RANKED: The 10 highest-grossing summer blockbusters of all time

Universal via YouTube"Jaws."The modern summer blockbuster began in June 1975, when a young director named Steven Spielberg made us scared to go back into the water thanks to the thriller "Jaws."

Since then, audiences have happily braved the dog days of summer for decades to stand in huge lines for movie spectacles like "Star Wars," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Jurassic Park," all its sequels, and more recently, all those Marvel movies.

By feeding people's hunger for franchises and action, this is the time of year when the movie business gets a good portion of its annual revenue. But only a handful of the blockbusters have stood the test of time as Hollywood's biggest summer earners ever.

Below are the highest-grossing summer movies at the domestic box office of all time:

Note: All figures are from Box Office Mojo and adjusted for inflation.