Gross understanding

There seems to be a problem with how the rankings of the highest-grossing films of all time are calculated. However, before understanding what the problem is, the concept of ‘highest grossing’ must be explained first. It’s very simple - the number of tickets sold multiplied by the price of each ticket. That is the gross earnings of the movie, without deducting the cost of making it or any of the other input costs. Now, after understanding this, understanding the problem mentioned is much easier. Ticket prices are much higher in recent times than they were even ten years ago.
Take, for example, the previous highest grossing films, Titanic. Released in 1997, it grossed $1,843,201,268. The average price per ticket was $4.59 in the United States, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. From these figures, the number of tickets sold can be calculated, around 400,000,000. This takes only US ticket prices into consideration. In India, for example, tickets were priced at around Rs 100, around $2.
Now, when it comes to the present champion, Avatar, another one of James Cameron’s babies, the pricing of tickets became still more complicated, since the movie released in several different formats worldwide. The average price in the United States for a normal 2D ticket was $7.61, while it was $10 for 3D and $14.50 for IMAX. In India, a normal ticket was sold at Rs 150-200, while a 3D ticket was anywhere between Rs 250 and Rs 750. No wonder, then, that Avatar, which grossed an astounding $2,640,229,805, topped Titanic in terms of revenue from ticket sales. The tickets were just much more expensive.
So, it does not mean that more people watched Avatar than they did Titanic, or more times. All it means is that they paid more per viewing. With 3D quickly becoming popular, we are likely to see a number of average movies topping the all-time greats of the 2D format.