Top Grossing Movies Stage 5 Comprehension PDF

STAGE 5 Unit focus: The Movies! Text focus: Information Text Top Grossing Movies Hollywood has been producing movies since the 1920s, so working out which movie made the most mon...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: The Movies! Text focus: Information Text Top Grossing Movies Hollywood has been producing movies since the 1920s, so working out which movie made the most money isn’t always easy to do. The “gross” for a film is how much money it makes based on ticket sales. So, the top “grossing” film is the film that earned the most money. To help compare films from a different era, it’s easiest to look at how many tickets a film sold at the time and use that to work out how much money they would have made today. So, the film that has earned the most money ever is Avatar, from 2009. However, when you look at many tickets it sold and use current ticket prices, it drops down to 15th in the list. Using that method, let’s look at the top five Hollywood movies of all time as of 2021. Gone With The Wind (1939) Filmed just before the Second World War and released in the UK a er it had started, it’s even more surprising how well the film did. In a time when some theatres had to close due to the war, it sold over 202 million tickets! If it had done that today, it would have earned over $1.8 billion! Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) The first in the Star Wars series, A New Hope was an instant success. During its initial release at the cinema (it has regularly been rescreened around the world at special events), it sold over 178 million tickets. Adjusted for modern ticket prices, that would have made nearly $1.7 billion. The Sound of Music (1965) This popular musical has been made famous for its collection of catchy tunes. It helped to launch the career of Julie Andrews, who had portrayed Mary Poppins the year before (Mary Poppins is currently the 27th highest-grossing film of all time). The Sound of Music sold over 142 million tickets worldwide. all resources ©2021 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Who can forget the lovable alien that befriended young Elliot and took us all on such an emotional journey? Apparently, nearly 142 million people queued up to buy tickets to see it, and who can blame them. When you adjust that for modern ticket prices, it adds up to a whopping $1.3 billion! Titanic (1997) Unlike the titular boat, this classic Leonardo DiCaprio film did anything but sink! Even though it was released with bladder-straining 3 hours and 15 minutes run time, nearly 136 million people swarmed cinemas worldwide to catch a glimpse of Rose and Jack battling to save themselves from the doomed vessel. Putting that into modern ticket sales and it comes in at roughly $1.27 billion! Interestingly, Titanic is the only one of these five films that are also in the top 5 grossing films of all time based on how much money they made at the time. It sits in the third spot behind Avengers: Endgame and Avatar. VOCABULARY FOCUS 1. What does the word “titular” mean in the Titanic section? 2. What is an “era”? 3. Find and copy a phrase that tells the reader that A New Hope was popular from the beginning. 4. Find and copy a word that means “the first time something happened”. 5. Which word in the text has a meaning closest to “pretended to be somebody”? VIPERS QUESTIONS R Which film has earned the most money ever? S Which film on the list was released first? R Whose career was helped by The Sound of Music? R What were the names of the two main characters in Titanic? S How is Titanic different to the other films on the list? all resources ©2021 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com