The 20 Biggest Opening Weekends of All Time for Films with Over 90 Percent on Rotten Tomatoes

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | October 7, 2013 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | October 7, 2013 |

Gravity placed first at the box office this weekend, and it wasn’t even close. The Alfonso Cuaron film crushed the competition, racking up $55 million, good for the biggest October opening weekend of all time, the biggest opening weekend in the fall of all time, George Clooney’s biggest opener, and one of the biggest opening weekends ever for a film guaranteed to dominate at the Academy Awards. It’s also the 20th biggest opening weekend of all time for a film with over a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and after a cursory look at that category, I think it will be one of the only Best Picture nominees on the lists, outside of the Lord of the Rings movies. Blockbuster and Best Picture nominees do not typically go hand in hand, but Gravity — one of my top ten moviegoing experiences of all time — will definitely buck that trend.

Here’s the complete list of the biggest opening weekends for films with over a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Note that, among ALL films, Gravity is the 111th biggest opening weekend of all time (meaning, the other 91 biggest opening weekends belong to films with less than a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes).

1. Marvel’s The Avengers ($207 million) — 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169 million) — 96 percent

3. The Dark Knight ($160 million) — 94 percent

4. Toy Story 3 ($110 million) — 99 percent

5. Iron Man ($98 million) — 93 percent

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($93 million) — 91 percent

7. Skyfall ($88 million) — 92 percent

8. Spider-man 2 ($84 million) — 94 percent

9. Star Trek ($75 million) — 95 percent

10. The Simpsons Movie ($74 million) — 90 percent

11. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($72 million) — 94 percent

12. The Incredibles ($70 million) — 97 percent

13. Finding Nemo ($70 million) — 99 percent

14. The Bourne Ultimatum ($69 million) — 94 percent

15. Up ($68 million) — 98 percent

16. WALL-E ($63 million) — 96 percent

17. Monsters, Inc. ($62 million) — 96 percent

18. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($62 million) — 96 percent

19. Toy Story 2 ($57 million) — 100 percent

20. Gravity ($55 million) — 98 percent

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Meanwhile, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 fell a spot to number two in its second weekend with $21.5 million, representing only a 33 percent drop. In third place, Runner Runner bombed, bringing in only $7.6 million on a $30 million budget. Prisoners held on at number four, and has quietly nearly put up $50 million overall, while Ron Howard’s Rush continues to disappoint, coming in at number five with a three-week total at less than $20 million.