Gone with the Wind Still Tops Avengers: Endgame When Adjusted for Inflation

Avengers: Endgame has reached the top of the hill and taken throne, surpassing Avatar to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, worldwide. However, Endgame's victory may be more conditional than initially thought, as there seems to be one movie that would've still stood above it: Gone with the Wind.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records (as pointed out by People), Gone with the Wind would've earned $3.44 billion at the box office, if adjusted for inflation by today's ticket prices.

That little factoid will no doubt fuel arguments by Marvel haters, who are looking for any way possible to knockdown Avengers: Endgame's accomplishments. However, there is an asterisk hanging over this statement that Gone with the Wind is still the true box office king, besides the obvious debate about whether or not inflation counts: and that's the subject of re-releases.

Gone with the Wind had seven national releases between its initial run in 1939, and 1974, which is 35 years of opportunity to add to its theatrical total. Avengers: Endgame has gotten one boosting "Re-Release" before its initial theatrical run was done, and three decades is a long time to make up the difference in earnings. To be honest, this game of "King of the Mountain" is going to keep taking incremental turns based on questionable factors, for a long time to come. Even as Avengers: Endgame surpasses Avatar for the worldwide title, talk has already moved to how Avatar could re-release in theaters before Avatar 2 arrives, and thereby help that franchise take back the crown with additional earnings. Say another Gone with the Wind anniversary arrives and that film gets a national re-release? You see where this is going...

In all likelihood, Gone with the Wind isn't likely to be a film that gets trotted out often, if ever. You can check out the synopsis below, but in the era where America is having actual clashes over Confederate monuments still standing in public places, Gone with the Wind represents an era that may no longer be as celebrated. If you don't know, here's what the movie is about:

"Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie."

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.