Blockbuster films have become a staple of our culture, with new superhero movies, action-adventure flicks, and powerful dramas influencing the way that we think about the world around us. The film industry has ballooned into a massive multi-billion dollar venture in the last century, with numerous features shattering records by taking in billions in ticket sales at the global box office. Still, examining the box office figures for the highest grossing films reveals interesting patterns, which say a lot about the state of art, commerce, and the business of making and selling major motion pictures. By the numbers, 9 out of the 10 highest grossing movies of all time are owned by Disney, while 7 out of 10 were released within the last ten years.

The price of a single movie ticket is substantially higher today than it was several decades ago, and the media landscape has shifted significantly since the 1990s. Since the turn of the century, Disney has made it their business to swallow up as much of the competition whole as they could, resulting in the entertainment giant serving as something of a monopoly in today’s day and age. So, let’s examine the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time, and see what other patterns we can determine. The following films have not been adjusted for inflation, as the math behind ticket sales to average dollar values can be quite imperfect. Hopefully that explains why certain record-breaking films such as Gone With The Wind, The Sound of Music, and the original Star Wars are not present on this list.

10. The Avengers (2012)

Topping our list at number 10 we have 2012’s The Avengers. This film struck during a time when nobody knew just how high the Marvel Cinematic Universe would climb, and serves as one of the largest crossover events of its era. While it may seem quaint in hindsight, the combined efforts of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, all fighting side-by-side with other Marvel mainstays such as The Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, wowed audiences everywhere.

Marvels’ The Avengers has since gone down in history as a generational event, which comic book fans will surely be showing to their children and grandchildren for decades to come. The film brought in a staggering $1.5 billion at the global box office against an estimated production budget of $220 million. It tops out just slightly higher than films like Furious 7, Top Gun Maverick, and Frozen 2.

9. The Lion King (2019)

While it may come as a surprise that such a polarizing film cracks the top ten list of the highest grossing movies of all time, Disney’s live-action iteration of The Lion King serves as a reminder that nostalgia is a powerful currency. Despite touting a paltry 52 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, this remake of the 1994 animated classic managed to bring in over $1.6 billion in worldwide ticket sales. The film has also inspired a prequel centered on Mufasa, which is poised to land in theaters this December. 2019’s The Lion King may not have the same cult-like following as the original cartoon, but it has certainly proved itself to be a major cash cow.

8. Jurassic World (2015)

2015’s Jurassic World is another film that relies heavily on nostalgia from the 1990s, though it does much more to establish itself as a unique presence than the live-action Lion King movie. As a Universal Pictures production, Jurassic World marks the only entrant into this list that isn’t owned by Disney. The film touts roughly $14.5 million more in box office sales than the previous entry, making the two films neck and neck for the number 8 spot.

Subsequent films in the Jurassic World franchise have continued to draw massive crowds, though neither 2018’s Fallen Kingdom nor 2022’s Dominion were able to keep pace with the 2015 reboot. The aforementioned sequels took in $1.3 billion and $1 billion respectively, meaning the series is seeing steadily diminishing returns, despite its major financial success.

7. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

The second Marvel Studios installment on the list of highest grossing movies of all time is 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. This is the third and most recent outing for Tom Holland’s eponymous web-slinger, and the first instance of the comic book hero crossing over with other film continuities. No Way Home managed to pull in massive box office figures due to the film’s inclusion of both Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who previously played their own takes on Spider-Man in the 2000s and 2010s respectively.

Spider-Man: No Way Home reinvigorated public interest in each of the main-line Spider-Man actors, and has since spawned a litany of rumors about Maguire and Garfield returning to lead their own web-shooting projects. The film made just under $2 billion at the box office, and is widely hailed as the best post-Avengers: Endgame Marvel movie.

6. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Speaking of the Avengers, Infinity War marks the first film on this list to earn over $2 billion globally, making it one of a very select few to cross this incredible financial threshold. The film, which arrived in theaters in 2018, served as the culmination of nearly a decade of build-up, by finally introducing the Avengers team to the mad titan known as Thanos. Marvel Studios had teased the arrival of Thanos over the course of multiple movies up to this point, making him the ‘big bad’ of the entire MCU canon. When he finally showed up, he didn’t disappoint, as the hulking purple alien immediately began leaving a trail of death and destruction in his path, before defeating the Avengers, providing the superhero team with their first major loss in a feature film.

