The 15 most successful Oscar best-picture winners, ranked

As we draw closer to the 2016 Academy Awards on February 28, it's time to dive into the numbers and check out which of the best-picture winners are the biggest moneymakers of all time at the box office.

There are some obvious ones here, but thanks to inflation, there are a few titles that may surprise you — including a not-so-little film from the 1930s.

Here are the top 15.

15. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) $478.5 million — unadjusted $23 million

14. "Rocky" (1976) $478.8 million — unadjusted $117 million

13. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) $481 million — unadjusted $44.8 million

12. "West Side Story" (1961) $486 million — unadjusted $43.6 million

11. "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952) $522 million — unadjusted $36 million

10. "My Fair Lady" (1964) $522 million — unadjusted $72 million

9. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003) $536 million — unadjusted $377 million

8. "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956) $562 million — unadjusted $42 million

7. "Forrest Gump" (1994) $683 million — unadjusted $330 million

6. "The Godfather" (1972) $686 million — unadjusted $134 million

5. "The Sting" (1973) $775 million — unadjusted $156 million

4. "Ben-Hur" (1959) $852 million — unadjusted $74 million

3. "Titanic" (1997) $1.17 billion — unadjusted $658 million

2. "The Sound of Music" (1965) $1.23 billion — unadjusted $158 million

1. "Gone with the Wind" (1939) $1.75 billion — unadjusted $198 million

And the lowest-grossing best-picture winner?

That prize goes to "The Hurt Locker" (2009), which earned $19.5 million (unadjusted $17 million).