Imagine a world where a single movie has earned nearly three billion dollars, yet still isn't the king of opening weekends, and where franchises rule supreme, generating sums larger than the economies of entire countries—this is the astonishing reality of today's box office.
Key Takeaways
- Avatar (2009) is the highest-grossing film worldwide with $2,923,706,026 in ticket sales as of 2023
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) ranks second worldwide with $2,797,501,328, surpassing all others until adjusted for inflation
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) grossed $2,320,250,281 worldwide, becoming the third highest ever
- Star Wars (1977) grossed $775,398,007 worldwide unadjusted, highest until 1997
- Avatar (2009) earned $785,221,649 domestic
- Black Panther (2018) made $700,426,566 domestic, highest for superhero solo film
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) had the highest opening weekend domestic of $357,115,007 over 5 days
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) opened to $257,698,183 domestic 3-day weekend
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) debuted with $247,966,675 domestic over 3 days
- Robert Downey Jr. has the highest domestic box office as actor with $14,247,009,051 across films
- Samuel L. Jackson leads worldwide actor gross with $28,333,701,042
- Scarlett Johansson has $15,376,447,243 worldwide as actress
- MCU as franchise has over $30 billion worldwide box office
- Star Wars franchise totals $10,347,899,133 worldwide
- Harry Potter series grossed $9,566,369,975 worldwide including Fantastic Beasts
Avatar remains the highest grossing film worldwide, followed by several franchise blockbusters.
Domestic (US) Box Office Records
- Star Wars (1977) grossed $775,398,007 worldwide unadjusted, highest until 1997
- Avatar (2009) earned $785,221,649 domestic
- Black Panther (2018) made $700,426,566 domestic, highest for superhero solo film
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) grossed $858,373,000 domestic
- Titanic (1997) totaled $659,363,944 domestic unadjusted
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) earned $936,662,225 domestic
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) made $678,815,482 domestic
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) grossed $814,115,548 domestic
- Jurassic World (2015) achieved $652,263,625 domestic
- The Lion King (2019) earned $543,638,298 domestic
- The Avengers (2012) made $623,357,910 domestic
- Incredibles 2 (2018) grossed $608,581,744 domestic, highest animated
- The Black Panther Wakanda Forever (2022) earned $453,829,556 domestic
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) made $317,575,550 domestic
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022) grossed $718,732,272 domestic
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) achieved $532,177,324 domestic
- Joker (2019) earned $335,451,311 domestic
- Toy Story 4 (2019) made $434,038,008 domestic
- Frozen II (2019) grossed $477,373,578 domestic
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) totaled $504,014,165 domestic
- Finding Dory (2016) earned $540,451,286 domestic
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) made $620,181,382 domestic
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022) grossed $376,009,460 domestic
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) achieved $574,341,810 domestic
- Barbie (2023) earned $636,290,714 domestic
Domestic (US) Box Office Records Interpretation
The box office is a cinematic Mount Rushmore where the chiseled faces of heroes, wizards, and toys keep changing, but the mountain itself is forever being rebuilt from the money we all paid to watch.
Franchise and Yearly Milestones
- MCU as franchise has over $30 billion worldwide box office
- Star Wars franchise totals $10,347,899,133 worldwide
- Harry Potter series grossed $9,566,369,975 worldwide including Fantastic Beasts
- Spider-Man franchise earned $10,570,262,017 worldwide all versions
- Fast & Furious series has $7,347,888,681 worldwide
- Jurassic Park/World franchise totals $6,046,798,664 worldwide
- James Bond franchise grossed $7,795,324,085 worldwide
- Middle-earth (Lord of Rings/Hobbit) earned $5,896,086,183 worldwide
- Batman films total $6,791,597,889 worldwide
- 2023 worldwide box office reached $33.8 billion, highest post-pandemic
- 2019 pre-pandemic peak was $42.5 billion worldwide
- 2024 US domestic box office hit $5 billion by July, fastest ever
- Despicable Me franchise grossed $4,955,266,222 worldwide
- Ice Age series earned $3,997,344,233 worldwide
- Shrek franchise totals $3,514,977,184 worldwide
- Toy Story series grossed $3,107,749,867 worldwide
- 1980s highest year domestic was 1982 with $3.5 billion adjusted
- 2023's Barbie-Oppenheimer phenomenon added $1.6 billion combined worldwide
- Disney leads studios with $124 billion worldwide all-time
- Universal Pictures second with $77 billion worldwide
- Warner Bros. has $70 billion worldwide all-time
- Paramount Pictures grossed $59 billion worldwide
- Sony/Columbia totals $55 billion worldwide
- 1977 Star Wars revolutionized with $307 million domestic unadjusted
- 2009 Avatar year grossed $10.6 billion worldwide
- Fast X (2023) opened franchise record $319 million worldwide weekend
Franchise and Yearly Milestones Interpretation
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has amassed a box office haul so colossal that its $30 billion alone nearly matched the entire global industry's 2023 total, proving modern cinema runs on interconnected superheroes and the occasional nuclear pink convertible.