When Infinity War hit theaters back in 2018, fans shuffled out of showings in stunned silence, before waiting a calendar year to see the thrilling conclusion of the Infinity saga. Infinity War‘s dour, cliffhanger ending was a massive gamble for the Disney-owned studio, which clearly paid off in dividends, as both films managed to draw record-shattering profits.

5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Like Marvel Studios, the Star Wars franchise was purchased by Disney in the mid 2000s, prompting a wave of cautious intrigue from fans across the world. When The Force Awakens was first announced, people went wild, as demonstrated by the film’s $2 billion box office earnings, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of all time. Today, many hardcore Star Wars fans have mixed feelings about The Force Awakens, and the state of the franchise as a whole after Disney took ownership. Still, without this historic deal, we wouldn’t have gotten fan favorite outings such as The Mandalorian and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

4. Titanic (1997)

Far and away the oldest film on this list is 1997’s Titanic, which managed to bring in over $2.2 billion worldwide. The film was largely considered to be James Cameron’s magnum opus at the time of its release, and tells the tale of a fictional couple aboard the real life ship, which sunk after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage. This film is a notable entry on this list for a variety of reasons beyond its age. Up until 2019, Titanic was one of the select few highest grossing movies not owned by Disney, as the film was produced by 20th Century Fox. When Disney acquired Fox in 2019, they took on the studio’s assets, including this movie, contributing significantly to Disney’s complete domination of this list.

3. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Avatar: The Way of Water is another massive James Cameron-helmed blockbuster, which serves as a direct sequel to his 2009 sci-fi adventure film Avatar. Cameron spent the entire 14-year interval between these films tinkering with the long-awaited sequel, perfecting the visuals and pushing the existing CGI and VFX technology to its absolute limit. In the lead-up to The Way of Water‘s 2022 theatrical premiere, box office records projected that the film would flop, citing the first film’s lack of cultural impact, as well as a variety of other factors such as post-COVID audience numbers. Of course, these projections proved to be false, as droves of audiences packed their way into theaters across the world to marvel at the spectacle of Cameron’s impressive water physics and world building.

The film ultimately took in $2.3 billion, and solidified Avatar as a financially viable franchise, in spite of the sequel’s massive $460 million production budget. Plans for additional Avatar installments have been underway since shortly after The Way of Water hit theaters, with Cameron promising that the third and fourth films will not require 14 years of pre-production to reach theaters.

2. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame caps off the thrilling cliffhanger provided by 2018’s Infinity War, and closes the chapter on the greatest era of superhero films to ever grace the screen. The film raked in just under $2.8 billion globally, making it the second highest grossing movie of all time. This film saw several of the core Avengers heroes retiring or dying in battle, while attempting to undo Thanos’ Infinity snap, which wiped out half of all life in the known universe. Joe and Anthony Russo share co-directing credits on both installments of the Infinity Saga, making them the only filmmakers besides James Cameron to helm multiple films on this list.

While audiences couldn’t have known at the time, Endgame also benefitted from impeccable release timing, as the COVID-19 pandemic would kick off just a year later, shuttering movie theaters across the country and causing most film productions to shut down for months at a time. While Marvel has continued to build out new storylines with new heroes in the past 5 years, Endgame is largely considered to be the last must-see installment in the franchise.

1. Avatar (2009)

If you’ve been keeping up with the patterns on this list, the number one highest grossing movie of all time should come as no surprise. James Cameron’s 2009 epic Avatar brought in a staggering $2.9 billion, making it the most financially successful film venture to ever grace the silver screen. The film had been on top of Cameron’s mind since he was a teenager, and is said to contain influences from every science fiction and fantasy book the auteur filmmaker has ever read. Shortly after completing his work on Titanic in 1997, Cameron announced plans to begin production on this CGI-heavy outing, though his lofty ambitions made it difficult to get the movie off the ground. Eventually, Cameron was able to partner with 20th Century Fox to fund the film, back before Fox was absorbed by Disney.

While Avatar may not be on the forefront of every moviegoer’s mind, the film certainly managed to make a splash, as evidenced by the massive turnout of the sequel film over a decade later. The franchise has made Cameron one of the most exciting and boundary-pushing directors in all of cinema, with more planned Avatar outings scheduled for 2025 and beyond. Collectively, the above films account for more than $20 billion in global box office revenue, proving that the film industry is as profitable as its ever been.

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