List of highest-grossing openings for films
The following is a list of the highest-grossing opening weekends for films. The list is dominated by recent films due to steadily increasing production and marketing budgets, and modern films opening on more screens. Another contributing factor is inflation not being taken into account.
Biggest worldwide openings since 2002
This list charts films that had openings in excess of $200 million worldwide. Since films do not open on Fridays in many markets, the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday. Figures prior to the year 2002 are not available.
This list does not take into account country-by-country variations in release dates. Therefore, in some cases opening weekend grosses from many, or even most countries may not be included.
Biggest opening weekends in the U.S. and Canada
A list of films that grossed in excess of $100 million between the first Friday and first Sunday of release.
| Rank | Film | Year | Opening Weekend (three day)[2] |
Inflation-adjusted[3] (2024 USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | $247,966,675 | $318,739,699 |
| 2 | Jurassic World | 2015 | $208,806,270 | $268,402,388 |
| 3 | Marvel's The Avengers | 2012 | $207,438,708 | $275,302,045 |
| 4 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | $191,271,109 | $245,862,456 |
| 5 | Iron Man 3 | 2013 | $174,144,585 | $227,781,117 |
| 6 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | 2011 | $169,189,427 | $229,156,567 |
| 7 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | 2016 | $166,007,347 | $210,754,752 |
| 8 | The Dark Knight Rises | 2012 | $160,887,295 | $213,521,390 |
| 9 | The Dark Knight | 2008 | $158,411,483 | $224,175,508 |
| 10 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | 2013 | $158,074,286 | $206,761,166 |
| 11 | The Hunger Games | 2012 | $152,535,747 | $202,437,643 |
| 12 | Spider-Man 3 | 2007 | $151,116,516 | $222,054,698 |
| 13 | Furious 7 | 2015 | $147,187,040 | $189,196,201 |
| 14 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | 2009 | $142,839,137 | $202,859,491 |
| 15 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 | 2012 | $141,067,634 | $187,217,750 |
| 16 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 | 2011 | $138,122,261 | $187,078,021 |
| 17 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | 2006 | $135,634,554 | $204,996,695 |
| 18 | Deadpool | 2016 | $132,434,639 | $168,132,495 |
| 19 | Iron Man 2 | 2010 | $128,122,480 | $179,015,631 |
| 20 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | 2010 | $125,017,372 | $174,677,103 |
| 21 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | 2014 | $121,897,634 | $156,887,087 |
| 22 | Shrek the Third | 2007 | $121,629,270 | $178,725,340 |
| 23 | Man of Steel | 2013 | $116,619,362 | $152,538,125 |
| 24 | Alice in Wonderland | 2010 | $116,101,023 | $162,218,979 |
| 25 | Minions | 2015 | $115,718,405 | $148,745,994 |
| 26 | Spider-Man | 2002 | $114,844,116 | $194,544,445 |
| 27 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | 2007 | $114,732,820 | $168,591,510 |
| 28 | Toy Story 3 | 2010 | $110,307,189 | $154,123,703 |
| 29 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | 2009 | $108,966,307 | $154,753,452 |
| 30 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | 2005 | $108,435,841 | $169,166,563 |
| 31 | Shrek 2 | 2004 | $108,037,878 | $174,276,746 |
| 32 | The Jungle Book | 2016 | $103,261,464 | $131,095,669 |
| 33 | X-Men: The Last Stand | 2006 | $102,750,665 | $155,296,317 |
| 34 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 2005 | $102,685,961 | $160,196,398 |
| 35 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 | 2015 | $102,665,981 | $131,968,233 |
| 36 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | 2008 | $100,137,835 | $141,709,740 |
| 37 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | 2014 | $100,038,390[nb 1] | $128,753,373 |
Opening weekend record holders in U.S. and Canada
These are the films that, when first released, set the opening three-day weekend record after going into wide release.
| Year | Title | Opening weekend[6] | Inflation-adjusted[3] (2024 USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Jaws[nb 2] | $7,061,513 | $39,984,671 |
| 1978 | Jaws 2 | $9,866,023 | $46,088,422 |
| 1978 | Star Wars (re-release) | $10,166,336 | $47,491,312 |
| 1978 | Every Which Way but Loose[nb 3] | $10,272,294 | $47,986,288 |
| 1979 | Star Trek: The Motion Picture | $11,926,421 | $50,068,001 |
| 1981 | Superman II | $14,100,523 | $47,256,365 |
| 1982 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | $14,347,221 | $45,297,640 |
| 1983 | Return of the Jedi | $23,019,618 | $70,420,188 |
| 1984 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | $25,337,110 | $74,307,040 |
| 1987 | Beverly Hills Cop II | $26,348,555 | $70,664,139 |
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | $29,355,021 | $72,154,248 |
| 1989 | Ghostbusters II | $29,472,894 | $72,443,978 |
| 1989 | Batman | $40,505,884 | $99,562,919 |
| 1992 | Batman Returns | $45,687,711 | $99,197,695 |
| 1993 | Jurassic Park | $47,026,828 | $99,188,583 |
| 1995 | Batman Forever | $52,784,433 | $105,545,811 |
| 1997 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park | $72,132,785 | $136,908,744 |
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | $90,294,621 | $155,372,590 |
| 2002 | Spider-Man | $114,844,116 | $194,544,445 |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | $135,634,554 | $204,996,695 |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | $151,116,516 | $222,054,698 |
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | $158,411,483 | $224,175,508 |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | $169,189,427 | $229,156,567 |
| 2012 | Marvel's The Avengers | $207,438,708 | $275,302,045 |
| 2015 | Jurassic World | $208,806,270 | $268,402,388 |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $247,966,675 | $318,739,699 |
Biggest opening day in the U.S. and Canada
A list of films that grossed in excess of $50 million on the first day of release.
See also
Notes
- ^ The $100 million opening for Transformers: Age of Extinction is disputed within the industry. According to Rentrak—which has a direct line into the vast majority of theaters in the United States and Canada to track actual ticket sales—about 4,100 of the 4,233 theaters playing the film generated $95.9 million. The projected total from the Rentrak sales data would put the opening three-day weekend gross at around $97.5 million. For Transformers to have crossed the $100 million threshold, it would have needed to gross more than the nationwide average in the theaters not tracked by Rentrak. Some media outlets have elected to go with the Rentrak figure.[4][5]
- ^ Jaws held the opening weekend record until the release of its sequel but it lost the overall weekend record to Star Wars in 1977, which set a new weekend record in its eleventh weekend with a gross of $7,195,573.[7]
- ^ Every Which Way but Loose held the opening weekend record until the following year but it lost the overall weekend record on the last weekend in 1978 to Superman, which recorded a gross of $10,363,384 in its third weekend.[8]
References
- ^ "Worldwide Openings". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Opening Weekends". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ a b c 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (June 30, 2014). "$100 Million Debate: 'Transformers' Debut Was Big, but How Big?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^ Busch, Anita (June 30, 2014). "Box Office: 'Transformers' Controversy Erupts As Paramount Stakes Claim To $100M Three-Day Gross, No One's Buying It". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- ^ "Weekend Record Through the Years". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ "Star Wars (1977) – Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
- ^ "Star Wars (1977) – Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
- ^ "Top Single Day Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
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