Domestic: $377.8 million In just under three weeks, The Force Awakens became the all-time domestic champion, passing Avatar and joining the $2 billion club within 54 days. The most controversial S-word in movies? Domestic: $477 million Well, everyone obviously, but do you know which movie franchises have made the most money? | Mobile version. Release date: June 11, 1993 Release date: May 4, 2012 For 25 years, this film has remained relevant in pop culture through an acclaimed stage show, direct-to-video sequels, spinoffs, television series, and that mammoth re-imagination. It still remains the highest-grossing domestic release of all time. Uniting Marvel comics' biggest names — from Captain America to the Hulk (above) — proved to be a successful recipe, as four "Avengers" films have since found their place in the top 10. But audiences went the other direction, giving Dead Man’s Chest a 38.6% boost in domestic earnings and an 84.2% boost internationally. But combined it remains the champion overall in worldwide gross (and bonus for the studio: it had one of the series’ lowest budgets). – Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi took the standard dip that had afflicted other middle films in the franchise. Well, here are the most successful controversial movies of all time. Release date: July 3, 2013 Domestic: $936.7 million Also, it is just one of four films on this list to receive a Tomatometer score of 97%. James Cameron makes expensive movies. If any film in the top 10 could be considered both a success and a disappointment it would be Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel. Domestic: $296 million Before James Cameron owned the top two spots in all-time domestic box office (for a period), it was Steven Spielberg who had pulled off that feat. In just eight days, the film had grossed a half-billion domestically. Four years after the publication of J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book, Chris Columbus brought it to the big screen and its legions of fans turned up in record numbers. Just shy of 10 years since it began, the Marvel Cinematic Universe gathered nearly every one of its characters for a galaxy-wide showdown with the series’ Big Bad, Thanos. Legal notice | Were they burnt out? Domestic: $390.5 million That made sense given that the 1994 original, at the time, was one of the studio’s most successful films in the middle of its rebirth, and director Jon Favreau’s CGI-fueled version traced it for a new generation. When the fourth entry of Pixar’s signature series opened to “only” $120 million, many labeled it “a disappointment.” Some had expected Toy Story 4 to have the studio’s biggest opening ever, and the film was then written off – by some – as part of a string of failed sequels in the summer of 2019. Release date: July 18, 2008 Bayona’s follow-up to Colin Trevorrow’s continuation of Steven Spielberg’s series received the weakest Tomatometer score of the franchise to date (48%) and, following the path of many “second” entries in franchises (even if it’s technically the fifth), dropped 36% from Jurassic World in overall domestic box office. But combined it remains the champion overall in worldwide gross (and bonus for the studio: it had one of the series’ lowest budgets). Avatar held that record for five years and eleven months and went on to become the only film ever to earn $2 billion outside of the U.S. and Canada, making it the world’s highest grosser at the time. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) 90% Robert Downey Jr.’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director, Shane Black, took over for Jon Favreau and put a twist on some comic-book lore in ways that still draws out disappointment from some fans. Captain America: Civil War (2016) 90% Produced and directed by J J Abrams, this was the first Star Wars movie not to involve the franchise's creator, George Lucas — the production company, Lucasfilm, was acquired by Disney in 2012. All of this helped propel American Sniper to be both the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time and the highest grossing war film of all time. Opening weekend for Avengers: Endgame in April 2019 surpassed Infinity War’s year-long record by nearly $100 million. Domestic: $303 million A planned two-parter turned into a full-blown trilogy and critics were feeling the bloat: While Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films all scored over 90% on the Tomatometer, the Hobbit films never rose above 74%, with the first film right in the middle with 64%. After getting tag-teased at the end of Infinity War, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers made her debut in the MCU as the universe’s first headlining female superhero in 2019’s Captain Marvel. The first sequel riffed on the cliches of Part IIs, while the less-successful but still original third instalment got really meta, visiting a sequel movie within the movie. Consider that the first combined outing for Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America bested the $1.4 billion that their origin stories had made combined. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011) 96% But it was still good enough for 23rd all-time in North America and 13th in overseas dollars. Aladdin wasn’t always a sure bet: A blue Will Smith was mocked in early reveals of his Genie character and Tim Burton’s live-action Dumbo proved to be a bust just two months before Aladdin‘s release. Domestically, it would ultimately come up just short of Black Panther, which was released two months prior. 