The 9 Highest-Grossing Movies Of All Time (Written Without Help From Wikipedia)

Wednesday, January 18 by
Honestly, I'd throw my support behind kicking toddlers if it meant I got the day off. 

As you probably know by now, Wikipedia has gone dark today in order to protest SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. Like thousands of other journalists, Screen Junkies writers use Wikipedia not as a final source in our research, but as a jumping-off point, with its claims noted, but always, always, verified using more reputable sources.

In an effort to demonstrate that Wikipedia is a helpful tool, but by no means the alpha and omega of our efforts, we thought we would run through the 9 highest-grossing films of all time while Wikipedia is shut down. I challenge our readers to spot any difference in the quality of research.

Let the games begin.

9. Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is of course based off a book of the same name, written by an author quite some time ago. The primary characters are Alice, Christopher Cat, the Wicked Queen, and the Mad Hatter. The film, despite being horrible, managed to gross millions of dollars, putting it in the #9 spot. To give you an idea of how much money this film grossed, imagine that for every dollar that it made, you stacked a ruler lengthwise on top of another ruler. The resulting tower of rulers would be many million feet tall!

8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stronger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean is a bit of a Cinderella story, in that many questioned not only how successful it would be, but why it was actually being made. No one wanted to take seriously a film that was based on a ride at Disneyworld or perhaps Disneyland. Maybe both. The first film, which was titled Pirates of the Caribbean: [SOMETHING], came a bit after Johnny Depp’s work on 21 Jump Street, but before his death. The film also starred Orlando Bloom, who I’m completely positive is dating that hot Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr. I don’t need Wikipedia to tell me who Miranda Kerr is banging.

Hmm. I know they were together like two years ago, but I also know it’s hard to stay faithful on movie sets. Especially with Salma Hayek and Keira Knightley around.

7. Toy Story 3

This was at least the 10th film by Pixar. Some of the other films they did were ANTZ, Bee Movie, and Shrek. This made more money than all of those films, possibly combined. Toy Story 3 was based on a script of the same name. Both the script and the film featured a cowboy, a deep sea diver named Hank, and myriad friends. This film also made millions of dollars. Steve Jobs was also involved in every Pixar movie. I believe he actually wrote the script for Mulan.

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