Which are the highest-grossing movies of all time? It might surprise you that four of the 10 highest-grossing movies came out last year, and we had already added two more in 2019--Avengers: Endgame now tops worldwide box office lists And the "Don't Call It's a Live-Action" remake of The Lion King made the top 10. Sure, those stats are skewed by rising ticket prices and an increase in population. Adjusted for inflation, any film can't match the $3.7 billion run that The Wind has with box-office receipts of $390 million as its 1939 release would cost in today's dollars. But here, we look at the world's top-grossing films.
Will know about movies that have earned in dollars. Except for Titanic and the two Disney movies, all of the big box office movies are part of a franchise, leading us to believe that Paramount or 20th Century Fox probably had some studio exec trying to convince James Cameron That they should have a sequel. He has made excellent films. Every director who directs a film always keeps an eye on how his film will be liked by the audience. Keeping this in mind, he makes his film. The list of highest-grossing movies of all time includes some extremely entertaining movies, and there are some which we can only shake our heads and amaze the moviegoers across the world.
10. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Box office: $1.41 billion
Director: Joss Whedon
The second Avengers film was warmly received when it initially arrived but then suffered a bit of immediate blowback, with many superhero genre geeks asserting themselves that although it was undeniably an entertaining film, it represented something of a step back from Joss Whedon’s record-smashing original.
9. Furious 7 (2015)
Box office: $1.52 billion
Director: James Wan
Watching the seventh installment of the adrenaline-fueled Fast & Furious franchise, one gets the distinct impression that, when faced with a creative choice, the filmmakers asked themselves, “What’s the most insane, over-the-top thing we can do here?” Then they did just that.
8. The Avengers (2012)
Box office: $1.52 billion
Director: Joss Whedon
Nestled amongst the gaudy box office numbers of Joss Whedon’s blockbuster is a much simpler achievement. Yes, The Avengers should evoke a deserved appreciation of Whedon’s directorial skills. And yes, the film’s release and reception make for a natural “And that’s when it was official” moment that the MCU took over Hollywood.
7. The Lion King (2019)
Box Office: $1.60 billion
Director: Jon Favreau
The Lion King feels less like a more “realistic” version of the classic animated original than a bloodless X-ray.
6. Jurassic World (2015)
Box office: $1.67 billion
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Jurassic World marks the fourth entry in its paleontological franchise, but it’s probably more important as the second chapter in the story of Chris Pratt’s unexpected ascent to movie stardom.
5. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Box office: $2.05 billion
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Avengers: Infinity War is epic in a way that has been often aspired to but never fully grasped when translating from comic book panels to the Big Screen.
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Box office: $2.07 billion
Director: J.J. Abrams
The Force Awakens was the remedy to the near-terminal Prequel-itis of fans. J.J. Abrams and company accomplished this act of restorative cinema primarily by returning to the “dirty future” aesthetic that made the Original Trilogy feel so real (no matter how absurd the dialogue was delivered by the characters).
3. Titanic (1997)
Box office: $2.19 billion
Director: James Cameron
Almost 20 years after its theatrical debut, James Cameron’s blockbuster epic is still so ubiquitous in the pop culture zeitgeist; its filmmaking marvels are drowned out by young Kate-and-Leo nostalgia and that damned Celine Dion caterwaul (not to mention the now late James Horner’s iconic score). Cameron’s ear for dialogue may be woefully leaden. Still, he’s a shrewd storyteller, plunking a Romeo-and-Juliet redux aboard the doomed ocean liner and flanking the fictional romance with historical details, groundbreaking special effects, and jaw-dropping visuals.
The narrative lapses are at times dumbfounding-let’s face it, old Rose, who tosses a priceless artifact into the abyss after waxing ad nauseam about herself, is a thoughtless jerk—and the aforementioned dialogue is awful (to say nothing of Billy Zane doing his best mustache-twirling silent movie villain) but Titanic remains a painstaking testament to the all-in Hollywood spectacle.—Amanda Schurr
2. Avatar (2009)
Box office: $2.79 billion
Director: James Cameron
It makes sense that Avatar is the second highest-grossing movie ever made: Irony and insincerity have no place in its extended universe. Whether or not James Cameron intended to crib the world of Pandora and its futuristic inhabitants from practically every fantastical ur-text ever conceived, it hardly matters because Avatar is modern mythmaking at its most foundational. Cameron still seems to believe that “the movies” can give audiences a transformative experience, so every sinew of his film bears the Herculean effort of truly genius worldbuilding, telling the simple story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his Dances with Wolves-like saving of the
Navi, natives to the planet of Pandora, from the destructive forces of colonialism. Cameron wants us to care about this world as much as Jake Sully. By extension, James Cameron does, crafting flora and fauna with borderline sociopathic obsessiveness, at the time pushing 3-D technology to its brink to bring his inhuman imagination alive. It worked; “unobtanium” is actually a real thing. Four sequels feel like a disgusting gambit for a man whose ambition may have long ago outpaced his sense of storytelling, or sense of reason, or sense of what our oversaturated, over-franchised culture can even stomach anymore. But Cameron’s proven us wrong countless times before. —Dom Sinacola
1. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Box office: $2.796 billion
Directors: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo
Where does one begin? When it comes to Avengers: Endgame, that question is not so much an expression of wanton enthusiasm as a practical challenge in evaluating the destination toward which Kevin Feige and company have been steering story and viewer alike for the past 11 years and 21 films.
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