News hit yesterday (January 22) that Rogue One: A Star Wars story had broken the $1bn barrier at the global box-office. Surprisingly, it’s only the third Star Wars film to do so, following in the footsteps of the record-breaking The Force Awakens in 2015, and 1999’s slightly less well-loved Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But what other films have managed the feat? There are 28 in total – discover them all below in ascending order of epic profitability.
28. The Dark Knight
Worldwide gross: $1,004,558,444
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%
Release Year: 2008
Fact: The Dark Knight was the first comic book movie to gross $1 billion.
27. Rogue One
Worldwide gross: $1,011,301,563
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 85%
Release Year: 2016
Fact: This is the first Star Wars film in which no one mentions the name ‘Skywalker’.
26. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Worldwide gross: $1,021,103,568
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 64%
Release Year: 2012
Fact: The two Hobbit films following An Unexpected Journey each performed slightly worse than the previous one, and neither reached the $1bn mark.
25. Zootopia
Worldwide gross: $1,023,784,195
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%
Release Year: 2016
Fact: There are no reptiles, birds, fish, or amphibians in the film.
24. Alice in Wonderland
Worldwide gross: $1,025,467,110
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 52%
Release Year: 2010
Fact: This is one of three Johnny Depp films that have reached the $1bn mark.
23. Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Worldwide gross: $1,027,044,677
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 55%
Release Year: 1999
Fact: This is the only George Lucas-directed Star Wars film to have grossed over $1bn.
22. Finding Dory
Worldwide gross: $1,027,865,760
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%
Release Year: 2016
Fact: Finding Dory outperformed Finding Nemo at the box office by almost $90m.
21. Jurassic Park
Worldwide gross: $1,029,939,903
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
Release Year: 1993
Fact: This is the oldest film on the list, and the only one released more than 20 years ago.
20. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Worldwide gross: $1,045,713,802
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 32%
Release Year: 2011
Fact: This is the worst-reviewed Pirates of the Caribbean film to date.
19. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Worldwide gross: $1,066,179,725
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 54%
Release Year: 2006
Fact: The highest-grossing film of 2006, Dead Man’s Chest beat its closest competitor (The Da Vinci Code) by more than $250m in box office takings.
18. Toy Story 3
Worldwide gross: $1,066,969,703
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 99%
Release Year: 2010
Fact: Toy Story 3 was the first animated film to make $1bn at the worldwide box-office. It achieved the feat on August 27th, 2010.
17. The Dark Knight Rises
Worldwide gross: $1,084,939,099
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 87%
Release Year: 2012
Fact: The Dark Knight Rises – the third in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series – took almost three times the amount that the first film did. Batman Begins took just $374.2m.
16. Transformers: Age of Extinction
Worldwide gross: $1,104,054,072
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 18%
Release Year: 2014
Fact: This is the worst rated film on the list. Toy Story 3, meanwhile, has the best Rotten Tomatoes rating (99%).
15. Skyfall
Worldwide gross: $1,108,561,013
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
Release Year: 2012
Fact: This is the most financially successful Bond film of all time.
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Worldwide gross: $1,119,929,521
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
Release Year: 2003
Fact: This film holds the joint record for most Oscars received by any one film, along with Titanic and Ben Hur.
13. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Worldwide gross: $1,123,794,079
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 35%
Release Year: 2011
Fact: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin features in this film.
12. Captain America: Civil War
Worldwide gross: $1,153,304,495
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
Release Year: 2016
Fact: This is the longest Marvel film to date, at two hours and 27 minutes.
11. Minions
Worldwide gross: $1,159,398,397
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 56%
Release Year: 2015
Fact: Director Pierre Coffin voices all 899 minions in this film.
10. Iron Man 3
Worldwide gross: $1,214,811,252
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 79%
Release Year: 2013
Fact: This is the best-performing Marvel film centring on a single superhero.
9. Frozen
Worldwide gross: $1,287,000,000
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
Release Year: 2013
Fact: This is the most financially successful animated film ever.
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Worldwide gross: $1,341,511,219
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
Release Year: 2011
Fact: No other Potter film took more than $1bn at the box office. The least successful of the lot was the third, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which took $796,688,549.
7. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Worldwide gross: $1,405,403,694
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%
Release Year: 2015
Fact: With this film, Disney broke a record – releasing three films within the same franchise (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) that had surpassed $1bn at the global box-office. The other two had been The Avengers and Iron Man 3.
6. Furious 7
Worldwide gross: $1,516,045,911
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 79%
Release Year: 2015
Fact: This is both the highest rated and most financially successful of all the Fast and Furious films.
5. The Avengers
Worldwide gross: $1,518,812,988
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
Release Year: 2012
Fact: This is the most successful Marvel film – and comic book film – on the list.
4. Jurassic World
Worldwide gross: $1,670,400,637
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%
Release Year: 2015
Fact: Jurassic World’s box-office takings were a 60.81% improvement on the takings of its predecessor, Jurassic Park.
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Worldwide gross: $2,068,223,624
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
Release Year: 2015
Fact: Though it’s not the highest-grossing film ever, The Force Awakens was the fastest to reach $1bn – it did so in just 12 days.
2.Titanic
1. Avatar
Worldwide gross: $2,787,965,087
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83%
Release Year: 2009
Fact: A sequel to Avatar is due for release in 2018. But will it beat Avatar’s record?
