The 10 Highest-Grossing Movies of 2023 (2024)

2023 was the most significant year for movies in a long time. The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes forced production companies to make concessions to help actors and writers make the money they deserve for years to come. At the box office, the summer of Barbenheimer firmly declared the movie theater far from obsolete, especially amid the current streaming wars.

But Barbie and Oppenheimer weren't the only films to make big bucks last year. Eight more movies asserted that they, too, raked in enough money worldwide to remind everyone that sitting in front of the big screen with a bunch of strangers still has as much charm as ever. According to Box Office Mojo, the highest-grossing films of 2023 include a Disney reboot, a video game adaptation, MCU installments, and much more.

10 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'

Worldwide Box Office: $476,071,180

Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came out in February and helped movie theaters start the year on a decent note. As the third movie in the decent-but-never-extraordinary Ant-Man series, it was unclear how well it would do at this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After Avengers: Endgame, the dramatic and monetary success of anything released from then on was more or less destined to be ant-sized by comparison.

But something that's small next to Endgame can still bring in a pretty big audience. With just under half a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania neither won big nor spectacularly crashed when it came out almost a year ago. Its Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 48 and 46 were much more disappointing, but at least audiences still had faith in the MCU—how quickly the tides turned.

PG-13

Release Date

February 17, 2023

Director

Peyton Reed

Cast

Michael Douglas , Jonathan Majors , Paul Rudd , Michelle Pfeiffer , Michael Pena , Evangeline Lilly , Kathryn Newton , Randall Park , Bill Murray

Runtime

135 minutes

Watch on Disney+

9 'Elemental'

Worldwide Box Office: $496,307,013

Elemental is Disney and Pixar's latest visually beautiful animated feature. As the title suggests, the character designs are based on four elements of nature: earth, fire, water, and air. But this is nothing like Avatar: The Last Airbender; almost everyone is made of one of these elements instead. Ember is made of both earth and fire though, so it's hard for her to fit into Elemental City, a setting that is modeled somewhat on New York City and other culturally diverse metropolises.

Released over the summer, Elemental had an estimated $200 million budget to overcome. With a demoralizing $29.6 million in sales on its opening weekend, the film was immediately declared a flop, and its mixed reviews added insult to injury. Yet Elemental eventually became a success, making enough money week after week to not only stay in theaters but approach a number that would make the movie at least break even. Sleeper hits and original films aren't common nowadays, but Elemental is both.

See Also

The 50 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time: Your Top Box Office Earners Ever WorldwideThe 15 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time - IGN10 Highest-Grossing Animated Movies of the 2010s7 Highest-Grossing Movies of 2000s Worldwide: Avatar, The Dark Knight and more

Elemental

Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together.

Release Date

June 16, 2023

Director

Peter Sohn

Cast

Leah Lewis , Mamoudou Athie , Catherine O'Hara , Ronnie del Carmen , Wendi McLendon-Covey

Runtime

93 Minutes

Watch on Disney+

8 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One'

Worldwide Box Office: $567,535,383

Ethan Hunt has a new mission, and the title of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One makes it clear that it won't be over by the end of the movie. The first half of what appears to be one of the best two-part serial films, this is the seventh entry in a spy-action series that began back in 1996. Tom Cruise is still here, and so is Ving Rhames. Others include Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, and Vanessa Kirby.

With a 96 on Rotten Tomatoes and 81 on Metacritic, Dead Reckoning Part One was praised for its set pieces, action sequences, direction, and performances. According to The Atlantic, "This is a worthy entry in America's best ongoing franchise." Dead Reckoning's budget was so large that the box office was actually a little disappointing, but between this and 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise has proven he's still one of Hollywood's most bankable frontmen.

Rent on Amazon

7 'The Little Mermaid' (2023)

Worldwide Box Office: $569,626,289

2023's The Little Mermaid hoped that fans of the original 1989 Disney classic would turn up to see this photorealistic reboot, and many of them did. Like before, the mermaid Ariel wants to explore life above the sea and earn the love of the handsome Prince Eric. Thus, Ursula, the Sea Witch, gives her human legs in exchange for her voice, telling her she'll have to receive true love's kiss within 3 days to stay human.

Starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, the film's cast had both star power and rising star power. Bailey and McCarthy were praised, but the overall film scored a 67 on Rotten Tomatoes and a 59 on Metacritic. The box office was better than many recent Disney live-action efforts but not enough to match the glorious pre-pandemic days when films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King were making $1 billion apiece.

The Little Mermaid (2023)

PG

Release Date

May 26, 2023

Director

Rob Marshall

Cast

Halle Bailey , Jonah Hauer-King , Melissa McCarthy , Javier Bardem , Daveed Diggs , Jacob Tremblay , Awkwafina

Runtime

135 Minutes

Watch on Disney+

6 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'

Worldwide Box Office: $690,516,673

Whereas Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was about multiple Spider-Man characters from various universes visiting Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has Miles visit others' universes. Gwen Stacy has her own storyline, too. In fact, she rather dominates the first act of the film. Eventually, though, the movie focuses on the concept of Miles having to follow the Spider-Man canon like all the others, which makes this installment even more meta than the last.

Considered by many to be one of the all-time great animated and superhero movies, Across the Spider-Verse

has all the gorgeous imagery of its predecessor and then some. Behind the scenes, however, the animators have claimed unsustainable working conditions due to their extremely heavy workload and schedule. Over 100 animators quit, and the remaining artists were overwhelmed. Across the Spider-Verse still did great business, easily outgrossing its predecessor and becoming the year's second-highest animated movie.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

PG

Release Date

June 2, 2023

Director

Joaquim Dos Santos , Kemp Powers , Justin K. Thompson

See Also

The highest-grossing Disney animation movies of all time

Cast

Shameik Moore , Hailee Steinfeld , Oscar Isaac , Jake Johnson

Runtime

140 minutes

Watch on Netflix

5 'Fast X'

Worldwide Box Office: $704,875,015

Fast X got mixed reviews from critics. Several factors explain why this ranks low compared to the other Fast and Furious movies: it's lazily directed, written like a series of generic action-movie lines recycled from other movies, and ultimately has no heart. Jason Mamoa plays the villain role with charisma, but his character is more distracting than compelling. As The Atlantic put it, his performance "reads more Disney sidekick crook than fearsome foe."

Still, Dominic Toretto and his family can breathe a sigh of relief knowing there's still some fuel in their cars. Fast X did solid business, especially internationally, where this franchise is still a juggernaut. The series is very clearly running out of steam, though, and this next film better be the last one, or Fast & Furious will end like the DCEU: a shallow, barely recognizable ghost of what it once was.

Fast X

PG-13

Release Date

May 19, 2023

Director

Louis Leterrier

Cast

Vin Diesel , Jordana Brewster , Tyrese Gibson , Michelle Rodriguez , Sung Kang , Ludacris , Jason Momoa , John Cena

Runtime

141 minutes

Rent on Amazon

4 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Worldwide Box Office: $845,555,777

James Gunn's beloved franchise of loveable misfits has concluded its trilogy. Based on the box-office numbers, this third installment was a happy ending for both the Guardians and Disney. 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy unexpectedly won both critical and commercial victories nine years earlier, largely for its soundtrack, characters, and tendency to not take itself too seriously. Staying (mostly) true to its roots, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the end of a surprise hit from the obscure Marvel comic.

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, and pretty much everyone else are back for a sequel with surprisingly personal stakes. A superhero film about letting go of the past, animal cruelty, and friendship, Vol. 3 is a little long yet makes sure the trilogy lands on its feet anyway. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 didn't outgross its predecessor but still grossed more than any other MCU Phase 5 film. More importantly, it gave its characters a loving and satisfying farewell, a privilege not many other MCU figures got.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

PG-13

Release Date

May 5, 2023

Director

James Gunn

Cast

Zoe Saldana , Dave Bautista , Vin Diesel , Bradley Cooper , Karen Gillan , Pom Klementieff , Elizabeth Debicki , Chris Pratt

Runtime

150 minutes

Watch on Disney+

3 'Oppenheimer'

Worldwide Box Office: $952,037,935

A three-hour historical epic about physics only has so many ways to make money. The nearly billion-dollar triumph that was Oppenheimer proved that handing writer-director Christopher Nolan the reigns and dropping in explosive music throughout talkative scientific explanations were very helpful. No doubt the star power of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and others persuaded folks to see the film as well.

