Putting It in Perspective - Billion Dollar Movies 1915 - 2009

1.  Gone With the Wind, 1939
2.  Titanic, 1997
3.  Star Wars: Ep IV A New Hope, 1977
4.  The Birth of a Nation, 1915
5.  E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, 1982
6.  The Sound of Music, 1965
7.  Ben-Hur, 1959
8.  Jaws, 1975
9.  Jurassic Park, 1993
10. Doctor Zhivago, 1965
11. The Ten Commandments, 1956
12. The Exorcist, 1973
13. Star Wars: Ep V The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
14. The Lion King, 1994
15. Independence Day, 1996
16. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003
17. Star Wars: Ep I The Phantom Menace, 1999
18. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
19. Forrest Gump, 1994
20. Pirates of the  Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, 2006
21. Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, 1937
22. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 2002
23. 101 Dalmations, 1961
24. Grease, 1978
25. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001
26. Shrek 2, 2004
27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 2002
28. The Godfather, 1972
29. Finding Nemo, 2003
30. Star Wars: Ep VI Return of the Jedi, 1983
31. Spider-Man, 2002
32. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 2007
33. The Dark Knight, 2008
34. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977

A Garden of Billion Dollar Movies 2000-2009 (not counting Avatar tbd)

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The Graduate Becomes Mr. Focker

Daniel Wallace Top 10 Movie Picks

1.  1925 The Lost World.  Why?  Pioneering effects work by Willis O'Brien makes this silent film a must-see for any self-respecting Kong fan.
2.  1933 King Kong.  Why?  Skull Island is the most relentless action sequence ever committed to film.
3.  1940 Fantasia.  Why?  An incredibly gutsy release for a young Walt Disney Studios; Bill Tytla's animation of the demonic "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence brings down the house.
4.  1941 Citizen Kane.  Why?  One of two movies (the other being 2001) that I am powerless to turn away from if I encounter it playing on TV.
5.  1957 Bridge on the River Kwai.  Why?  Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson takes so much pride in his bridge construction project that he becomes the villain.  An amazing performance.
6.  1961 West Side Story.  Why?  The greatest movie musical ever made, from the perfect storm of Sondheim, Bernstein, and Wise.
7.  1968 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Why?  Told in 3 acts ("Dawn of Man," "Jupiter Mission," and "Beyond the Infinite"),  and I can't decide which one is the most mesmerizing.
8.  1974 Blazing Saddles.  Why?  When the action spills onto a movie set where they're filming Blazing Saddles, you know Mel Brooks has made a comedy both bizarre and brilliant.
9.  1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Why?  A great bad movie.  Rocky Horror helped the public understand movie fandom.
10.  2005 War of the Worlds.  Why?  Spielberg does something amazing in this movie - he stages an epic battle between the Army and the aliens which occurs entirely off-camera.  Somehow, it manages to be all the more impressive.

George Lucas's Blockbusting book feature film writer Daniel Wallace is the New York Times-bestselling author of more than a dozen books focusing on pop-culture universes, including those of Star Wars, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.

Mike Nichols vs Joseph E. Levine

Lucy Autrey Wilson Top 10 Movie Picks

1.  1954 On The Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan.  Why?  Great story, great acting and early Marlon Brando.
2.  1960 Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  Why?  Since reading his short story collections as a kid to watching his movies and TV show, I'm a fan of everything Hitchcock.
3.  1963 Tom Jones, directed by Tony Richardson.  Why?  I loved the novel by Henry Fielding and enjoyed Albert Finney and Susannah York in the movie.
4.  1964 Goldfinger, directed by Guy Hamilton.  Why?  I read and enjoyed the Ian Fleming novels in High School, love watching Sean Connery on screen and can still hum Shirley Bassey's theme song.
5.  1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Mike Nichols.  Why?  An interesting take on a story by the great Shakespeare with terrific acting by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
6.  1967 The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols.  Why?  I was just getting ready for college and the story and characters played so well by Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross really hit home.
7.  1971 The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin.  Why?  It was educational to see the dark side of drug use - especially with the magnificent Gene Hackman.  The original music by Don Ellis is also superb.
8.  1972 The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.  Why?  Great cast, great score by Nino Rota, lots more going on than in the usual crime genre movie.
9.  1973 American Graffiti, directed by George Lucas.  Why?  The reason I wanted to work for Lucasfilm.  Great original story, great rock and roll soundtrack.
10.  1996 The English Patient, directed by Anthony Minghella, produced by Saul Zaentz. Why?  I loved the novel by Michael Ondaatje and found the film + book a case of 1 + 1 = 3.