Domestic Box Office: Best of the Year

Domestic Box Office: Best of the Year

These are the top domestic grossing movies for each year based on the sources at the bottom of the page. 2024: Wicked 2023: Barbie 2022: Top Gun: Maverick 2021: Spider-Man: No Way Home 2020: Bad Boys for Life 2019: Avengers: Endgame 2018: Black Panther 2017: Star Wars – Episode VIII: The Last Jedi 2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2015: Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens 2014: American Sniper 2013: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2012: The Avengers 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 2010: Toy Story 3 2009: Avatar 2008: The Dark Knight 2007: Spider-Man 3 2006: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest 2005: Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 2004: Shrek 2 2003: Finding Nemo 2002: Spider-Man 2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 2000: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas 1999: Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace 1998: Saving Private Ryan 1997: Titanic 1996: Independence Day 1995: Toy Story 1994: The Lion King 1993: Jurassic Park 1992: Aladdin 1991: Beauty and the Beast 1990: Home Alone 1989: Batman 1988: Rain Man 1987: Three Men and a Baby 1986: Top Gun 1985: Back to the Future 1984: Ghostbusters 1983: Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi 1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark 1980: Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back 1979: Kramer vs. Kramer 1978: Grease 1977: Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope 1976: Rocky 1975: Jaws 1974: Blazing Saddles 1973: The Exorcist 1972: The Godfather 1971: Billy Jack 1970: Love Story 1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey 1967: The Jungle Book 1966: The Bible: In the Beginning 1965: The Sound of Music 1964: Mary Poppins 1963: Cleopatra 1962: Lawrence of Arabia 1961: 101 Dalmations 1960: Psycho 1959: Ben-Hur 1958: South Pacific 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai 1956: The Ten Commandments 1955: Lady and the Tramp 1954: Rear Window 1953: Peter Pan 1952: The Greatest Show on Earth 1951: Quo Vadis? 1950: Cinderella 1949: Samson and Delilah 1948: The Red Shoes 1947: Miracle on 34th Street 1946: Song of the South 1945: The Bells of St. Mary’s 1944: Going My Way 1943: This Is the Army 1942: Bambi 1941: Sergeant York 1940: Pinocchio 1939: Gone with the Wind 1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood 1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1936: Modern Times 1935: Mutiny on the Bounty 1934: It Happened One Night 1933: King Kong 1932: Shanghai Express 1931: Frankenstein 1930: Tom Sawyer 1929: The Broadway Melody 1928: The Singing Melody 1927: The Jazz Singer 1926: Aloma of the South Seas 1925: The Big Parade 1924: The Sea Hawk 1923: The Covered Wagon 1922: Robin Hood 1921: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1920: Something to Think About 1919: The Miracle Man 1918: Mickey 1917: The Poor Little Rich Girl / Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm / Cleopatra 1916: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1915: The Birth of a Nation 1914: Million Dollar Mystery 1913: Traffic in Souls Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office Lists Box Office Mojo: good source to look up domestic gross for movies Box Office Mojo “Top Lifetime Adjusted Grosses” Box Office Mojo “Domestic Grosses Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation” Box Office Mojo “Domestic Grosses: Estimated Tickets Sold” Filmsite.org “Box Office Hits by Decade and Year” (1913-2023) Robert Munafo (year?). “All-Time Top 232 Movies by U.S. Theatre Attendance” TheNumbers.com (searchable database) Originally posted 6/4/2023; last updated 2/24/2025.

