If you want to produce a top-grossing film nowadays, make it animated and about superheroes, wizards, vampires, and pirates doing battle in the dystopian future in Middle Earth in a galaxy far, far away. That would seem to be a winning combination of ingredients, in any case, if you look at the 100 biggest box office hits since 2000.
The roster of top box office earners over the past two decades is dominated by animated films, superhero flicks, and sequel-churning movie franchises such as “Harry Potter,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Twilight,” “The Hunger Games,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Star Wars,” and various corners of the Marvel universe. These are the best movie franchises to marathon from home.
Spending money to make money is a big part of the recipe for success. Big-budget blockbusters obviously rule the day, as only three of the top 100 films had production budgets lower than $50 million, and more than three-quarters of the movies on the list cost at least $100 million. See which movies that made the most money with the fewest dollars.
Click here to see the biggest box office hits since 2000
24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of the top 100 domestic box office hit films of the 21st century thus far. Information on production budget, domestic and worldwide gross, and domestic box office was sourced from The Numbers, an online movie database owned by consulting firm Nash Information Services. When unavailable from that source, domestic box office figures were taken from IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, or from Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator. Casting information comes from IMDb.
40. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
> Domestic box office: $373.5 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina
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39. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
> Domestic box office: $377.8 million
> Production budget: $94.0 million
> Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen
38. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
> Domestic box office: $380.3 million
> Production budget: $115.0 million
> Starring: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor
37. Finding Nemo (2003)
> Domestic box office: $380.5 million
> Production budget: $94.0 million
> Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould
36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
> Domestic box office: $381.2 million
> Production budget: $125.0 million
> Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
35. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
> Domestic box office: $389.8 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
34. Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
> Domestic box office: $390.5 million
> Production budget: $160.0 million
> Starring: Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Jake Gyllenhaal
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33. Frozen (2013)
> Domestic box office: $401.0 million
> Production budget: $150.0 million
> Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff
32. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
> Domestic box office: $402.1 million
> Production budget: $210.0 million
> Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
31. Spider-Man (2002)
> Domestic box office: $403.7 million
> Production budget: $139.0 million
> Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe
30. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
> Domestic box office: $404.5 million
> Production budget: $90.0 million
> Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart
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29. The Hunger Games (2012)
> Domestic box office: $408.0 million
> Production budget: $80.0 million
> Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
28. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
> Domestic box office: $408.1 million
> Production budget: $250.0 million
> Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson
27. Iron Man Three (2013)
> Domestic box office: $409.0 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow
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26. Wonder Woman (2017)
> Domestic box office: $412.6 million
> Production budget: $150.0 million
> Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright
25. Toy Story 3 (2010)
> Domestic box office: $415.0 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
24. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
> Domestic box office: $417.7 million
> Production budget: $170.0 million
> Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall
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23. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
> Domestic box office: $423.3 million
> Production budget: $225.0 million
> Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
22. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
> Domestic box office: $424.7 million
> Production budget: $130.0 million
> Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
21. Captain Marvel (2019)
> Domestic box office: $426.8 million
> Production budget: $175.0 million
> Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn
20. Toy Story 4 (2019)
> Domestic box office: $434.0 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts
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19. Shrek 2 (2004)
> Domestic box office: $441.2 million
> Production budget: $70.0 million
> Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
18. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
> Domestic box office: $448.1 million
> Production budget: $230.0 million
> Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway
17. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
> Domestic box office: $459.0 million
> Production budget: $365.0 million
> Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo
16. Frozen II (2019)
> Domestic box office: $477.4 million
> Production budget: $150.0 million
> Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad
15. Finding Dory (2016)
> Domestic box office: $486.3 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill
14. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
> Domestic box office: $504.0 million
> Production budget: $160.0 million
> Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans
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13. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)
> Domestic box office: $515.2 million
> Production budget: $275.0 million
> Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac
12. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
> Domestic box office: $532.2 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk
11. The Dark Knight (2008)
> Domestic box office: $533.7 million
> Production budget: $185.0 million
> Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
10. The Lion King (2019)
> Domestic box office: $543.6 million
> Production budget: $260.0 million
> Starring: Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Seth Rogen
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9. Incredibles 2 (2018)
> Domestic box office: $608.6 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell
8. Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
> Domestic box office: $620.2 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill
7. The Avengers (2012)
> Domestic box office: $623.4 million
> Production budget: $225.0 million
> Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson
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6. Jurassic World (2015)
> Domestic box office: $652.3 million
> Production budget: $215.0 million
> Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins
5. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
> Domestic box office: $678.8 million
> Production budget: $300.0 million
> Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo
4. Black Panther (2018)
> Domestic box office: $700.1 million
> Production budget: $200.0 million
> Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o
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3. Avatar (2009)
> Domestic box office: $760.5 million
> Production budget: $237.0 million
> Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
2. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
> Domestic box office: $858.4 million
> Production budget: $400.0 million
> Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo
1. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
> Domestic box office: $936.7 million
> Production budget: $306.0 million
> Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac
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