Understandable, it stands apart in that, unlike most of the other horror flicks, it's based around something that could almost be considered mundane. Might also be why it was as popular as it was, it's easier to play upon a fear when it's always possible that that fear could become reality, makes it more visceral. Stephen King's Cujo (the book, not necessarily the film) hit on the same formula.

The country where the distributing company is required to report earnings more likely.

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Edited for less US centric thought.

Most likely it has to do with the distributing company rather than where it was filmed. As an example, The Harry Potter film series is still considered an American production despite being almost entirely UK based, because the distributing company is Warner Brothers.

The millions of people that went to the beach that year and then refused to enter the water would argue with you on that. 😂

When not filtered for the horror genre and then adjusted for inflation, they're 13 and 16 of the all-time highest earning. None of the others appear in that list. If the above amounts were adjusted for inflation, they would most likely have been at positions 1 and 2.

Right? Jaws and Exorcist land at numbers 13 and 16 of the top grossing movies of all time per IMDB. Adjusted for inflation? $2.17 and 1.96 Billion respectively.