10 Highest Grossing Sci-Fi Films Of All Time (Adjusted For Inflation)

1. Avatar

E T BOX OFFICE
20th Century Fox

ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION: $3.263 billion

ORIGINAL BOX OFFICE: $2.79 billion

James Cameron may be the King of Sci-Fi - having proved himself with original ideas such as The Terminator while also helming sequels such as Aliens - and thanks to Titanic he may have had the highest grossing film of all time under his belt, but no one could have predicted the success of Avatar.

The tale of Jake Sully and the Na'vi may have been the biggest risk of James Cameron's career as it cost $237 million just to bring this GCI world of Pandora to life and there was no guarantee that it would make this money back.

Unlike the sequels of Jurassic Park and Star Wars, there was no previous nostalgia to draw in audiences and it was based on no existing intellectual property but it still ultimately managed to become the highest grossing sci-fi film of all time with a staggering $3.263 billion.

Contributor

An avid cinephile, love Trainspotting (the film, not the hobby), like watching bad films ironically (The Room, Cats) and hate my over-reliance on brackets (they’re handy for a quick aside though).