From 'Avatar' to 'Shrek 2': Assessing the biggest U.S. box office hits

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As Jurassic World continues its seemingly inevitable march towards the top of the all-time domestic box office charts, I am struck by many things. I have yet to meet a single person who loved the movie, although I have met few who haven't seen it. It's as if we all went out of cultural obligation and dutiful loyalty to the original film, from which this one ripped off liberally.

The all-time list used to mean something. Movies like E.T., Star Wars, Jaws and yes, the original Jurassic Park, represented genuine cultural phenomenons, films that people went to see over-and-over again because they truly struck a nerve.

Now, thanks to inflationary movie ticket prices, a thoroughly forgettable movie can make $300 million and a film that grosses $200 million can be deemed a disappointment and $90 million can be a flop.

Just for my own amusement, I decided to take a look at the films that currently rank as the highest grossing films ever in the U.S. -- keep in mind if the true number of ticket sales were taken into account this list would look very different.

1) Avatar (2009) $760.5 million: James Cameron's epic 3-D adventure really has faded from my memory. I saw it once and remember being very impressed by its visuals. But I am curious how well they hold up now. The story, however, doesn't hold up quite as well for me. And I've always been fascinated by the fact that it's star -- the blandly handsome Sam Worthington -- was never able to capitalize on its success with a sustained career as a leading man. Quite frankly its dominance sort of stupefies me.

2) Titanic (1997) $658.7 million: I was never a fan of Cameron's other behemoth movie but then again, I was clearly never the intended audience. I will say this -- this film definitely dominated the entire movie landscape from late '97 through the first half of '98. I don't recall anything else quite like it. Although I only saw it because a high school buddy and I couldn't sneak into Wild Things, I appreciated the scale of it. It's watchable but the cheese factor is hard to stomach.

3) The Avengers (2012) $623.6 million:  Barely holding onto third place is this -- forgive the pun, marvel. This elaborate production united the stars of several other superhero franchise movies and worked like gangbusters because writer-director Joss Whedon wisely kept the focus on character and his eclectic cast, led by the invaluable Robert Downey, Jr. A bonafide classic summer movie that really set the bar high for its sequel and all the Marvel movies that followed.

The Dark Knight

4) Jurassic World (2015) $611.2 million: I've already made my thoughts pretty clear on this one -- I didn't like it -- and in fact, I like it less the more I think about it. Look, I love Chris Pratt and I'm all for big dumb action movies -- but this was such an exercise in derivative nostalgia that it's hard for me not to roll my eyes at its success. For all its nifty effects it was yet another movie about how women should really settle down and learn to love kids. Yawn.

5) The Dark Knight (2008) $534.9 million: The first film on this list so far I would comfortably call a masterpiece. This relentlessly thrilling and ambitious movie really elevated what a so-called superhero movie could be and provided audiences with one of the all-time great performances. When I catch it on TV I still get hooked.

6) The Phantom Menace (1999) $474.5 million: Every Star Wars fan on the planet should be appalled that this atrocity, easily the worst film in the entire canon, is technically the most financially successful here in the U.S. Clearly, its success is due in part to an audience that had been deprived of a new Star Wars film for 16 long years. But this is the best George Lucas could do? I have refused to watch it over the years since, I just can't deal.

7) Star Wars (1977) $460.9 million: Due to several successful re-releases over the years, this is the only film released more than 20 years ago to break into the top 10 and its cultural impact can't be understated. While film snobs will forever blame this blockbuster for destroying Earth-bound narrative movies, it's hard not to be charmed by its wit, creativity and star-making performance from Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

8) The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) $455.9 million: This sequel attempted two things that didn't quite work -- a more serious tone and more characters. That said, I thought it was a lot of fun, again thanks to the cast which makes these absurd movies as believable as they can be. Still, this one felt a little bloated and at times I felt like it was made for the comic book geeks instead of the general audience. And Mark Ruffalo's Hulk has achieved iconic status for a reason.

9) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) $448.1 million: This terrific series finale was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic shooting at a Tuscon theater showing it and the total domination of The Avengers, which came out first. But this film is just bursting with ideas and indelible performances. Anne Hathaway has never been more likable, Tom Hardy was a force of nature and both Christian Bale and Michael Caine do some beautiful acting opposite each other in this powerful epic.

10) Shrek 2 (2004) $441.2 million: Now, this is a random one. This always feels like relic from a very different time. The voice acting talents of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy -- where did those guys disappear to? I vaguely remember seeing this in theaters and thinking virtually all of it was overkill from the ogre-donkey banter to Antonio Banderas' debut as Puss In Boots, actually ...that was pretty damn cute now that I think about it.