Fantasy Films: Top 25

image from The Wizard of Oz

Top 25 Fantasy Films These are the top 25 fantasy films of all time, as determined by aggregating multiple lists (see resources at bottom of page) and factoring in the films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. In cases where more than one movie from a series ranked in the top 25 (such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy), they were consolidated into one entry. 1. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) 3. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (2006) 4. The Princess Bride (1987) 5. Edward Scissorhands (1990) 6. Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) 7. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (2001) 8. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) 9. Mary Poppins (1964) 10. Labyrinth (1986) 11. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Dead Man’s Chest (2006) At World’s End (2007) On Stranger Tides (2011) Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) 12. The Never Ending Story (1984) 13. The Dark Crystal (1982) 14. Groundhog Day (1993) 15. Time Bandits (1981) 16. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete) (1946) 17. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 18. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) The Desolation of Smaug (2013) The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) 19. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) 20. Avatar (2009) 21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) 22. Excalibur (1981) 23. King Kong (1933) 24. The Thief of Bagdad (1940) 25. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists American Film Institute (2016). “Top 10 Fantasy FIlms” TheCinemaholic.com (2/5/2019). “30 Best Fantasy Movies Ever” CommonSenseMedia.org “Best Fantasy Movies” DigitalDreamDoor.com (1/24/2019). “100 Greatest Fantasy Movies” FilmsRanked.com (August 2018). “100 Greatest Fantasy Films” FlickChart.com “The Top 100 Fantasy Movies of All Time” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 fantasy films) HiConsumption.com (6/1/2014). “The 50 Greatest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies of All Time” Internet Movie Database (7/6/2012). “100 Best Fantasy Movies” Mandatory.com (12/12/2012). “The Top 25 (Other) Best Fantasy Movies Ever Made” The-Numbers.com (2019). “All Time Worldwide Box Office for Fantasy Movies” Ranker.com “The Best Fantasy Movies” RottenTomatoes.com “Best Fantasy Movies of All Time” ScreenRant.com (9/28/2018). “20 Best Fantasy Movies Ever Made, According to Rotten Tomatoes…” TasteOfCinema.com (2/12/2018). “The 25 Best Fantasy Movies of All Time” Time Out (8/22/2018). “The 50 best fantasy movies” TheTopTens.com “Greatest Fantasy Movies of All Time” TribaList.com “Best Fantasy Movies” Originally posted 9/6/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

Top Movies of the 2000s

This page offers lists of the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by two different metrics. The first list is based on box office and the second is based on critics’ picks.

Box Office: Top 25 of the 2000s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by worldwide box office gross. The first number indicates dollars made in millions.

1. 2923.71: Avatar (2009) 2. 1147.63: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 3. 1066.18: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) 4. 1026.41: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (aka “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”) (2001) 5. 1006.23: The Dark Knight (2008) 6. 961.69: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) 7. 942.86: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) 8. 941.64: Finding Nemo (2003) 9. 941.06 :Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) 10. 938.24: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 11. 932.53: Shrek 2 (2004) 12. 898.47: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) 13. 891.68: Spider-Man 3 (2007) 14. 888.17: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) 16. 882.74: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) 17. 850.04: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) 18. 836.30: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) 19. 825.03: Spider-Man (2002) 20. 808.49: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 21. 808.31: Shrek the Third (2007) 22. 795.11: Spider-Man 2 (2004) 23. 791.22: 2012 (2009) 24. 786.60: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) 25. 760.01: The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Critics’ Picks: Top 25 of the 2000s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by a combination of the movies’ ratings points and awards points.

1. No Country for Old Men (2007) 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 3. Brokeback Mountain (2005) 4. The Hurt Locker (2009) 5. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 6. The Dark Knight (2008) 7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 8. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (2006) 9. Sideways (2004) 10. Gladiator (2000) 11. There Will Be Blood (2007) 12. Avatar (2009) 13. Chicago (2002) 14. A Beautiful Mind (2001) 15. The Departed (2006) 16. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 17. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long) (2000) 18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 19. Wall-E (2008) 20. Juno (2007) 21. The Pianist (2002) 22. Million Dollar Baby (2004) 23. Lost in Translation (2003) 24. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (2001) 25. Ratatouille (2007)

Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Eras Dave’s Movie Database: Movies of the Year Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings Page Originally posted 3/5/2025.