SOYOUWANNA KNOW THE TOP TEN HIGHEST-GROSSING MOVIES?

We usually associate blockbusters with those brainless summer movies: guns, explosions, sex, and tons of special effects. But the movies that actually make the most money usually touch a special chord with audiences. No matter how much money a studio pours into marketing, a bad film is still a bad film.

As a result, most of the films on this list are actually pretty good. Five of them were nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, and they cover a relatively wide range of genres (though they do skew a bit towards sci-fi).

Please note that while most of these films premiered during the 1990s, this is also when ticket prices were highest. If we were to adjust for inflation or count up the number of people that saw every movie, the list would be incredibly different, with Gone With the Wind blowing away the competition. Also note that these are the North America figures, completely ignoring Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and the bustling Antarctic movie scene. Finally, we're not counting video rentals, because that's a completely separate industry unto itself.

1. MOVIES 10 - 8

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Year released: 1999

The little kid who saw dead people had us all spooked last summer, but couldn't quite convince the Academy voters that he was the Best Supporting Actor of the year. Not that it can be called difficult to steal scenes from Bruce Willis. We'd say this one was mostly a word-of-mouth winner, which is the best kind, and it is a welcome addition to the top ten.

The location shooting for this film took place entirely in Pennsylvania, in both Blue Bell and Philadelphia. Director Shyamalan also wrote the quirky screenplay that kept everybody guessing. It was his third film, a previous film being Wide Awake, a movie about a kid who goes looking for God and thinks to ask Rosie O'Donnell. She directs him to Tom Cruise.

9. Independence Day - $306,000,000

Director: Roland Emmerich
Year released: 1996

Aliens blow up the White House, and the whole world gets together to kick some alien butt with all the nuclear weapons we've been stockpiling. More special effects, loud music, one-liners, a cast of thousands, and one tiny thread of a storyline. And in case you missed him in Jurassic Park, you get to see more of Jeff Goldblum as the action egghead character we have all come to love.

Co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich, the director of Stargate, the movie was one of a number of recent films that searched for a new bad guy. The departure of the Russians from the position left a void. Hollywood needed a group that was irremediably evil and lacking in sympathy. The aliens answered that need.

8. Return of the Jedi- $309,000,000

Director: Richard Marquand
Year released: 1983 & 1997

This third installment of the Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi is known for the introduction of characters such as Jabba the Hutt and the Ewoks, as well as finally revealing the face of Darth Vader. While diehard fans of the series will usually claim this to be the weakest episode, it still retains the spirit of the first two Star Wars movies.

Return of the Jedi was re-released in 1997 (along with the first two films) where it made an extra $46 million, bumping it into the top 10.

2. MOVIES 7 - 5

Directors: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Year released: 1994

It's not only animated, it's also pretentious! Yes, the "circle of life," a sort of kiddified Social Darwinism, comes across as "philosophy lite." But perhaps we're reading too much into it. Maybe it's just about cute lions, Elton John songs, and all the merchandizing that Michael Eisner could have dreamed up in his wildest corporate fantasies.

The Lion King was so successful that it spawned a Tony-winning Broadway musical, a TV spin-off for its two supporting characters (Timon the Meekrat and Pumbaa the Warthog), and a really comfortable line of Underroos. It was also the first Disney animated film based on an original story with no human characters.

6. Forrest Gump - $330,000,000

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year released: 1994

This is another movie based on a novel, and what's more, the author has also written a sequel that will undoubtedly be coming soon to a theater near you. The story about a guy who was "not a smart man," but always found a way to do the right (and historically significant) thing charmed audiences out of almost seven hundred million bucks.

The film's success can probably be attributed to two factors: 1) special effects that placed Tom Hanks in all sorts of historical footage, and 2) the romanticized nostalgia of Americana that the film evoked. The fact that the movie reveled in the last 50 years of American history as if it were the most important time in the history of the world drew some boos from critics, but boomers meshed with this flick like peas with carrots.

5. Jurassic Park - $357,000,000

Director: Steven Spielberg
Year released: 1993

The most fun movie of the summer of '93 was a big, bad dinosaur movie featuring the lizards that weren't there. Featuring groundbreaking use of computer animation, Jurassic Park made dinosaurs look more real than any other movie before it. Capturing a level of detail unseen to that point on the screen, there is not one scene in the entire movie that looks fake. Just try to find one.

Based on Michael Crichton's bestselling book, Jurassic Park actually remained quite true to the original story. The lesson to be learned: don't mess with a winning formula.

3. MOVIES 4 - 2

4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - $400,000,000

Director: Steven Spielberg
Year released: 1982

For many years, little E.T. held onto the top spot on our list, and it was almost unthinkable that movies would be made which would make more money. But records were made to be broken, after all. The movie did a fine job of launching the careers of its actors, two of whom (Drew Barrymore and Erika Eleniak) later went on to pose nude for Playboy magazine.

The script was actually written by Harrison Ford's wife, Melissa Mathison, and Ford initially had a role as the school principal. But Harrison was left on the cutting room floor in the end because Spielberg thought his presence was too distracting. People were fascinated with the biblical references in the story: E.T. descends from heaven to earth, Elliot's mom is a single woman named Mary, and he's got that crazy glowing (sacred?) heart and the power to heal. And they nearly crucified him in the end. It's the Christ story with a happy ending . . . thank you, Hollywood!

3. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - $431,000,000

Director: George Lucas
Year released: 1999

Imagine calling a movie a failure just because it doesn't make a billion dollars in two weeks. Can anyone say "unrealistic expectations?" Yet that's exactly what happened to poor Episode I. Having taken a 17-year hiatus between films, there was no way that George Lucas could ever please his audience.

A pre-pubescent Darth Vader and young girl queen Natalie Portman were all very cutesy, but the story kind of chewed. Instead of bumbling Ewoks, there is a long-eared tribe of futuristic primitives living underwater in a bubble world. What was George smoking?

2. Star Wars - $461,000,000

Directors: George Lucas
Year released: 1977 & 1997

The original space-tacular movie that spawned so many imitators, Star Wars was the first (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) and original chapter of the George Lucas brainchild that will be with us for many years to come. It'll also be known for its ridiculously simple plot and 7-year-old conception of good and evil. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Star Wars proved that young audiences are incredibly valuable. One of the first films to include outrageous merchandising tie-ins (who didn't have Star Wars sheets?), it changed the movie industry forever.

4. THE TOP GROSSING MOVIE OF ALL TIME

1.Titanic- $601,000,000

Director: James Cameron
Year released: 1998

Who amongst us hasn't seen this weepy, overblown melodrama of the sinking of the big ship? (Sorry to spoil the ending on you.) It started out making a strong (but not ridiculous) amount of money its first weekend out . . . but people kept returning to see it over and over again. It was the #1 movie in the U.S. for 13 weeks in a row.

Titanic is also #1 on the list of the most expensive movies ever made, and it turned out to be worth every penny. It wasn't entirely the teenage girls going to the movie eleven times each that brought in the big bucks (they probably made up a mere 80% of the audience). And while this movie's box office may seem to hold an unbreakable record, just wait until ticket prices are up to $25 a person . . .