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Is Gone With the Wind the highest grossing movie of all-time because of Air Conditioning?
Posted on 8/11/26 at 10:02 pm
Posted on 8/11/26 at 10:02 pm
The Fat Electrician did an episode on the history of Air Conditioning and he says that you can make the argument that Air Conditioning is responsible for the rise of the movie industry and Hollywood because movie theaters were one of the first industries to adopt the air conditioner. People didn't go to the movies because they wanted to watch the films, they went because they could sit in the air conditioning for 2 hours and get out of the heat (which could be a correlation to the Summer blockbuster season, as that's the time of year that hollywood would sell the most tickets, and Hollywood is an industry resistant to change).
Now, taking that into consideration: if people were willing to buy tickets to sit in the A/C for two hours, then how tempting would it be to buy a ticket for a 4 hour movie and be able to get out of the summer heat for the duration of the hottest part of the day? We know that people bought tickets to see GWTW multiple times to garner such high sells, and this is probably the most likely explanation for doing so.
Just something that crossed my mind while watching his video.
If you haven't seen it, or don't know who he is, then here it is. I suggest watching his back catalog, as he is one of the most entertaining story tellers when it comes to history and historical figures.
Now, taking that into consideration: if people were willing to buy tickets to sit in the A/C for two hours, then how tempting would it be to buy a ticket for a 4 hour movie and be able to get out of the summer heat for the duration of the hottest part of the day? We know that people bought tickets to see GWTW multiple times to garner such high sells, and this is probably the most likely explanation for doing so.
Just something that crossed my mind while watching his video.
If you haven't seen it, or don't know who he is, then here it is. I suggest watching his back catalog, as he is one of the most entertaining story tellers when it comes to history and historical figures.
Posted on 8/11/26 at 10:07 pm to magildachunks
I remember watching a YouTube video that explained people going to the movies because they had air conditioning.
Posted on 8/11/26 at 10:24 pm to magildachunks
quote:I love his tats
he is one of the most entertaining story tellers when it comes to history and historical figures
Posted on 8/11/26 at 11:10 pm to magildachunks
And handjobs
Posted on 8/12/26 at 3:04 am to dchog
Going to the movies for the air conditioning was definitely a thing for quite awhile. It certainly helped make the theater very popular in the early decades of film.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 5:03 am to magildachunks
quote:
Just something that crossed my mind while watching his video.
By Jove, you've broken the case!
Posted on 8/12/26 at 6:34 am to magildachunks
Certainly a factor.
Funny. I was literally thinking the other day about how movie theaters were some of the first consumer venues to advertise AC as a selling point to draw patrons.
Funny. I was literally thinking the other day about how movie theaters were some of the first consumer venues to advertise AC as a selling point to draw patrons.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 6:37 am to magildachunks
Should be a lot more older films on this list if true,
quote:
Top U.S. Movies by Estimated Ticket Sales
Gone with the Wind (1939): ~202.2 million tickets
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977): ~178.1 million tickets
The Sound of Music (1965): ~142.4 million ticket
E..T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982): ~141.8 million tickets
Titanic (1997): ~135.5 million tickets
Posted on 8/12/26 at 7:49 am to magildachunks
The AC box office is an Interesting theory.
I know when I was a new father, and it would be my afternoon to take a break, I'd go to the movies and take a damn nap.
Matinee price, 2 hours in the dark, uninterrupted and nobody looks twice at a solo movie goer.
I can guarantee you in 1939 at least some of the ticket sales were for the AC and quiet and not the movie itself. Although probably not enough to account for it's status.
I know when I was a new father, and it would be my afternoon to take a break, I'd go to the movies and take a damn nap.
Matinee price, 2 hours in the dark, uninterrupted and nobody looks twice at a solo movie goer.
I can guarantee you in 1939 at least some of the ticket sales were for the AC and quiet and not the movie itself. Although probably not enough to account for it's status.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 9:49 am to Philzilla2k
quote:That's the thing. Movie theaters didn't require you to leave between showings. You could pay to see any film and sit through two or three screenings.
Should be a lot more older films on this list if true
And if I was looking to cool off, I'd go see Jimmy Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner, set in Hungarian snowy winter, and not watch people sweat through the burning of Atlanta.
It's not a case of "Gone With the Wind ain't that great." Even with other films getting a similar boost from AC, GWTW excelled beyond them.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 9:52 am to magildachunks
Well that probably did move people to theaters, but movies also ran for a long time in theaters. Obviously no home media option until really 80s, outside of airing on broadcast TV starting in maybe 50s.
Internet says initial theatrical run was 185 days, but then it was released again in the following years
1942
1947
1954
1961
1967 (70mm version)
1971
1989 (50th anniversary restoration)
1998 (restored theatrical release)
It also helped there were a lot of people alive at release that lived or just 1 generation removed from Civil War. Gone with the Wind was also an epic film, compared to movies at that time.
