This classic epic about the Civil War made an insane amount of money when it was first released in 1939 — $189.5 million, to be precise. It’s even more impressive when considering that the cost of a movie ticket in 1939 was 23 cents! And that was just its initial release.
The movie has been re-released in theaters three more times — twice in the 1980s and, recently, a limited monthlong screening for its 80th anniversary in 2019 — which grossed another $11 million. And then overseas, “Gone with the Wind” made another $200 million.
Adjusted purely for inflation, and using Box Office Mojo’s numbers for its initial domestic and international sales (about $391 million), “Gone with the Wind” made the equivalent of $7 billion on a $70 million budget in today’s money.
More accurately, when accounting for inflation and taking the re-release dates into account, the film grossed about $3.5 billion in today’s dollars. It’s not just the highest-grossing war film of all time based on adjusted gross. It’s the highest-grossing domestic film of all time.
