Not a fair comparison. Not only was tickets much cheaper back then (even with inflation in mind) but you didn't have home video at all so you had to see it in a theatre if you wanted to see it period... Meaning they could have theatrical runs lasting years aswell as multiple re-releases.
This, but also don't forget that even if you adjust for the average ticket price at the time, epic films such as Gone with the Wind and Ben-Hur would have cost three to four times as much as other movies of that era, since different films were priced differently (to an extent) back then. Adjusting for inflation, some of the major Cinemascope films would have cost ~$30 to see in their initial New York runs. Also, there was a smaller population, so an equivalent number of tickets sold in 1955 and 2012 would indicate that the 1955 movie was much more popular
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My bracket wasn't good enough to beat SuperNiceDog's in the GameFAQS Rivalry Rumble. Congrats!
This is Yesmar.