The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986-2007 February 26, 2008

http://nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/23/movies/20080223_REVENUE_GRAPHIC.html

this is one of the coolest things i’ve ever seen. i’ll honestly say that i spent a good 15 minutes scrolling through it.

some interesting things i noticed:

- movies like titanic, which doesn’t even fit on the graph, and my big fat greek wedding, which recorded box office profits for over a year. juno is also interesting, it starts thin and gets thicker, which is against the norm.

- in recent years there have been more highly profitable films. to me, the triple-$300-million-plus-whammy of spiderman 3, shrek the third, and pirates of the caribbean 3 comes to mind

- the pattern of profitable summer blockbusters and christmas/holiday films is clear

my one problem… i wish that when you clicked on the film, the box office revenue came up. make sure you use the search box to find your favorite movies!