All told there are just 170 movies that have earned at least $500 million in global theatrical receipts. So the era of the $500 million grosser didn't really get started until the turn of this century. It wasn’t just inflation that brought on the new age, it was also a massive expansion of the global box office. 40 such films have crossed the $500 million threshold. The biggest category of all, both in number of films and aggregate box office, is non-superhero action-adventure franchises.

Source: Forbes July 19, 2017 21:32 UTC