Steven Spielberg Directed The Highest Grossing Movie Ever 42 Years Ago Before He Broke The Record Again

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a massive success, critically and financially. This was more than just a pop-cultural moment. E.T. broke records, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time in 1982 with a cumulative worldwide box office gross of $797,307,407 over the course of this film’s lifetime (via Box Office Mojo).

While it held this achievement for some time, in 1993, another film would take this title, and it would be from none other than Steven Spielberg himself. Spielberg is one of the biggest directors still working in the industry, with the newest Spielberg movie getting an official release date of May 15, 2026. Without Spielberg, there are no Indiana Jones, E.T., Jurassic Park, Jaws, and so many other cinematic achievements. It’s no wonder that multiple films of his have broken box office records; although, both of these movies would eventually be topped by James Cameron’s first Oscar-winning film.

Steven Spielberg helped define the summer blockbuster with Jaws back in 1975. However, this would not be Spielberg’s only blockbuster. Come 1982, Spielberg would make history once more, this time by directing a film that would have the highest box office ever. That movie was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which Spielberg thinks is a “pretty perfect” movie, as revealed in an interview with Stephen Colbert.

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To put E.T.‘s financial success into perspective, Star Wars: A New Hope’s initial box office in 1977 was $307,263,857, and E.T.’s initial box office in 1982 was $359,200,799 (via Box Office Mojo). Even with the 1982 re-release’s box office of $15,476,785, A New Hope could still not topple E.T.’s box office numbers of that same year.

Steven Spielberg Broke E.T.’s Box Office Record 11 Years Later With Jurassic Park

While Star Wars: A New Hope could not best E.T., another movie would take the top spot on this list by 1993 with over $600 million, and that film was Jurassic Park. Also directed by Spielberg, this movie is a pop-cultural moment. Unlike E.T., though, Jurassic Park would become a full-on franchise, still going on to this day. Meanwhile, an E.T. sequel never happened, as Spielberg wanted to preserve the original’s integrity.

There is the original Jurassic Park trilogy, which would eventually lead to the Jurassic World franchise in the 21st century. Initially a trilogy, there is a fourth film in the works titled Jurassic World: Rebirth. Along with this franchise still going on, the franchise is following in the original’s T-Rex-sized footsteps, with Jurassic World being one of the top all-time box office hits at $1,018,130,819.

Expanding the top 10 box office films worldwide to the top 100 on Box Office Mojo, Jurassic World’s followup films, Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, are on the list at numbers 22 and 55, respectively. Even Jurassic Park is still present at the 38th spot at $1,104,379,926 nowadays, but it is much further down than the film that originally usurped its position.

Steven Spielberg Only Held Onto Jurassic Park’s Record For Four Years

Titanic Stole Jurassic Park’s Place And Is Still A Box Office Darling

While it took 11 years for E.T. to be overtaken by Jurassic Park, it only held that spot for four years. The 1993 Spielberg film would succumb to none other than James Cameron’s Titanic in 1994. At the time of this writing, Titanic has a box office total of $2,264,750,694, a near $1 billion more than Jurassic Park’s box office (via Box Office Mojo).

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Along with that, Titanic is the only highest-grossing movie domestically to come out before the 21st century out of the top 10 films. It sits comfortably in ninth place domestically, right above Jurassic World, which has an estimated $20 million smaller domestic box office performance. Titanic would maintain its top position until 12 years later, when Cameron’s Avatar would take the top spot, almost repeating Spielberg’s trajectory while off by one year.

Jurassic Park & E.T. Are Still Steven Spielberg’s Biggest Box Office Hits

Jurassic Park Is Still In The Top 50 Worldwide Box Office

While Jurassic Park or E.T. are no longer in the top ten at the worldwide box office, they are still landmark films. E.T. was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, the first Best Picture nomination for Spielberg. Meanwhile, Jurassic Park, as mentioned above, has led to the expansive Jurassic Park and World franchise that’s still in full force and has been a financial success for decades.

Along with that, they are both Spielberg’s biggest box office hits. While E.T. and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull grossed a similar amount of money with an estimated $6 million difference in E.T.’s favor, Jurassic Park blows all of Spielberg’s other films out of the water, grossing an estimated $1 billion over time.

As reported by Collider, Spielberg is Hollywood’s highest-grossing director at the box office. Between his 33 films, his box office total is $10.7 billion worldwide. He is even ahead of James Cameron, who usurped Jurassic Park’s number one spot with Titanic in 1997, by $2 billion.

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There is no denying the impact Spielberg and his films have had on cinema and the public at large. No amount of money can quantify his significance as one of Hollywood’s most iconic directors; however, the numbers do emphasize what audiences and critics already know. Spielberg’s films have been and continue to be in high demand, with Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial being his top-grossing films of all time.

Source: Box Office Mojo, Collider