kid, I thought the women dressed in black at the department store makeup / perfume counters were witches. I was terrified of them.

Women in department store makeup ARE witches r85. Some of the men are too.

Wizard of Oz....its like the bible of family movies. And it's always been beloved in UK and Ireland. Sound of music and Mary Poppins too. Willy Wonka with Gene Wilder also. These films are almost a right if passage, you'd be socially disabled if u couldn't get into a discussion about these movies. I wonder if Die Hard is up there too and Snow White.

I would say in the US, Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka are still very popular with parents showing this to thier kids. Mary Poppins seems to have faded into the Disney archives. Die Hard? No way. Snow White is also still popular with very young kids.

I don't know if it's been mentioned. Pretty Woman.

Not the MOST watched (I'm thinking Wizard of Oz), but I bet it's in the Top 10. People have still not tired of it.

[quote] In 1964, the American historian Henry Littlefield argued that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a parable for the 1890s Populist movement

The book is a love letter to William Jennings Bryan.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥. (or gold roads)

I am pretty sure I watched The Sound of Music as a small child but I have never watched it since so I have no memory of it.

That’s why I keep pushing the Wizard of Oz as #1 because even the people who say they’ve never seen it, they probably did as toddlers and don’t remember it.

It was an annual tradition on TV from 1959-1991. It aired every year on TV as an “event”. I was born in 1987 and it was on after Thanksgiving until I was at least a teenager. I used to see commercials. To think of the millions of families who would watch the movie after holidays for decades, it’s crazy to think it’s not #1.

shrek

Home Alone has to be up there. Maybe top 5.

This thread is hilarious. Just because you watched a film doesn't mean the ENTIRE WORLD is also watching it.

You think all those millions of people in China and India are sitting down to watch The Wizard of Oz? Grow up. No self-respecting adult or child is watching that film in this day and age.

The Jesus Film

According to The New York Times, this film is likely the most-watched motion picture of all time. The Jesus Film Project states that the film has been viewed more than 6 billion times (including repeat viewings).

[quote]The Jesus Film Project states ...

Yes. Because I'm SURE they keep accurate records. 🙄

Frozen

I am only half joking when I say "Beastmaster." It used to air on TBS constantly. The producer used to joke that the B in TBS stood for Beastmaster.

Should be...

The Way We Were

I imagine every person in China has watched 長津湖之戰 more than 10 times.

R99 Nice try, Jason. You´re still grounded untill the updated NDA is signed.

What about Hello Dolly?

The Paterson-Gimlin Film

Bullets Over Broadway

Best in Show

The Wizard of Oz is NOT just a movie popular in America. It has been translated into 72 languages, according to Angela Lansbury when they came out with a special edition. She gave a lovely speech about it, and had loads of statistics. I'd suggest it as the most watched movie, ever, because of its longevity.

Read the book. This is a book on Chinese events in the late 19th century.

Tell me about it, STUD!

R94, whatever your point, you sound like a tedious asshole.

Sound of Music

[quote] I would say Grease. I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this movie.

All the proof anyone ever needs is your subjective estimation of your own personal experience, OP.

Let's call up the Guinness Book of World records right now!

Grease