Top 50 most watched movies of all time

The 70s rock and roll musical Grease is the most watched film of all time.

Our OnePoll study of 2,000 British adults put the story of good girl Sandy and greaser Danny’s high school romance at number one, thanks to its catchy songs and memorable performances.

Set in 1958 and starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the 1978 smash hit thrilled audiences upon its release becoming that year’s highest-grossing movie.

Nearly forty years later it is still watched in homes up and down the country today and has resulted in huge record sales along with successful stage shows.

Second place in our survey is time travelling caper, Back to the Future, closely followed by eighties romance Dirty Dancing in third.

Remarkably – despite being one of the highest grossing films of all-time, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope – is all the way down in 24th place – behind the likes of Love Actually and Mary Poppins.

The most popular film among men is Back to the Future, followed by Steven Spielberg’s classic swashbuckling tale, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Nerve jangling adventure, Jurassic Park – more cinematic magic from Spielberg – is third in the list, while the original Star Wars movie faired a little better coming seventh.

Grease is solidly first place for women while Dirty Dancing is second. Third place belongs to Richard Curtis’ Christmas romance, Love Actually.

Despite romance featuring heavily at the top of the poll, people surveyed said their favourite genre of film is action and adventure, followed by comedy and sci-fi. Romance came sixth.

Our survey also found the average Brit watches 5.51 movies every month and goes to the cinema six times a year.

Nine in 10 people prefer to watch flicks on their TVs when at home, although more than a third watch films on mobiles, tablets and laptops.

Perhaps surprisingly, terrestrial TV is the main way respondents get their movie fix with six in 10 respondents opting to watch movies this way.

DVD is preferred by nearly half of those polled, while four in 10 prefer to go to the cinema.