A week of statistics is in store for you.
We all watch a lot of movies but few of us ever really follow their success. We know which films are popular but are they performing at the box office?
Each year I look at box-office listings and am always surprised by at least one entry on the list.
So if you consider yourself a bit of a trivia buff, have a crack at this sampling of movie box-office questions. Remember, the most obvious answer isn’t always the right one. The answers are at the very bottom of the email.
1. What is the highest grossing film in U.S. history?
(a) Titanic
(b) Star Wars
(c) Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
(d) Jurassic Park
2. What is the highest grossing film in U.S. history, adjusting for inflation?
(a) Star Wars
(b) The Sound Of Music
(c) Gone With The Wind
(d) The Godfather
3. What was the highest grossing film of the 1980s in the U.S.?
(a) E.T.
(b) Raiders Of The Lost Ark
(c) Return Of The Jedi
(d) Batman
4. What was the highest grossing film of 2004, worldwide?
(a) Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban
(b) Spider-Man 2
(c) The Passion Of The Christ
(d) Shrek 2
5. What is the highest grossing animated film in U.S. history, adjusting for inflation?
(a) Snow White & The Seven Dwarves
(b) The Jungle Book
(c) 101 Dalmatians
(d) Fantasia
6. Which of the following actors has the highest average box-office (as taken as the average of the films they have appeared in)?
(a) Tom Hanks
(b) Harrison Ford
(c) Eddie Murphy
(d) Leonardo DiCaprio
7. What is the highest grossing foreign language film of all time, worldwide?
(a) The Passion Of The Christ
(b) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(c) Life Is Beautiful
(d) Hero
8. Which one of the following films, released in 1994, made less than $30m at the U.S. box office?
(a) Four Weddings And A Funeral
(b) Forrest Gump
(c) Pulp Fiction
(d) The Shawshank Redemption
9. What is the highest grossing Australian made film at the Australian box-office?
(a) Babe
(b) Moulin Rouge
(c) Crocodile Dundee
(d) Crocodile Dundee 2
10. In 2003, I saw roughly 200 movies at the cinema. In Australia, the average number of movies seen per person was?
(a) 0.5
(b) 2.5
(c) 4.5
(d) 6.5
11. In Australia, for every year between 1972 and 2003, which age group has gone to the cinema most often?
(a) 14-24 year olds
(b) 25-34 year olds
(c) 35-49 year olds
(d) 50+ year olds
12. Over the past 15 years in Australia, who has gone to the movies more?
(a) Males
(b) Females
Hope you enjoyed the challenge. Once again, the answers are at the very bottom of this email.
I’ll now insert a bunch of spaces (as opposed to more frivolous padding).
1. (a), 2. (c), 3. (a), 4. (d), 5. (b), 6. (b), 7.(a), 8. (d), 9. (c), 10. (c), 11. (a), 12. (b).