Looking over the top grossing movie titles, successful movies seem to have several factors in common.
1. Genre Many of the most successful titles are in the fantasy, sci-fi and adventure genre. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Jurrassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean and Spiderman are all in the Top Ten Grossing Trilogies of all time. Click here to see the top grossing trilogies of all time.
2. High Budget High budgets lend themselves to good marketing, popular actors, and exciting special effects. Click here to see the budgets of top earning movies.
3. Being Part of a Trilogy If the first movie in the series is good, then people are likely to see the other two. Ending a movie with a cliffhanger compels moviegoers to see the sequel. Nine out of ten of the greatest grossing movies of all time are trilogies. (The oddity is Titantic, which is the #1 highest grossing movie of all time.) Click here to see the top grossing films list.
4. Dark Colors One blog analyses the colors of 25 movie posters, concluding that all the highest grossing movies have had dark-colored posters. His argument is that the dark colors of the posters are the same colors in the movie, as the movie’s scenes are the natural subject of the poster. He says that NC-17 rated movies have the darkest array of colors in the posters, and G movie posters have the lightest. Click here to see this blog.
5. Season of Release The highest grossing movies are released during Christmas or summer break. This is when it is easier for the general public to go to the movies.
6. Stories from Literature original stories don’t stand a chance when they stand up against movies based on stories we’ve all read, be it Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars or Spiderman comic books.
