Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

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  • Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

    These are the Top 5 screenwriters of all time based on all their film's gross earnings.

    (They either wrote the script or did the story.)

    So if you want high concept ideas that sell ask these guys...

    1.) George Lucas (13 scripts): $2,978,255,128
    2.) Terry Rossio (14 scripts): $2,004,275,695
    3.) Ted Elliott (13 scripts): $1,940,237,079
    4.) David Koepp (18 scripts): $1,854,385,927
    5.) James Cameron ( 8 scripts): $1,288,281,162

  • #2
    Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

    Impressive, but high concept isn't something I, personally, would want to be locked into. Lucas said that he just wants to concentrate on smaller, more personal films from here on out.

    Met Ted and Terry once. Got more out of Terry though. They deserve their success. No doubt about it.
    "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
    -Maya Angelou

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

      Nice list. Not like the writers see a staggering percentage of that though.
      "I ask every producer I meet if they need TV specs they say yeah. They all want a 40 inch display that's 1080p and 120Hz. So, I quit my job at the West Hollywood Best Buy."
      - Screenwriting Friend

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      • #4
        Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

        Mason, maybe it's not their output, but what other people do with said output.
        "Witticism"
        -Some Guy

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

          True the writers on this list don't see a percentage of the grosses.
          (Except Lucas and Cameron who produced most of or all of their scripts.)

          True some of these scripts are not the best, but I'm just looking at how they made money or bombed.

          Now lets look at it by world wide grosses.

          Ticket sales in other countries really saved some of these films, that bombed in the states.

          WORLDWIDE GROSSES

          George Lucas (13) (Budget)
          1971 THX 1138 $2,437,000 ($777,000)
          1973 American Graffiti $115,000,000 ($777,000)
          1977 Star Wars $775,398,007 ($11,000,000)
          1980 The Empire Strikes Back $538,375,067 ($18,000,000)
          1981 Raiders of The Lost Ark $384,140,454 ($18,000,000)
          1983 Return of The Jedi $475,106,177 ($32,500,000)
          1984 Temple of Doom $333,107,271 ($28,000,000)
          1988 Willow $57,269,863 ($35,000,000)
          1989 The Last Crusade $474,171,806 ($48,000,000)
          1994 Radioland Murders $1,316,865 (NA) Bomb
          1999 The Phantom Menace $924,317,558 ($115,000,000)
          2002 Attack of The Clones $649,398,328 ($115,000,000)
          2005 Revenge of The Sith $849,997,605 ($113,000,000)

          12 Hits; 1 Bomb

          Next:
          2008 Indiana Jones 4

          Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott (15)
          1989 Little Monsters $793,775 (NA) Bomb
          1992 Aladdin $504,050,219 ($28,000,000)
          1994 The Puppet Master $8,647,042 (NA) Bomb
          1998 Godzilla $379,014,294 ($130,000,000)
          1998 Small Soldiers $54,682,547 ($40,000,000)
          1998 The Mask of Zorro $250,288,523 ($95,000,000)
          2000 The Road to El Dorado $76,432,727 ($95,000,000) Bomb
          2001 Shrek $484,409,218 ($60,000,000)
          2002 Treasure Planet $109,578,115 ($140,000,000) Bomb
          2003 The Curse of the Black Pearl $654,264,015 ($140,000,000)
          2004 National Treasure $347,451,894 ($100,000,000)
          2005 The Legend of Zorro $142,400,065 ($75,000,000)
          2006 Dead Man's Chest $1,066,179,725 ($225,000,000)
          2006 Deja Vu $180,538,616 ($75,000,000)*(Rossio)
          2007 At World's End $905,354,390 ($300,000,000)

          11 Hits; 4 Bombs

          Next:
          2007 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
          2008 The Spiderwick Chronicles

          David Koepp (18)
          1989 Apartment Zero $1,267,578 ($4,000,000) Bomb
          1990 Bad Influence $12,626,043 (NA) Bomb
          1991 Toy Soliders $15,073,942 (NA) Bomb
          1992 Death Becomes Her $149,022,650 ($55,000,000)
          1993 Jurassic Park $914,691,118 ($63,000,000)
          1993 Carlito's Way $63,848,322 ($30,000,000)
          1994 The Paper $48,424,341 (NA)
          1994 The Shadow $48,063,435 ($40,000,000)
          1996 Mission Impossible $457,696,359 ($80,000,000)
          1996 The Trigger Effect $3,622,979 ($8,000,000) Bomb
          1997 The Lost World $618,638,999 ($73,000,000)
          1998 Snake Eyes $103,891,409 ($73,000,000)
          1999 Stir of Echoes $21,142,914 ($12,000,000)
          2002 Panic Room $196,397,415 ($48,000,000)
          2002 Spiderman $821,708,551 ($139,000,000)
          2004 Secret Window $92,913,171 ($40,000,000)
          2005 War of The Worlds $591,745,528 ($132,000,000)
          2005 Zathura $64,321,501 ($65,000,000) Bomb