Internet says initial theatrical run was 185 days, but then it was released again in the following years
1942
1947
1954
1961
1967 (70mm version)
1971
1989 (50th anniversary restoration)
1998 (restored theatrical release)
It also helped there were a lot of people alive at release that lived or just 1 generation removed from Civil War. Gone with the Wind was also an epic film, compared to movies at that time.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 9:53 am to magildachunks
Not really.
-If this was the primary driving factor then every movie of the time would be in the top 10 adjusted grossing for the same reason
-Similar to 8 minute abs being cut down to 7 minutes, if a 4-hour movie was the golden ticket why wouldn't filmmakers start making 5 hour movies to get people buying more tickets to their movies?
-If I'm not mistaken, at one point in the last 40 or 50 years GWTW was one of the best selling books in history behind the Bible. It started selling the minute it was released and won a Pulitzer. AC or not, people loved the shite out of the story so it's not surprising they'd also want to go see the movie.
-If this was the primary driving factor then every movie of the time would be in the top 10 adjusted grossing for the same reason
-Similar to 8 minute abs being cut down to 7 minutes, if a 4-hour movie was the golden ticket why wouldn't filmmakers start making 5 hour movies to get people buying more tickets to their movies?
-If I'm not mistaken, at one point in the last 40 or 50 years GWTW was one of the best selling books in history behind the Bible. It started selling the minute it was released and won a Pulitzer. AC or not, people loved the shite out of the story so it's not surprising they'd also want to go see the movie.
Posted on 8/12/26 at 9:58 am to magildachunks
Using that logic, why is it still been played?
It's a fantastic movie. Not totally faithful to the book but Scarlet O'Hara is a great survival story about a spoil brat dealing with losing everything and only using her wits survives and thrives when other people around her are folding like lawn chairs.
It's a fantastic movie. Not totally faithful to the book but Scarlet O'Hara is a great survival story about a spoil brat dealing with losing everything and only using her wits survives and thrives when other people around her are folding like lawn chairs.
Posted on 8/14/26 at 10:58 pm to DarthRebel
quote:
Well that probably did move people to theaters, but movies also ran for a long time in theaters. Obviously no home media option until really 80s, outside of airing on broadcast TV starting in maybe 50s.
Internet says initial theatrical run was 185 days, but then it was released again in the following years
1942
1947
1954
1961
1967 (70mm version)
1971
1989 (50th anniversary restoration)
1998 (restored theatrical release)
So that's where James Cameron learned it from.
Big difference though is that his movies have long theatrical runs, and numerous re-releases, but they also premier in thousands of theaters, whereas GTWW only ran in 37 theaters in it's 1941 run. And that was it's wide-release.
1940 it had only roadshow engagements at the price of $1 a ticket, double the normal price of movie tickets. The prices were lowered to the standard 50 cents for the wide release.
Posted on 8/15/26 at 4:18 am to BitBuster
quote:
can guarantee you in 1939 at least some of the ticket sales were for the AC
It opened on December 15, 1939. Unless it was hot hot and they played it on a thousand screens in Atlanta, not sure they sold that many tickets in 15 days. Maybe you meant the summer of 1940 and 1941.
Posted on 8/15/26 at 10:40 am to magildachunks
quote:uhhh, No
Is Gone With the Wind the highest grossing movie of all-time because of Air Conditioning?
Not even close
A/C was installed in theaters beginning in 1925. GWTW was released in 1939, 14 years later. People didnt wait 14 years to suddenly realize theaters were cooled
Also, the film was released in December. No one was buying tickets based on the outside temps
Posted on 8/15/26 at 11:02 am to DarthRebel
quote:this release was the raison d’etre of the legendary Atlanta movie house Loew’s Tara, which showed it exclusively for months following their grand opening in 1968
1967 (70mm version)
also the theater in which i saw Star Wars when it came out 9 years later
Posted on 8/15/26 at 11:14 am to DarthRebel
i saw it in the theater in 1971 with my sister in fort smith arkansas at the malco theater in the central mall i was 10.
it's first televised release was in 1976 oh hbo, i'd heard about this movie whole life but 71 was my first chance to see it, same was true of my my sister katy she was 14. so it was a big deal.
it's first televised release was in 1976 oh hbo, i'd heard about this movie whole life but 71 was my first chance to see it, same was true of my my sister katy she was 14. so it was a big deal.
Posted on 8/15/26 at 11:51 pm to magildachunks
quote:
which could be a correlation to the Summer blockbuster season,
Except summer was considered an off time for movies before Jaws in 1975, which was well after A/C was more wide spread
Posted on 8/16/26 at 12:10 am to magildachunks
There is a theory that the federal bureaucracy exploded with the development of air conditioning. Previously, everyone vacated Washington, DC in the summer because it was miserably hot and humid. After AC, they could stay in their offices making stupid rules and regulations and waste our money.
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