10 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time

10. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (2011)

In spite of a mixed reception that criticized the script writing and lack of originality, it received good reviews on acting and visuals. At the end of the day the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie broke numerous records and grossed over $1 billion.

9. “Toy Story 3” (2010)

Breaking numerous records, “Toy Story 3” was nominated for 5 academy awards and ended up grossing approximately $1 billion dollars in the world wide box office.

8. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006)

Praised for its special effects but criticized for its plot and running time, the film grossed over $1 billion dollars and was Walt Disney Pictures greatest success for nearly six years until the “Avengers” (#3) took that title.

7. “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)

Although Christopher Nolan was at first hesitant to come back for a second time to direct “Dark Night Rises”, the film went on to gross over $1 billion in the worldwide box office, surpassing “The Dark Knight”.

6. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)

At the time it was only the second film to ever gross over $1 billion dollars and it became Time Warner’s greatest cinematic success until being surpassed by “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Part 2 (#4)

5. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011)

Although critical reception of the film was mostly negative, Michael Bay’s third Transformers film went on to gross $1.1 billion.

4. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Part 2 (2011)

As final installment of the Harry Potter series this film is one of 6 Harry Potter films on this list and managed to pull in $1.3 billion at the world wide box office.

3. “Marvel’s The Avengers” (2012)

As the fastest film to ever reach the $1 billion mark it ended up grossing over $1.5 billion worldwide.

2. “Titanic” (1997)

Grossing $2.1 billion in the world wide box office James Cameron earned himself a spot as one of the most lucrative producers in history with this film.

1. “Avatar” (2009)

As if producing “Titanic” weren’t enough, Cameron came back and did it again in 2009 when “Avatar” grossed $2.7 billion.

b)Two teams. One team supports advantages and the other – disadvantages of each movie from the list.

c) What other movies do you consider should be included in the list? Why?

Film terms and vocabulary

Exercise 9. Do you know the words given below? Use the following patterns to make up

your own phrases.

1. Reluctant – slow and unwilling

tobe reluctant to dosmth.

Ex.: She gave a reluctant smile.

Maddox was reluctant to talk about it.

2. Endure – to be in a difficult or painful situation for a long time without complaining

Ex.: It seemed impossible that anyone could endure such pain.

endure doingsmth.

Ex.: He can’t endure being apart from me.

endure – to remain alive or continue to exist for a long time

Ex.:friendships which endure over many years

2. Encounter – to experience something, especially problems or opposition

Ex.: They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured.

2. Pursue – continue doing an activity or trying to achieve something over a long period of time

Ex.: Students should pursue their own interests, as well as do their school work.

2. Benefit from – if you benefit from something or it benefits you, it gives you an advantage, improves your life, or helps you in some way

Ex.: They are working together to benefit the whole community.

Many thousands have benefited from the new treatment.

Exercise 10. Look at the English film terms and make your own examples with them.

	MEANING	EXAMPLE
blockbuster	a movie that is popular and makes a lot of money	“Titanic” is one of the most successful blockbusters that has ever been made.
bomb	a movie that is not popular and makes little money	That movie is a bomb. It isn’t worth seeing. Even though the studio spent $50 million on that movie, it was a bomb.
coming attraction	the advertisement for a new movie that tries to make people interested in seeing it	A: I really like watching the coming attractions, to get an idea of which movies I want to see. B: Really? I hate those!
screen adaptation	a movie based on a book	The screen adaptations of the Harry Potter books have been excellent. The worst type of movies are screen adaptations, because they are never as good as the books.
flick	a movie	Do you want to catch a flick tonight? Have you seen any good flicks lately?
give something two thumbs up	show that you thought a movie was excellent	A: Did you enjoy the movie “Inception”? B: For sure! I give it two thumbs up. A: Okay, maybe I’ll go and see it then.
gripping	very interesting	The last book I read was so gripping that I couldn’t put it down. I thought the movie “Inception” was really gripping. I couldn’t stop watching it!
hype	a lot of positive publicity	A: Have you seen “Titanic”? B: No, I usually avoid movies that have too much hype. Should I see it? A: No.
live up to expectations	be as good as someone thought something would be	I thought the movie was going to be better than that. It totally didn’t live up to my expectations.
mind-blowing	overwhelmingly amazing or impressive	The Niagara Falls are mind-blowing. They are definitely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
plug something	advertise something	Beer companies always plug their products during sports events.
sold out	have no more tickets available	The show last night was sold out, so I couldn’t go.
upcoming	soon to happen	The upcoming Olympics will be exciting.
write-up	a review of a product, movie, restaurant or other kind of entertainment	A: Do you want to go to that new movie, “The Devil Wears Black Pants”? B: No, not really. A: Why not? B: I’ve read the write-up. It got terrible reviews.

Exercise 11. Fill in the missing prepositions where necessary.

1. We are looking … new sources … revenue.

2. You will benefit … his good example.

3. In “The Virgin Spring” the father takes revenge … his daughter’s killers.

4. “I’m not in this world to live … … your expectations and you’re not in this world to live … … mine.” (Bruce Lee)

5. There isn’t much interest … the news programmes … the part … younger people.

6. The euro dropped … value … the foreign exchange markets … last Tuesday.

7. How is that relevant … our discussion?

8. The prize was a reward … all his hard work.

9. As a writer you always have to be very careful not to sacrifice … character to the needs … plot.

10. Contrary … popular belief, Shakespeare’s plays are full … prose.

Exercise 12. Match the synonyms.

1. bomb A. advertise

2. endureB. profit

3. contraryC. failure

4. plugD. wonderful

5. write-up E. exciting

6. grippingF. hug

7. liveuptoexpectationsG. wish

8. benefitH. publicity

9. particularlyI. survive

10. embraceJ. satisfy

11. hypeK. catastrophe

12. mind-blowingL. especially

13. enhanceM. opposite

14. disasterN. review

15. desireO. intensify