S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Media

The Biggest Worldwide Box Office Hit of the Past 20 Years

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
The Biggest Worldwide Box Office Hit of the Past 20 Years

© Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Global box office numbers provide a fascinating illustration of just how big-budget blockbuster movies speak a universal language across international boundaries.

24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of the top worldwide box office hits over the past 20 years. As the list makes obvious, the movies that make the most money are mostly works of fantasy and science fiction and superhero films, both live-action and animated. Franchises like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean and various Marvel properties make up much of the roster.

The list of finalists for the top spot includes plenty of the same movies that were among the biggest domestic box office hits over the same period, though they tend to be in different positions on the list. This shows an interesting difference in viewing tastes between the United States and the rest of the world. Nonetheless, only three films from the domestic list’s top 10 fail to appear in the worldwide top 10.

As far as movie studios are concerned, however, the biggest difference between domestic and international hits is the amount of money they bring in. The top movie in the United States (“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”) raked in $936.7 million, while the top film globally brought in an incredible $2.8 billion.

[nativounit]

To determine the biggest worldwide box office hit since the 2000s, 24/7 Wall St. obtained worldwide box office, production budgets, and gross box office from The Numbers, an online movie database owned by consulting firm Nash Information Services. Supplemental data on casting came from IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon. Data was collected mid-March 2021.

The biggest global box office hit of the past 20 years is “Avatar,” which was released in 2009. Its worldwide box office was $2.8 billion, while the production budget was $237 million. The film starred Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver.

Click here to see all the biggest worldwide box office hits of the past 20 years.
[wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

This Is the Biggest Box Office Hit Since 2000
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Biggest Box Office Hit Since 2000

Like nearly all top box office earners over the past two decades, the top-grossing film of the 21st century thus…
The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made
Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made

Movies that cost a great deal of money often pay off. This is certainly true with some superhero movies, and…
247patrick |

Here’s How Every Pixar Movie Did at the Box Office

When Pixar’s “Toy Story” first arrived in theaters, the animation studio didn’t know what to expect. To quote executive producer…
This Is the Biggest Box Office Hit of the 2000s
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Biggest Box Office Hit of the 2000s

The biggest box office hit of the 2000s starred Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver and its director was James Cameron.
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Biggest Movie Flop in Hollywood History

A 24/7 Tempo analysis shows that "Mars Needs Moms" is the biggest flop in Hollywood history.
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Biggest Disney Flop of All Time

A 24/7 Tempo analysis shows that the biggest Disney flop of all time is "Mars Needs Moms."
This Is the Most Expensive Movie Ever Made
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Most Expensive Movie Ever Made

Hollywood has a long history of films with production costs that went over budget. Directors like Clint Eastwood who make…
This Is the Actor Who Made Hollywood the Most Money
Douglas A. McIntyre |

This Is the Actor Who Made Hollywood the Most Money

This well-known actor has starred in movies that brought in more than $5 billion in domestic box office.
Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Most Profitable Movie of All Time

A 24/7 Tempo analysis reveals why this cult classic is the most profitable movie of all time.

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618