FromAvatartoAvengers: EndgametoNe Zha 2, only sevenmoviesin the history of cinema have managed to gross more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office.Until the late 1990s, no movie had even grossed $1 billion. But throughout the 2000s, withtheHarry Pottermovies,The Lord of the Ringstrilogy, and animated blockbusters, it became more and more common for films to cross the $1 billion barrier. In the 2010s, it became even more common. In 2019, nine of the top 10 highest-grossing movies made over $1 billion.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic got audiences used to watching movies at home, $1 billion grossers have become much rarer again, but there’s still the occasionalInside Out 2orSpider-Man: No Way Home.It takes an especially popular movie to gross more than $2 billion. Just seven movies have managed this box office feat (viaBox Office Mojo) — and they all had to do something special to get it, like bringing back Luke Skywalker orkilling Tony Stark.
The latest film to cross the $2 billion threshold is the Chinese animated adventureNe Zha 2. This isthe first animated movie and first non-Hollywood movie to gross more than $2 billionat the worldwide box office. Less than a year afterInside Out 2set the record for highest-grossing animated film of all time,Ne Zha 2came along and broke that record by a massive margin (via/Film).
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What’s even more impressive is that almost all ofNe Zha 2’s box officecame from the domestic market.Ne Zha 2was already the first movie to gross $1 billion from a single market, and now, it’s become the first to gross $2 billion from a single market. The movie has made sizable amounts in other markets — it grossed $18.1 million in the U.S., for example — but those grosses are peanuts compared to its whopping domestic gross.
Marvel Studios’ run throughout the 2010s was unprecedented. It’s proven to be unsustainable, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been very hit-and-miss throughout the 2020s, but for a while there, Marvel had three bona fide blockbusters a year. For a full decade, the MCU’s Infinity Saga built to the crossover event to end all crossover events:Avengers: Infinity War.This movie brought everyone’s favorite characters together— Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy — to face a common threat.
Even people who don’t usually watch Marvel movies checked outInfinity War.
This movie had more than enough hype to breeze past $1 billion, but theuniversally positive reviews praising it as one of the greatest blockbusters ever madeallowed it to cruise to $2 billion. All told,Avengers: Infinity Wargrossed $2,048,359,754. The bombshell cliffhanger ending, in which half of the MCU’s iconic superheroes are turned to dust with the snap of a finger, really got people talking. Even people who don’t usually watch Marvel movies checked outInfinity War.
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012,Star Warswas arguably the most lucrative media property in the world. The Mouse House wasted no time announcing that the long-anticipated sequel trilogy would finally get made withMark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher all reprising their iconic rolesfrom the original films.Star Warsfans were giddy with excitement forEpisode VII, and that excitement was bolstered by a masterfully crafted marketing campaign with enticing, nostalgia-baiting images of lightsabers, Stormtroopers, and the Millennium Falcon.
On its opening weekend in 2015,Star Wars: The Force Awakensbroke all kinds of box office records. It had impressive legs and went on to gross $2,071,310,218, making itthe highest-grossingStar Warsmovie by far (unadjusted for inflation). In the years since, opinions onThe Force Awakenshave soured, because it’s derivative of the original movie and didn’t have a plan for the future, but at the time, it was a cultural phenomenon.
Back in 1997, James Cameron’s big-budget retelling of the sinking of the Titanic was thought to be a sure-fire box office bomb. It wasa three-hour tragic love storyset during a historical tragedy, and it was the most expensive movie ever made at the time of its release; it wasn’t even expected to break even. But those naysayers drastically underestimated Cameron — which would become a recurring theme throughout his career — becauseTitanicwould go on to become the highest-grossing movie ever made.
WhileTitanicbecame the first movie to gross $1 billion, it didn’t quite manage to get to $2 billion in its initial run; in 1997, it grossed $1,843,373,318. Butvarious re-releases over the years have pushed it to $2,264,812,968. It made $350,449,521 from its 2012 3D release alone.
Cameron was once again underestimated when his first offour planned sequels toAvatarfinally arrived in 2022,13 years after the release of the original movie. There was a lot of talk about howAvatarhad no cultural impact and the time for a sequel had passed. Plus, since Cameron was shooting multiple sequels back-to-back,Avatar: The Way of Waterwould have to gross $2 billion just to see a return on investment.
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And against all odds,Avatar: The Way of Watermanaged to gross so much that it made a tidy profit. It even came close to topping its predecessor’s gross with a lifetime haul of $2,320,250,281. Hopefully, after the success ofTitanic,Avatar, andAvatar: The Way of Water, box office pundits have finally learned their lesson:never bet against Cameron.
The shocking cliffhanger ending ofAvengers: Infinity Warprovided a hall-of-fame marketing campaign forAvengers: Endgame. After 10 years of predictable movies where the heroes always triumphed over the villains in time for the end credits, Marvel delivered an ending in which the heroes failed so badly that the villain succeeded in causing universe-wide genocide, killing trillions of people, including beloved characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther. The promise of seeing that cliffhanger resolved madeAvengers: Endgameone of the most highly anticipated movies of all time.
Avengers: Endgamehas a 94% rating onRotten Tomatoes.
With a less action-heavy approach and a more cerebral, emotional tone,Avengers: Endgamemanaged to match the critical acclaim ofInfinity War. This madeEndgamean even bigger hit thanInfinity War. It soared past $2 billion and came darn close to becoming the first ever $3 billion grosser.Endgamebecame the highest-grossing movie ever made (at least for a while). It achieved a level of hype that Marvel still has yet to top, and set a benchmark that Marvel is still held to.
AfterTitanicwas expected to be a flop and became the highest-grossing movie ever made, Cameron’s next ambitious cinematic epic — his intergalactic passion projectAvatar— was also expected to be a flop, and also became the highest-grossing movie ever made.Cameron and his team pioneered brand-new VFX technologies to makeAvatar, so audiences felt inclined to watch it on the biggest screen possible. The inflated price of 3D IMAX tickets allowedAvatarto gross a substantial $2,743,577,587.
Cameron and his team pioneered brand-new VFX technologies to makeAvatar, so audiences felt inclined to watch it on the biggest screen possible.
In 2019,Avengers: EndgamesurpassedAvatarto become the new highest-grossing movie ever made. However, whenAvatarwas re-released in 2022 ahead ofThe Way of Water’s premiere, it outgrossedEndgameand reclaimed its throne with a lifetime total of $2,923,710,708. It’ll take some blockbuster to beatAvatarnow (although, thanks to the never-ending rise of inflation, it’s not impossible).
