What is the highest grossing movie of all time when taking inflation into account?

While inflation has eroded the achievements of most films from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, there are franchises originating from that period that are still active. Besides the 'Star Wars' and 'Superman' franchises, 'James Bond' and 'Godzilla' films are still being released periodically; all four are among the highest grossing franchises. Some of the older films that held the record of highest grossing film still have respectable grosses by today's standards, but no longer compete numerically against today's top earners in an era of much higher individual ticket prices. When those prices are adjusted for inflation, however, then 'Gone with the Wind' which was the highest grossing film outright for twenty-five years is still the highest-grossing film of all time.

Gone with the Wind first released in 1939 is generally considered to be the most successful film, with Guinness World Records. In 2014 'Gone with the Wind's' estimated adjusted global gross was $3.4 billion. 'Gone with the Wind's' nearest rival depends on the set of figures used. Guinness had Avatar in second place with $3 billion, while other estimates saw Titanic in the runner up spot with first run worldwide earnings of almost $2.9 billion at 2010 prices.