2019 may not have been the biggest year ever at the box office, but it had a number of massive films that entered the top 50 highest-grossing movies of all time – including one that took out the number 1 slot. Budget: $19 million* Worldwide gross: $91,379,051. Beauty and the Beast (2017) 71% The world had to wait some 12 years for James Cameron to follow up the biggest film of all-time with what would become the new biggest film of all time. Release date: April 27, 2018 Release date: February 16, 2018 Domestic: $678.8 million In 1999, it was the first film to clear $100 million in five days, beating the previous record holder, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which earned $98.6 million in the same amount of time. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) 85% Venice awarded the film its top prize in the Golden Lion; some critics were hailing it a masterpiece. J.A. The project was met with skepticism, and then it began a run on the festival circuit. We’ll be here to track the progress of new blockbusters and regularly update this list of top box office performers. Six sequels have been made so far, with a seventh on the way. After two successful Despicable Me films it was time to give Gru’s kooky supporting yellow folk their own story. Domestic: $532.2 million The Exorcist (1973) – Arguably one of the most jaw dropping horror movies of all time, The Exorcist is a true classic. After an introduction in Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa got his own film in February of 2019. Though the third film in the Despicable Me franchise made just $13 million more than the original at the domestic box office, internationally the Despicable Me films had a 164% increase from the first film ($543.1 million) to the third ($1.035 billion). Release date: July 19, 2019 All rights reserved. Domestic: $659.4 million (including re-releases) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) 84% After the success of the first two Friday the 13th movies, producers took the opportunity of having "III" in the title of Friday the 13th Part III to release the film in 3-D. Obviously the 3-D gimmick worked, as Friday the 13th Part III was more successful at the box office than the previous sequel. Nevertheless, it puts a capper on a nine-episode series from 1977-2019 that grossed (with re-releases) a collective $8.71 billion. For the list below, we’ve included global box office performance, as well as domestic, and release date. It was also the fifth stand-alone Spider-Man film (live-action or animated) to register at 90% or higher on the Tomatometer – critics love their web-slinger. Almost a decade after wrapping up his landmark Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson returned to the world of J.R.R. Domestic: $381.2 million The Dark Knight (2008) 94% But Guy Ritchie’s new version of the beloved 1992 animated film took advantage of other 2019 summer under-performers like Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Dark Phoenix, and Men In Black International, gobbling them all up and staying in the top five at the box office for seven straight weeks. Another title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, "Black Panther" earned $1.35 billion at the box office. Even if it came up a bit short internationally, it still became the fourth billion-dollar grosser in Pixar’s history and their third-highest–grossing film overall. In its fourth weekend of release, it became Disney’s sixth billion-dollar film of 2019, pushing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle out of the Top 50 on the same weekend that its sequel The Next Level opened. The Lion King (1994) 93% For 25 years, this film has remained relevant in pop culture through an acclaimed stage show, direct-to-video sequels, spinoffs, television series, and that mammoth re-imagination. Domestic: $304.4 million It was Disney’s first $100-plus million opening ($135 million to be precise), and the studio has had 20 more since then. Almost a decade after wrapping up his landmark Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson returned to the world of J.R.R. At least, for a little while. It was Burton’s seventh collaboration with Johnny Depp and the director has not had a film gross as much domestically in total as Alice made in its first three days since – not even with his attempt to replicate the success with Dumbo in 2019, which grossed a total of $114.7 million. Release date: October 3, 2019 Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, the epic sci-fi film is set in a 22nd-century mining colony on a moon called Pandora, and portrays a conflict with the original inhabitants, the Na'vi. In 1997, Cameron blew out the budget again and this time there was worry he may have gone too far. Minions (2015) 55% Release date: May 1, 2015 That will be remembered far longer than having the 12th-highest opening of all-time – The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were numbers one and two until Avengers: Infinity War opened – or that it had one of the lowest Tomatometer scores among the nine films. 2019-12-25T17:08:00Z The letter F. An envelope. Domestic: $415 million While not quite as well-received as the first film critically (77% vs. 90% on the Tomatometer), Frozen II virtually demanded that parents bring their children for a second adventure. Domestic: $426.8 million The final chapter of the Skywalker saga may have broken the trend set by the other third entries in the franchise’s trilogies (each outgrossed the middle episodes), but it will become record that we may never see broken again. Friday the 13th (2009) Year: 2009. Privacy Policy | Shia LaBeouf was replaced with Mark Wahlberg as the franchise’s central hero, and the fourth film from Michael Bay approached a near three-hour running time at 165 minutes.