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The Top Grossing Films of the Aughts | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

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The Top Grossing Films of the Aughts (Worldwide)

A Seriously Random List / Dustin Rowles

Trade News | December 7, 2009 | Comments (34)

This week and next, we’re going to be covering a lot of Best of the Decade lists involving movies, so I thought we’d just go ahead and start by listing the highest grossing movies of the decade (worldwide). Not a lot of surprise here (except, perhaps, that worldwide, The Dark Knight is number three, instead of number one as it is in the United States).

Mostly what you see here are sequels, adaptations (book, comic book, or toy), and kids’ movies. In fact, every single one of the movies below fits that definition. This is why Hollywood is the way it is: Why come up with a new idea when you can sequelize an old one or base the movie on source material with built in popularity. Why take risks?

There are only four movies on this list, in fact, that I liked considerably. Go Hollywood!

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, $1,119,110,941
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, $1,066,179,725
3. The Dark Knight, $1,001,921,825
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, $974,733,550
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, $960,996,492
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $938,212,733
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, $929,022,922
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, $925,282,504
9. Shrek 2, $919,838,758
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, $895,921,036
11. Spider-Man 3, $890,871,626
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, $878,643,482
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, $878,615,229
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, $870,761,744
15. Finding Nemo, $864,625,978
16. Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, $848,754,768
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, $833,229,011
18. Spider-Man, $821,708,551
19. Shrek the Third, $798,958,162
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, $795,634,069
21. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $786,636,033
22. Spider-Man 2, $783,766,341
23. The Da Vinci Code, $758,239,851
24. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, $745,011,272
25. The Matrix Reloaded, $742,128,461
26. Transformers, $709,709,780
27. Ice Age: The Meltdown, $655,388,158
28. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, $654,264,015
29. Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones, $649,398,328
30. Kung Fu Panda, $631,736,484


← Brothers Review | The Decade's Ten Biggest Flameouts →





Comments

The Dark Knight and Finding Nemo?

Posted by: Snath at December 7, 2009 3:16 PM

Interesting how Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the highest grossing in the HP series, rather than any of the subsequent films.
Doesn't that kind of defy the law of sequels? Oh good god is the end of life as we know it coming so soon?!

Posted by: Squeeziee at December 7, 2009 3:20 PM

It always disappoints me that Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban is ranked so relatively low when it was the most visually interesting and well-paced of the movies.

Posted by: Claire at December 7, 2009 3:21 PM

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, $960,996,492

::vomits::

Posted by: TK at December 7, 2009 3:30 PM

It always disappoints me that Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban is ranked so relatively low

I love the irises.

Posted by: Jay at December 7, 2009 3:33 PM

They made a third Shrek movie?

Posted by: Brenton at December 7, 2009 3:43 PM

I'm glad to see that Twilight is not on that list, although I'm sure New Moon will climb up there eventually. It's inevitable, like the runs after Taco Bell.

Posted by: Peanut_Butter_And_James at December 7, 2009 4:04 PM

Huh, I thought Ice Age didn't do that well.

Guess we have Ice Age 4: The Quickening on the way.

Now, which nerd culture character will they add this time around? I vote NPH.

Posted by: Doric at December 7, 2009 4:05 PM

Look at who is watching movies. Hate to be sexist (I don't) but these aren't exactly movies aimed at women. I suppose one could argue that children are a focus group for these films, but I would argue its more accurate to say its the MAN-CHILD demographic that has forked over the hundreds of millions. The 18-30 year olds with disposable income and rotating girlfriends.

I can think of no other reason why Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-Fuck would be on the list.

Posted by: superasente at December 7, 2009 4:21 PM

So Dustin, which are the four? Inquiring minds want to know. Not that we can't make a pretty educated guess.

Posted by: E-money at December 7, 2009 4:27 PM

I can think of no other reason why Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-Fuck would be on the list.

I can: The Lucas Delusion. The same thing that led to the (ugh) Prequels to make a crapload of money. Take some heavy-ass nostalgia, toss in a mini-reunion of stars, and hype that bitch.

Not saying the man-child formula doesn't fit. Just saying, there are quite a few more reasons as to why certain movies are on the list.

Posted by: Smoking Crater (formerly Vermillion) at December 7, 2009 4:33 PM

I agree with The Prisoner Of Azkaban love. I still think it's the best of the Harry Potter movies. I think part of that has to do with:

1. It's a short book, which makes it easier to turn into a movie and hit all the right notes.
2. The director. LOVE.
3. All the extra detail and attention to detail in every scene.
4. The time travel stuff works.
5. No Voldemort. I realize he who must not be named drives all 7 stories, but it's nice to have one without him.

Posted by: BWeaves at December 7, 2009 4:37 PM

6. Oh yeah, and the Whomping Willow killing little, ittle birdies.

Posted by: BWeaves at December 7, 2009 4:38 PM

After skimming through the list as a whole, are you positive the compilers didn't just hit copy and paste four or five times and make up crazy imaginary numbers bordering on a million bajillion?

Claire, you went and stole the words right off the tip of my fingers. Prisoner of Azkaban was by far one of the most well directed and visually interesting movies of the set, particularly when compared to the barely tolerable acting in the first couple of films. Although the pitiful were-creature (I can't bring myself to call it a wolf) in that film was laughable.

Posted by: Ulterior Motive Girl at December 7, 2009 4:54 PM

The Lucas Delusion.

