The 15 highest-grossing movies of 2023
- Business Insider rounded up the highest-grossing movies of the year, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
- Three superhero movies and five sequels were among the biggest moneymakers of 2023.
- Only two movies crossed $1 billion: "Barbie" and "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."
Many of 2023's biggest movies at the box office were the usual suspects — Marvel movies and big-budget sequels.
However, there were a few surprises, including "Barbie," a video game adaptation, and a Pixar film that was originally written off as a box-office flop.
Keep reading to see which movies came out on top at the box office this year and why expectations for some of these grosses were higher.
All box-office numbers and Rotten Tomatoes scores on this list are current as of December 19, 2023, and are subject to change.
Worldwide gross: $289,693,383
Reported production budget: $100 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 64%
The "Hunger Games" prequel was one of the weakest entries from the franchise, despite its position on the highest-grossing list for 2023. It received mixed reviews and had the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score out of all five movies.
It is also the first "Hunger Games" film to have a worldwide grossing that is less than $600 million.
Worldwide gross: $383,963,057
Reported production budget: $295 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 69%
Harrison Ford's final outing as Indiana Jones was one of the big box-office flops of the summer.
After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival with middling reviews, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" had the worst box-office performance since the second film in the franchise, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."
It also had the lowest Rotten Tomato score of the entire franchise.
Worldwide gross: $395,000,317
Reported production budget: $129 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 27%
The success of "Meg 2: The Trench" was mostly due to the movie's popularity in countries outside of the US — especially in China where the movie brought in roughly 30% of its total worldwide earnings.
However, the sequel was critically panned and had a lower overall grossing than the first film.
Worldwide gross: $438,966,392
Reported production budget: $200 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 52%
"Rise of the Beasts" was the biggest commercial failure of the entire "Transformers" live-action franchise, despite having a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than most of the previous sequels.
The film received middling reviews which likely put off audiences after previous disappointments in the franchise.
Worldwide gross: $440,146,694
Reported production budget: $100 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 94%
Despite missing out on the top 10, "John Wick: Chapter 4" was a success compared to its predecessors. The sequel earned the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of the franchise and the highest worldwide grossing of the series.
Worldwide gross: $476,071,180
Reported production budget: $200 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 46%
Despite making it into the top 10, Paul Rudd's third Ant-Man outing became the lowest-grossing of the "Ant-Man" trilogy despite having the largest opening weekend of the three.
Filled with clunky visual effects and juvenile humor, "Quantumania" was more of a one-off "Doctor Who" adventure instead of part of a connected story for the larger MCU. It holds the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any Marvel Cinematic Universe entry.
Worldwide gross: $496,176,105
Reported production budget: $200 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 74%
Pixar's underrated love story was the little engine that could at the box office this year. After delivering one of Pixar's worst opening weekends, word of mouth helped this title bounce back and climb into the top 10.
It's not one of the most successful Pixar movies, but it's certainly not the box-office bomb many initially made it out to be after a disappointing opening.
Worldwide gross: $567,535,383
Reported production budget: $291 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 96%
Even though it was one of the best-reviewed "Mission: Impossible" features, Paramount was likely hoping for a bit more juice from "Dead Reckoning."
The Tom Cruise sequel didn't outperform the last three franchise installments, despite reports of it being the costliest. 2018's "Fallout" grossed nearly $800 million.
Worldwide gross: $569,626,289
Reported production budget: $250 million+
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 67%
"The Little Mermaid," starring Halle Bailey as an excellent Ariel, should've made more money.
Sure, $500 million is a lot, but the bar's high when you're a Disney remake — and not just any remake.
1989's "The Little Mermaid" kicked off the Disney renaissance, which birthed "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," and "The Lion King." Those retellings brought in billion-dollar box-office hauls.
Worldwide gross: $690,516,673
Reported production budget: $100 million to $150 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 95%
One of the best movies of the year, the sequel to 2018's "Into the Spider-Verse" was a big win all around with the largest opening weekend ever for Sony Pictures Animation.
Making 44% more than its predecessor, "Spider-Verse" also had the second-largest summer box office, domestically.
Worldwide gross: $704,709,660
Reported production budget: $300 million+
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 56%
Though it's in the top 10, "Fast X" underperformed at the worldwide box office compared to previous installments in the "Fast & Furious" franchise.
Worldwide gross: $845,555,777
Reported production budget: $250 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 82%
Though an impressive number, director James Gunn's send-off to the quirky Guardians didn't surpass 2017's "GotG Vol. 2" box office, which grossed over $863 million worldwide.
Regardless, it's impressive that Gunn could take an extremely obscure Marvel comic and create one of the MCU's most successful franchises and memorable characters in Baby Groot.
Worldwide gross: $951,992,165
Reported production budget: $100 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 93%
Director Christopher Nolan's bio-drama on the father of the atomic bomb became the highest-grossing biopic of all time and the second-highest-grossing R-rated movie.
Worldwide gross: $1,361,427,971
Reported production budget: $100 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 59%
"The Super Mario Bros." movie broke a ton of records, including the largest opening weekend for an animated movie. It's now the highest-grossing movie based on a video game.
The lack of any big kids' release from January until April likely helped fuel the film's astronomical success.
Worldwide gross: $1,441,816,150
Reported production budget: $145 million
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 88%
Warner Bros.' surprise summer stunner starring Margot Robbie became the first movie from a solo female director to cross $1 billion at the box office.
It's also WB's fastest film to cross $1 billion in just 17 days, a record previously held by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2."
You can read more about the box-office records "Barbie" smashed here.