          13 Hits; 5 Bombs

          Next:
          2008 Indiana Jones 4

          James Cameron (8)
          1984 The Terminator $78,371,200 ($6,400,000)
          1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II $300,400,432 ($44,000,000)
          1986 Aliens $131,060,248 ($18,500,000)
          1989 The Abyss $90,000,098 ($41,000,000)
          1991 Terminator 2: Judgement Day $519,843,345 ($102,000,000)
          1994 True Lies $378,882,411 ($115,000,000)
          1995 Strange Days $7,959,291 ($42,000,000) Bomb
          1997 Titanic $1,845,034,188 ($200,000,000)

          7 Hits; 1 Bomb

          Next:
          2009 Avatar
          2009 Battle Angel

          Akiva Goldsman (12)
          1994 The Client $117,615,211 ($45,000,000)
          1994 Silent Fall $3,180,674 ($30,000,000) Bomb
          1995 Batman Forever $336,531,112 ($100,000,000)
          1996 A Time To Kill $152,266,007 ($40,000,000)
          1997 Batman and Robin $238,207,122 ($125,000,000)
          1998 Lost in Space $136,159,423 ($80,000,000)
          1998 Practical Magic $46,683,377 ($75,000,000) Bomb
          2001 A Beautiful Mind $313,542,341 ($58,000,000)
          2004 I Robot $347,234,916 ($120,000,000)
          2005 Cinderella Man $108,539,911 ($88,000,000)
          2005 Memoirs of a Geisha $162,242,962 ($85,000,000)
          2006 The Da Vinci Code $758,239,851 ($125,000,000)

          10 Hits; 2 Bombs

          Next:
          2007 I Am Legend

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

            Originally posted by mason
            The problem with those guys is that their output is so erratic. They can write one movie that's fantastic and then the next two scripts are really bad. So while there are scripts by each of those guys I love, there are also a lot of scripts by those guys that turned into really God awful movies.
            name someone with a hefty body of work that is considered stellar
            "you have to write right, right?" -- Todd Gordon

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            • #7
              Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

              The problem with those guys is that their output is so erratic. They can write one movie that's fantastic and then the next two scripts are really bad. So while there are scripts by each of those guys I love, there are also a lot of scripts by those guys that turned into really God awful movies.
              James Cameron's output is erratic? News to me.
              Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

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              • #8
                Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                What about a list of the Top 5 screenwriters of all time based on all their film's gross earnings adjusted for inflation? Or better yet, by ticket sales. This list seems heavily skewed to modern day writers, but I'd be willing to bet if inflation was factored in, you may see some different writers on that list. Ernest Lehman, perhaps? Billy Wilder?

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                • #9
                  Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                  Hits and bombs say less of a writer who keeps getting hired and more of the producer and director (and marketing team).
                  "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
                  -Maya Angelou

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                    WriteByNight, why are the producer, director and marketing department more important than the writer?
                    "Witticism"
                    -Some Guy

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                      Originally posted by cynicide View Post
                      WriteByNight, why are the producer, director and marketing department more important than the writer?
                      I think he's saying that they have more control over the final film than the writer.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                        <--- actually really liked Strange Days... in fact, I'd be inclined to agree Cameron has one hell of a track record when it comes to the quality of his produced work.

                        Roll on Battle Angel.
                        twitter.com/leespatterson

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                        • #13
                          Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                          I'd hardly say that putting Strange Days (Which he co-wrote and is watchable) in a list with The Abyss, Terminator I & II, Aliens, True Lies, Rambo II and Titanic makes his work "erratic"

                          James Cameron's career output is the stuff of legend. Most any screenwriter on the planet would die to have a resume like his. You're calling other people on a lack of taste?
                          Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                            Yeah, it's all in my mind. Because his films are not univerally acclaimed time after time by audiences and critics the world over, almost without exception, are they?
                            Last edited by Cycstorm; 07-06-2007, 06:56 PM.
                            Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Top 5 Screenwriters (All time film gross earnings)

                              Well I'm sorry, but I dissagree. I think James Cameron has an amazing ability to take a good concept and then write an intricate, detailed and compelling universe around it that not only fleshes it out to the full but adds new ideas and directions. (Aliens, Terminator II)

                              I also think that he is a very solid genre writer whose ideas are original and appealing (Terminator, The Abyss, True Lies). And I don't have a problem with the script for Titanic, and niether do most people. People don't go and see a film three or four times at the cinema, as millions did, because they think it is excellently directed. They go because they really love the story, and he wrote a great one. It takes a fascinating historical event with great lore and then fuses enough different elements to appeal to both genders of all ages, without ever betraying the world it is set in. I call that very skillful writing myself.
                              Last edited by Cycstorm; 07-07-2007, 07:22 AM.
                              Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

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