Introducing the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club
From the time-hopping Delorean in Back to the Future to the turbo charged speedsters of the Fast and the Furious franchise cars have been stars in Hollywood for decades.
But while we could all name our favourite car movie how many of us really have a clue which cars have generated the most dosh when it comes to cold hard cash at the Box Office.
Here at LeaseCar.uk we decided to grab the steering wheel firmly with both hands and put the pedal to the metal to find out once and for all which cars have been Hollywood’s biggest box office stars.
After some painstaking research, and many hours of watching movies armed with a stop watch, we can now reveal our findings and name the world’s biggest car movie stars for the very first time ever, anywhere.
What we found may surprise you. It emerged that just nine cars can claim membership of an exclusive club, the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club.
These are the motors that played a significant role in a billion-dollar movie or billion dollar franchise. To qualify the cars had to be a part of the action – being in the background in a traffic scene was never going to cut it.
Our findings shocked even us. Who would have predicted that old Jeep from Jurassic Park was the biggest box office car ever? We didn’t see it coming. Jurassic Park is one of the highest earning franchises grossing well over $4b and the Jeep plays a significant part in the movie with more screen time than any other single vehicle we studied. In the first Jurassic Park movie (which took over a billion on its own) the Jeep was on screen for almost a fifth of the movie – meaning we credited it with $200m in box office takings.
Other surprising members of the club include the 1912 Renault Type CB Coupe from Titanic. This lovely vintage car played a significant part in the movie, as Rose (Kate Winslet) stepped out of it to make her grand entrance. It was also the scene of a rather steamy tryst between Rose and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio). We didn’t expect it to make the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club because it isn’t part of a wider franchise but the one movie alone was a huge smash with Box Office takings of more than $2billion so we couldn’t ignore it.
Is your favourite movie car on our list?
While all the movies and franchises on the list are smash hits in the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club, some out shine the others. Here’s how the franchises stack up against each other:
- Harry Potter franchise – $8.5 billion at the box office
First through the doors at the billion-dollar box office club are the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, Ron and Hermione managed an eye watering $8.5 billion at the box office over the course of eight films, making them the best of the best. The flying Ford Anglia represents the franchise on our list. - James Bond franchise – $7.7 billion at the box office
Slick suits and his irresistible charm were not enough to get 007 top spot. However, over 25 films and 56 years James Bond has more than deserved his membership to the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club. With the highest grossing movie, Skyfall, making over a billion alone at the box office Mi6 won’t be recalling this agent for some time. - Star Wars franchise – $7.5 billion at the box office
The intergalactic epic has secured their membership to the club with $7.5 billion made from over 10 movies (and counting). With ever growing demand for video game spin offs, toys and merchandise it can safely be said that the force is strong with this one. - Fast and the Furious franchise – $5.1 billion at the box office
Expensive cars, explosions and The Rock fist fighting Vin Diesel. It really doesn’t get more macho than the Fast franchise. The super car driving, beer drinking, bank heisting crew of Dominic Toretto have pulled in over $5 billion at the box office over years, more than deserving of their place in this elite association. - Transformers Franchise – $4.3 billion at the box office
The Autobots and Decepticons are the next members with Michael Bay’s epic franchise about morphing motorcars getting a hefty $4.3 billion. We focused on Bumblebee for our research – a Chevy Camaro. - Jurassic Park Franchise – $4.1 billion at the box office
While prehistoric in setting, there’s nothing behind the times about Jurassic Park’s box office numbers. The recently rebooted franchise has managed a staggering $4 billion since the Park’s inception back in 1993. Good job the Billion Dollar Movie Car Club is T – Rex friendly.
The Winner
