List of Highest Grossing Films Worldwide all the time

Title	Studio	Gross World-Wide	Year	Rank
Avatar	20th Century Fox	$2,781,132,032	2009	1
Titanic	Lightstorm Entertainment	$1.843,201,268	1997	2
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	New Line Cinema	$1,119,110,941	2003	3
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest	Walt Disney Pictures	$1,066,179,725	2006	4
Toy Story 3	Walt Disney Pictures Pixar	$1,063,161,943	2010	5
Alice in Wonderland	Walt Disney Pictures	$1,024,299,722	2010	6
The Dark Knight	Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films, Warner Bros.	$1,001,921,825	2008	7
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone	Warner Bros. Heyday Films, 1492 Pictures	$974,733,550	2001	8
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End	Walt Disney Pictures	$960,996,492	2007	9
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Warner Bros, Heyday Films	$938,212,738	2007	10

It may be interest to note that within the Top 50 films, 80% were released after the year 2000 and there are no films that were released before 1977 within the list.   This is due to the inflation of ticket-prices, size of the population, and also ticket purchasing trends.
Just like Professional Athletes, the earnings of Movie Stars is often controversial especially when compared to executive pay, it can seem extortionate.  However, as long as people are prepared to visit the cinemas, watch movies, rent or buy DVD’s, and pay for downloads on the internet, the movie stars will continue to be paid exorbitant amounts.  With plenty of star presence, and occasionally a degree of acting talent, a high profile actor can determine the success of a film’s financial success at the box office.