Love is in the air–it must be Feb. 14 again. Valentine’s Day is all about the gifts exchanged, and while, no, love doesn’t have to take the form of flowers, candy, dinner and/or singing telegrams (kidding, girls!), it never hurts.
But perhaps nothing caps off the special night, no matter how early or late, like a romance movie. It’s snuggle-fodder for the girls, and for the guys–well, lest they forget, the romance genre begat romantic comedies, which begat Wedding Crashers. So, needless to say, there’s room for compromise and fun to be had by all.
So in honor of Cupid’s big day out, we’ve decided to take a look back at the oft-underappreciated romance genre, and unveil its highest-grossers. As with our past box-office lists, we have adjusted all the movies’ earnings to assess how much they would’ve made if released today. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Below are the Top 25 Highest Grossing Romantic Movies:
Rank Title Gross Domestic Box Office Adjusted Gross Domestic Box Office1
1 Titanic (Paramount-1997) $600,743,440 $812,770,536
2 The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures-1994) $312,850,033 $476,176,153
3 Aladdin (Walt Disney Pictures-1992) $217,042,825 $324,779,745
4 Ghost (Paramount Pictures-1990) $214,288,325 $315,338,980
5 Dances with Wolves (Orion Pictures-1990) $184,010,809 $270,143,528
6 Armageddon (Touchstone Pictures-1998) $201,573,391 $266,902,080
7 Pretty Woman (Touchstone Pictures-1990) $178,396,916 $262,522,475
8 Jerry Maguire (TriStar Pictures-1996)$153,620,822 $215,833,779
9 Terms of Endearment (Paramount Pictures-1983) $108,423,489 $213,749,164
10 What Women Want (Paramount Pictures-2000) $182,805,123 $210,615,920
11 Big Daddy (Columbia Pictures-1999) $162,479,795 $199,407,021
12 Sleepless in Seattle (TriStar Pictures-1993) $125,636,987 $188,455,480
13 Runaway Bride (Paramount Pictures-1999) $152,149,590 $186,729,042
14 Hitch (Sony Pictures-2005) $177,575,142 $177,575,142
15 My Best Friend’s Wedding (TriStar Pictures-1997) $126,805,112 $171,559,857
16 Cocktail (Touchstone Pictures-1988) $107,786,000 $162,859,138
17 You’ve Got Mail (Warner Bros. Pictures-1998) $115,731,542 $153,239,419
18 Out of Africa (Universal Pictures-1985) $83,142,343 $145,440,549
19 Notting Hill (Polygram-1999)$116,089,678 $142,473,695
20 When Harry Met Sally (Sony Pictures-1989)$90,351,322 $140,621,982
21 Sweet Home Alabama (Touchstone Pictures-2002) $127,214,072 $136,206,790
22 Father of the Bride (Touchstone Pictures-1991) $89,136,977 $131,482,334
23 Shakespeare in Love (Miramax/Universal Pictures-1998) $100,241,322 $132,728,915
24 Moonstruck (MGM Pictures-1987) $80,022,465 $127,094,503
25 While You Were Sleeping (Hollywood Pictures-1995) $81,052,361 $115,709,232
TOTALS $4,089,169,881 $5,680,415,459
Additional films that touched the heart but crossed the comedy and/or drama categories include:
Rank Title Gross Domestic Box Office Adjusted Gross Domestic Box Office1
1 My Big Fat Greek Wedding (IFC Films-2002) $241,437,427 $258,504,555
2 There’s Something About Mary (20th Century Fox-1998) $176,483,808 $233,681,118
3 King Kong (Universal Pictures-2005) $214,870,795* $214,870,795*
4 Wedding Crashers (New Line Cinema-2005) $209,218,368 $209,218,368
5 King Kong (Paramount Pictures-1976) $52,600,000 $153,354,929
TOTALS $438,302,176 $854,758,970
* Still in theaters and tracking.
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.