Posted by: Smoking Crater (formerly Vermillion) at December 7, 2009 4:33 PM

Damn straight. For every charge of strip mined nostalgia levelled at the man, he would point to this list and laugh his goita off.

Dustin: I'll take a stab at Dark Knight, Spidies 1 & 2 (how the fuck did 3 outstrip them???) and Finding Nemo.

Posted by: Squirrelgripper at December 7, 2009 5:09 PM

Was this adjusted for inflation? I imagine it would be different if it was (or wasn't).

Posted by: Avelino at December 7, 2009 5:16 PM

I'm loving all of the Harry Potter comments today! ::nerd squee:: I was interested to see it referred to as Philosopher's Stone, which was the title of the UK release book, but I thought the movie was called Sorcerer's Stone? And yes, despite the werewhatever, the third movie is far and away the best film of the series.

Posted by: Patty O'Green at December 7, 2009 5:19 PM

It was only Sorcerer's Stone in America.

Posted by: Daniel Hall at December 7, 2009 5:40 PM

I'm fine with Azkaban being the least successful Harry Potter movie. I think of it as a lesson for the film makers - when you have an brilliantly plotted book with well developed characters, don't fuck it up.
The scene in the Shrieking Shack, where it was all supposed to be explained, was turned into a yelling slapstick routine that had the friends who hadn't read the book saying 'Uh, why are Harry and Sirius friends now?' as they left the theatre; and I will never forgive the director for reading the scene where Ron pulls himself up (on his broken fucking leg!) and tells Sirius he'd had to go through him to get to Harry, and decide 'Hmmm, I've decided that Ron has to be a bumbling idiot with no redeeming features, so I'd better have Hermione be the brave, loyal one.'

Er, sorry about that run-on sentence. Clearly, I still haven't recovered from my disapointment.

Know what else is incredibly sad? Aside from the Harry Potter people, one actor has starred in more top ten films than any other:
Orlando Bloom.

Posted by: ScienceGeek at December 7, 2009 5:52 PM

It's weird, I thought The Dark Knight outgrossed Return of the King. They're both great movies, so it's no big problem.

Shove it up your ass, hipster haters, and go fellate Diablo Cody's figurative cock.

Posted by: George at December 7, 2009 5:59 PM

So Dustin, which are the four? Inquiring minds want to know. Not that we can't make a pretty educated guess.

Posted by: E-money at December 7, 2009 4:27 PM

But...but..Ryan Reynolds is not in any of these movies....

Posted by: AlwaysConfused at December 7, 2009 6:03 PM

Sing it, ScienceGeek!

Posted by: dsbs at December 7, 2009 6:15 PM

Wow, teenagers really do own and ruin the world. *sigh*

Posted by: BananaPanda at December 7, 2009 6:22 PM

Wow. This list is scary. That's one big recipe for the status quo. Expect to spend till at least half the next decade watching sequels, prequels and spinoffs of this stuff.

Posted by: barf at December 7, 2009 6:26 PM

Huh. Matrix Reloaded? Really? The fuck? Unless that's the one with Monica Bellucci kissing everyone...because yeah, then I get it.

Posted by: Joker at December 7, 2009 6:42 PM

Built in audience. Don't even have to be good. The fans won't know till they've already blown their cash.

As for the man-child thing...as a man-child, I would offer that there is relatively nothing else we can do. Everything else in the world is geared toward the uber-consumers - women, and the ever-rising font of all expendable income - teen girls.

Posted by: protoguy at December 7, 2009 6:44 PM

You're so right, BananaPanda. Teenagers are so dumb and tasteless. Is that a new shirt? It really brings out your eyes. If your into it, we could maybe catch a movie sometime.

Posted by: jM at December 7, 2009 8:57 PM

It amused me to see that the quality of a Spider-man movie was inversely proportionate to its gross. Doesn't that just say it all?

Posted by: Chugga at December 7, 2009 9:15 PM

What this says to me is that the US box is no longer dictating what Hollywood makes. Say what you want about aiming this shit at teenagers (true to a point) the real audience seems to me to be international. Little dialogue, lots of boom-boom, internationally known stories (LOTR, Spidey, Batman, HP, Da Vinci) and CGI.

Posted by: ed newman at December 7, 2009 9:28 PM

I feel slightly guilty admitting how many of these movies I saw in the theater. I would like to blame my wonderful, teenage disposable income which, as a grad student, I no longer have. Guess it saves me from feeding the beast, right? ...right?

Posted by: Monica at December 7, 2009 9:39 PM

Huh. Matrix Reloaded? Really? The fuck? Unless that's the one with Monica Bellucci kissing everyone...because yeah, then I get it.

Posted by: Joker at December 7, 2009 6:42 PM

Yes.

She was not pretty in that movie, no matter what anyone (read: Mr. DaC) says to convince me otherwise. Her character was the most annoying, but that's because I'm all about TrinityxNeo.

Posted by: duckandcover at December 7, 2009 10:15 PM

The only ones on this list that I didn't see in the theater are

Finding Nemo
Shrek 3
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
The Da Vinci Code

I actually liked all the rest.

Posted by: Adam C at December 7, 2009 10:54 PM

Looking at that list makes me want JKRowlings to adopt me. Although as I am too old, maybe I could just become her lesbian lover. Hey...if Elise Keaton can do it, so can I!

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Posted by: branty at December 9, 2009 1:40 PM





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