Post-2000 films made the most, with the exception of The Exorcist

Besides The Exorcist, the top five highest-grossing Warner Bros. films all appeared after 2000. Following The Exorcist, the second most-lucrative film pre-2000s was 1978’s Superman. It brought in about $300 million during the year of its release, equivalent to $1.3 billion today.

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Two other pre-2000s movies that cleaned up at the box office are Twister and The Matrix. Twister grossed $495.7 million worldwide in 1996. That translates to $950.4 million today. The Matrix, which debuted in 1999, made $465.9 million, or $841.4 million adjusted for inflation.

Warner Bros.’ first feature film was My Four Years in Germany, released in 1918 amid World War I. That effort, a firsthand account of the US ambassador to Germany’s experiences during the Great War, is now considered a propaganda movie. It grossed an impressive $1.5 million in 1918, the equivalent of $29.8 million today.

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