India, July 6 -- Which is the most profitable film ever? The answer depends on how exactly you crunch the numbers. Is it the film that earned the most money for its studio or producers, or the one that earned the most in comparison to its budget? Both approaches are correct depending on what you are looking for. But somewhere in between is a third way that looks at a film's earnings over the years and decades. On this parameter, an all-time classic from over eight decades ago sits at the top.

Based on Margaret Mitchell's novel, the 1939 Victor Fleming film Gone With The Wind is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the film star...