Taking on a non-linear narrative characteristic of Terrence Malick's more recent work, Nolan brings his trademark style to the experimental structure. Considered one of Christopher Nolan's best works, Oppenheimer features slick dialogue, existential crises, and complicated morals that make science accessible, engaging, and even terrifying to its audience. The double feature it unexpectedly formed with Barbie only increased its must-see qualities, reminding audiences how fun it can be to go to the movie theater. And go they did.

Oppenheimer

R

Release Date

July 21, 2023

Director

Christopher Nolan

Cast

Cillian Murphy , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Emily Blunt , Alden Ehrenreich , Scott Grimes , Jason Clarke , Tony Goldwyn

Runtime

180 minutes

Rent on Amazon

2 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie'

Worldwide Box Office: $1,361,367,353

Leaping over the ten-figure mark, The Super Mario Bros. Movie made up for the pitiful first attempt at adapting the video game back in 1993, the infamously bad Super Mario Bros. The titles may be similar, but that's basically where the comparisons end. 2023's version of the beloved Italian plumber is animated, makes all the characters look the way they do in the games, has some jumping, and features obvious references to other games in the Super Mario franchise (like Mario Kart). That's all the viewers really wanted.

Bowser plays the piano, too. Why not? Just make sure he's played by Jack Black, and it should all work out. In the meantime, Chris Pratt is Mario, Charlie Day is Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, and Seth Rogen is Donkey Kong, meaning the casting team collected more than enough stars to level up the movie's marketability. The reviews were quite mixed, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie provided enough fan service to make the critics' opinions almost completely irrelevant. Audiences declared it one of the best animated movies of 2023 and flocked to the theater to watch it. For a while, it even seemed it might end as the year's highest-grossing picture—that is, until a certain doll locked it out of the top spot.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

PG

Release Date

April 7, 2023

Director

Aaron Horvath , Michael Jelenic

Cast

​Chris Pratt2 , Anya Taylor-Joy , Charlie Day , Jack Black , Keegan-Michael Key , Seth Rogen , Fred Armisen , Sebastian Maniscalco

Runtime

105 minutes

Watch on Netflix

1 'Barbie'

Worldwide Box Office: $1,441,820,453

Released at a time when streaming services and post-pandemic hesitance put the movie theater in desperate need of affirmation, Greta Gerwig's Barbie popped up and took the world by storm. Though it's only 2024, Barbenheimer will probably go down as the summer blockbuster phenomenon of the decade, as it proved to studio execs that creatively ambitious movies with subjects too complex for the PG rating can still earn enormous ticket sales. Social media definitely played a big part in Barbie's promotion, but the movie itself had to deliver as well. And it did.

The 80 on Metacritic and 88 on Rotten Tomatoes suggest that most critics went gaga for Barbie. While it doesn't always make sense, Barbie's subversive humor and playfulness make up for it. On top of that, Margot Robbie's fantastic performance as Stereotypical Barbie and Ryan Gosling's stellar turn as a particularly crafty Ken are lots of fun to watch. With those two leads, it's no wonder Barbie earned over $1.4 billion at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023.

Barbie

PG-13

Release Date

July 21, 2023

Director

Greta Gerwig

Cast

Margot Robbie , Ryan Gosling , Simu Liu , Ariana Greenblatt , Helen Mirren , Nicola Coughlan , John Cena , Will Ferrell , Ritu Arya , Michael Cera , America Ferrera , Alexandra Shipp , Kate McKinnon

Runtime

114 Minutes

Watch on Max

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