HBO Max pulled “Gone with the Wind,” the 1939 film that’s been called “the biggest blockbuster in American history,” from its library of streaming films. It quickly shot to the top of the list of best-selling movies and TV shows on Amazon.
Other editions of the film also made the top-ten list on Amazon Wednesday, ranking #8 and #9. It’s also at the top of the “Romance” category on Amazon. The movie won 10 Academy Awards, one of which was earned by Hattie McDaniel, making her the first African-American to be nominated for and win an Oscar.
Topping the bestselling list on Amazon Wednesday is not the first indication of the movie’s popularity. Entertainment Weekly estimated that 202 million people have watched “Gone with the Wind” in theaters, between the movie’s original release and subsequent re-releases. When the movie aired on NBC in 1976, 65 percent of television audiences watched it, making it the “most-watched program ever” at the time, according to the New York Post. And the Margaret Mitchell House, where the novel “Gone with the Wind” was written and where fans can see props and pieces of the movie’s set, still receives about 33,000 visitors every year.
Adjusted for inflation, “Gone with the Wind” remains the highest-grossing film in history, according to Business Insider.
