Les Mis set to be highest grossing movie musical of all time. — Page 14

It looks like Les Miserables, the movie musical, is going to China...and Chinese audiences will get to hear the original voices ( not dubbed).

http://english.cri.cn/6666/2013/01/24/1261s745119.htm

Release date is February 28, 2013, some 10 1/2 years after a successful limited run of the stage musical, with Colm himself reprising his Valjean role then. Will they recognize him as the Bishop this time?

Updated On: 1/24/13 at 02:11 AM

At the risk of being accused of a silly bump. I find this kind of thing fascinating and find it even more so reading it from people here as opposed to the sites. Some of you.. like Best12 and others really know your sh*t and it is a pleasure to dscuss BO with you.

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What people don't realize is that the world population doubles every 50 years.

In 1800 there lived 1 billion people on the earth. In 1900 there lived 2 billion people on the earth. In the 1950's there lived 3 billion people on the earth. In 2000 there lived 6 billion people on the earth and now there live 7,2 billion people on the earth.

So in 1 century it went from doubling in 100 years to doubling in 50 years, so even that ratio is growing.

My point is, in the 70's when "Grease" premiered, there only lived 3,5 billion people on the earth. That amount has more than doubled today, now Les Miserables is playing.

So I would say Grease is the most successful musicalfilm of all time, because although there lived just 3,5 billion people on the world when it came out, it grossed $395 million , Mamma Mia with 7 billion people on the world grossed $609.8 million, which is not twice as much.


"Highest grossing" in 2080, when there live 14 billion people in the world will have a completely different meaning than today. It doesn't say anything if you don't take this into consideration.

Updated On: 1/26/13 at 05:17 PM

"It doesn't say anything [i]f you don't take the population into consideration."

Sure, it says something. It says it's "the highest grossing." You can discuss lots of factors like percentage of the population or rate of inflation or the rise in entertainment options.

Still, gross is a stat that still has meaning without a discussion of context.

I am just going by the current stats. If not we can keep going back in time.

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Wondering if metropolis10111 will be showing his BS face again.

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Yes, alright, enough already I agree that Les Mis is highly gross. Goodnight.

And of course, you approached this data from a neutral opinion, right? Or completely not...

Still here... still waiting for it to be #1.. still don't see that happening.....

Here's my $0.02, for what it's worth. I find this acute analysis of which is the more successful to be interesting but humorous, as both films are successful in their own acheivement. What will happen if one is or isn't the more successful? Grease was a phenomenon in its time and no one can dispute that. Les Misérables is taking in quite a good deal of money, and just about every non-musical theatre person I've talked to who's seen it has really enjoyed it. They list many reasons why they liked or even loved it, including (believe it or not) Russell Crowe, so it is making an impact.

When taking into account these films at the box office, you should also look at the competition upon release and what percent of the country/world's population was able to see the film. In today's media climate I think it would be difficult for any musical to achieve the success Grease had in the late 70s.

That being said, the only common attribute these two properties share is that their characters sing. Other than that they are completely different and could (possibly should) be classified in separate genres.

"In today's media climate I think it would be difficult for any musical to achieve the success Grease had in the late 70s."

Interesting point. It is true that there is a lot of competition now, and the internet, more cinema's, more films, more music styles, so people have much more choice in whatever they'd like to be interested in. People's tastes and interests are more divided than ever before.
So in order to determine "success", all of these things need to be taken into consideration, including the growth of the population and inflation. So I agree, it would be very difficult to achieve the success of Grease, but by saying "Les Mis" did it because it made more today, makes no sense.

"That being said, the only common attribute these two properties share is that their characters sing. Other than that they are completely different and could (possibly should) be classified in separate genres."

I agree, 2 completely different films, but they are both musicals. And this "top 3 successful movie musical list" is about that.

"It's also not realistic that Les Mis will earn as much as Chicago did here in the U.S. $170.6 million. It's still $36 million away from Chicago's grosses"

I never realized how successful Chicago actually was.
Because, that was 11 years ago and believe it or not, back then there lived only 6.2 billion people on the world as opposed to 7.2 billion people today. So that even adds to the success of Chicago.

Also, in 2002 there were plenty of other options and films.

Updated On: 1/27/13 at 10:00 AM

Ticket prices were also lower ten years ago.

"Chicago" was a huge hit both critically and at the box office. After it won the Oscar for Best Picture, it also got a boost of about $10 million.

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