Highest Grossing Talent (Actors/Directors)
- Robert Downey Jr. has the highest domestic box office as actor with $14,247,009,051 across films
- Samuel L. Jackson leads worldwide actor gross with $28,333,701,042
- Scarlett Johansson has $15,376,447,243 worldwide as actress
- Chris Pratt grossed $10,812,368,798 worldwide
- Tom Cruise has $12,664,139,449 worldwide, boosted by Top Gun Maverick
- Dwayne Johnson earned $12,001,721,895 worldwide
- Chris Hemsworth has $11,444,699,548 worldwide
- Vin Diesel grossed $11,285,982,093 worldwide from Fast series mainly
- Zoe Saldaña has $10,437,585,826 worldwide
- James Cameron is highest grossing director worldwide with $11,569,145,248
- Anthony Russo and Joe Russo combined $12,074,478,159 worldwide
- Christopher Nolan grossed $6,678,887,923 worldwide
- Michael Bay has $6,348,487,435 worldwide
- Jon Favreau earned $5,362,526,587 worldwide
- Steven Spielberg has $11,068,566,312 worldwide all-time
- Kevin Feige as producer tops with Marvel films over $29 billion worldwide
- Emma Watson grossed $8,796,185,080 worldwide from Harry Potter
- Ian McKellen has $7,911,988,550 worldwide
- Johnny Depp earned $8,594,866,268 worldwide
- Will Smith grossed $9,924,708,196 worldwide
- Benedict Cumberbatch has $7,764,446,970 worldwide
- Mark Ruffalo earned $8,932,191,372 worldwide
- Jeremy Renner grossed $8,559,287,842 worldwide
- Paul Rudd has $7,920,046,392 worldwide
- Don Cheadle earned $8,540,190,507 worldwide
Highest Grossing Talent (Actors/Directors) Interpretation
It seems the secret to box office supremacy is either owning a suit of high-tech armor, being perpetually angry in a Nick Fury eyepatch, or having James Cameron's deep-sea diving budget and directorial audacity.
Opening Weekend Performances
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) had the highest opening weekend domestic of $357,115,007 over 5 days
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) opened to $257,698,183 domestic 3-day weekend
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) debuted with $247,966,675 domestic over 3 days
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) grossed $260,138,569 domestic opening weekend
- Jurassic World (2015) opened to $208,806,270 domestic
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) earned $146,361,865 domestic opening
- Barbie (2023) debuted with $162,022,016 domestic weekend
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022) opened to $160,510,420 domestic over 4 days
- Black Panther (2018) grossed $202,003,951 domestic opening weekend
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) made $134,098,926 domestic opening
- The Lion King (2019) opened with $191,748,761 domestic
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) debuted $191,271,336 domestic weekend
- Incredibles 2 (2018) earned $182,687,033 domestic opening
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) grossed $174,750,616 domestic debut
- Finding Dory (2016) opened to $135,060,271 domestic
- Iron Man 3 (2013) made $174,137,295 domestic opening weekend
- Captain Marvel (2019) debuted $153,433,423 domestic
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) grossed $181,339,761 domestic opening
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) earned $187,372,035 domestic debut
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022) opened $145,075,625 domestic
- Inside Out 2 (2024) set record with $154,212,123 domestic opening for animated
- Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) grossed $211,435,291 domestic opening weekend, highest R-rated
- The Avengers (2012) debuted $207,438,708 domestic over 5 days
- Frozen II (2019) opened $130,263,531 domestic
- Minions (2015) earned $115,698,593 domestic opening
- Despicable Me 4 (2024) grossed $122,208,362 domestic debut
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) made $92,085,507 domestic opening
Opening Weekend Performances Interpretation
While the box office battlefield is littered with formidable contenders, the cold, hard calculus of opening weekends reveals that the only reliable way to get adults to line up like overexcited kids on a sugar rush is to either threaten the universe with a purple thumb-snap or promise them the nostalgic catharsis of a '90s action figure brawl.
Worldwide Box Office Records
- Avatar (2009) is the highest-grossing film worldwide with $2,923,706,026 in ticket sales as of 2023
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) ranks second worldwide with $2,797,501,328, surpassing all others until adjusted for inflation
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) grossed $2,320,250,281 worldwide, becoming the third highest ever
- Titanic (1997) earned $2,264,750,694 worldwide, holding records for decades
- Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) made $2,071,310,218 worldwide in its initial run
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) grossed $2,052,415,039 worldwide
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) achieved $1,921,847,111 worldwide
- Jurassic World (2015) totaled $1,671,537,444 worldwide
- The Lion King (2019) live-action remake grossed $1,663,075,401 worldwide
- The Avengers (2012) earned $1,520,538,536 worldwide
- Furious 7 (2015) grossed $1,515,341,499 worldwide, boosted by Paul Walker's tribute
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022) made $1,496,696,292 worldwide
- Frozen II (2019) achieved $1,450,026,933 worldwide
- Barbie (2023) grossed $1,446,045,354 worldwide in 2023's biggest release
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) earned $1,405,018,048 worldwide
- Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) hit $1,363,362,633 worldwide
- Black Panther (2018) grossed $1,349,926,083 worldwide
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) made $1,026,448,131 worldwide unadjusted
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) earned $1,333,179,884 worldwide
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022) grossed $1,002,347,765 worldwide
- Frozen (2013) totaled $1,290,000,000 worldwide approximately
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) live-action made $1,266,521,126 worldwide
- Incredibles 2 (2018) grossed $1,243,805,359 worldwide
- The Fate of the Furious (2017) earned $1,236,005,118 worldwide
- Iron Man 3 (2013) made $1,215,392,272 worldwide
- Minions (2015) grossed $1,159,444,662 worldwide
- Captain America: Civil War (2016) achieved $1,155,046,416 worldwide
- Aquaman (2018) totaled $1,152,028,399 worldwide
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) earned $1,147,299,610 worldwide
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) grossed $1,132,106,911 worldwide
Worldwide Box Office Records Interpretation
In the blockbuster arms race to mint money, the only consistent victory condition seems to be a wardrobe of either blue skin, spandex, or some combination of nostalgia and childhood property rights.