by Nathaniel R
It's time for the annual "halfway mark" festivities. With the first six months of the year done, we are triggered to look back at one came before. To make this far more interesting than just "biggest blockbusters" we're listing the biggest hits of multiple categories. If we've written about them extensively, talked about them, or reviewed them, that's where the links take you.
Key: The totals are domestic as of estimates this weekend.Titles that still have life in them (i.e. are still in active release and not done or just about to leave) have up arrows next to them. OKAY THE LISTS. Ready? Let's go!
HIGHEST GROSSING WIDE RELEASE FILMS
everything that crossed the 100 million mark...
Though Infinity War is the year's top grosser globally, at home it's "Wakanda Forever!"
- Black Panther $699+
- 🔺Avengers: Infinity War $671+
- 🔺Incredibles 2 $439+
- 🔺Deadpool 2 $310+
- 🔺Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom $264+
- 🔺Solo: A Star Wars Story $207+
- A Quiet Place $187+
- Ready Player One $136+
- Peter Rabbit $115+
- 🔺Ocean's 8 $114+
- A Wrinkle in Time $100+
- Fifty Shades Freed $100+
66% franchise titles... 33% superhero titles.
HIGHEST GROSSING ORIGINALS
These films are NOT part of an existing franchise (though they may have started one) and are NOT remakes of an existing hit (That said some of them are based on pre-existing material.)
- A Quiet Place $187+
- Ready Player One $136+
- Peter Rabbit $115+
- A Wrinkle in Time $100+
- Rampage $97+
- I Can Only Imagine $83+
- Game Night $69+
- Book Club $66+
- Blockers $59+
- Life of the Party $52+
- I Feel Pretty $48+
- Red Sparrow $46+
HIGHEST GROSSING LIMITED RELEASE FILMS
Excluding docs and foreign films which we'll give their own category
i.e. These never went wide. (For the record we count wide as 800 screens though opinions on this number vary. Some sites say 600 is wide but we say that's an out-of-date line of demarcation since it was that way back in the 1980s (when we first started being film-conscious) and back then films didn't used to ever reach 4,000+ screens let alone being opening-weekend common). We've also included their maximum screen count to give you a sense on just how "limited" their release was.
I've included all titles that surpassed the half million mark
- The Death of Stalin $8+ (548 screens)
- Beirut $5+ (755 screens)
- 🔺Gotti $3.6+ (503 screens)
- Disobedience $3.4+ (247 screens)
- 🔺First Reformed $3.1+ (334 screens)
- Thoroughbreds $2.8+ (564 screens)
- You Were Never Really Here $2.5+ (233 screens)
- The Rider $2.2+ (224 screens)
- 🔺American Animals $1.7+ (339 screens)
- Finding Your Feet $1.4+ (277 screens)
- 🔺Hearts Beat Loud $1.2+ (104 screens)
- Lean on Pete $1.1 (187 screens)
- The Seagull $1.1+ (211 screens)
- Beast $785 (93 screens)
- The Party $749k (92 screens)
- On Chesil Beach $722k (203 screens)
HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS DIRECTED BY A WOMAN
(including co-directing efforts)
- A Wrinkle in Time (Ava Duvernay) $100.4+
- Blockers (Kay Cannon) $59+
- I Feel Pretty (Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein) $48.7+
- Forever My Girl (Bethany Asthon Wolf) $16.3+
- 🔺RBG (Julie Cohen & Betsy West) $11.5+
- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) $2.5+
- The Rider (Chloé Zhao) $2.2+
- Let the Sunshine In (Claire Denis) $847k
- The Party (Sally Potter) $749k
- 🔺Itzhak (Alison Chernick) $576k
- Oh, Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayanagi) $373+
- 🔺The Gospel According to André (Kate Novack) $354k
- Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (Sophie Fiennes) $354k
HIGHEST GROSSING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
Excluding documentaries. I opted to include all films which crossed the half million mark
- Padmaavat (India) $11.8+
- La Boda de Valentina (Mexico) $2.7+
- Bharat Ane Nenu (India) $2.6+
- 🔺Sanju (India) $2.5+
- A Fantastic Woman (Chile) $2+ Oscar winner
- Detective Chinatown 2 (China) $1.9+
- Race 3 (India) $1.6+
- Padman (India) $1.6+
- Operation Red Sea (China) $1.5+
- 102 Not Out (India) $1.3+
- Baaghi 2 (India) $1.3+
- Nothing to Lose (Brazil) $1+
- Raid (India) $1+
- The Insult (Lebanon) $1+ Oscar nominee
- Let the Sunshine In (France) $847k
- How Long Will I Love U (China) $746k
- Monster Hunt 2 (China) $706k
- Foxtrot (Israel) $618k Oscar finalist
- Loveless (Russia) $566k Oscar nominee
HIGHEST GROSSING DOCUMENTARIES
- 🔺RBG $11.5+
- 🔺Won't You Be My Neighbor $7.4+
- Pope Francis - A Man of His Word $1.8+
- 🔺Itzhak $576k
- Leaning Into the Wind $400k
- 🔺The Gospel According to André $354k
- Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami $354k
- 🔺Mountain $243k
- Suicide the Ripple Effect $240k
- The Final Year $191k
- 🔺Three Identical Strangers $163k
- Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michael Basquiat $154k
HIGHEST GROSSING ANIMATED FILMS
Yes, Ready Player One is an animated film.
- 🔺Incredibles 2 $439+
- Ready Player One $136+
- Peter Rabbit $115+
- Sherlock Gnomes $43+
- Isle of Dogs $31+
- Early Man $8+
- Sgt Stubby: An American Hero $3+
- Mary and the Witches Flower $2+
- Bilal: A New Brand of Hero $490k
- Condorita: La Pelicula $447k
- Monster Family $127k
- Lu Over the Wall $109k
HIGHEST GROSSING HORROR FILMS
Please no quibbling about "that's not a horror movie!" because horror is a much broader genre that people can admit and includes 'thrillers' and 'monster movies' that are meant to be upsetting/scary/creepy.
- A Quiet Place $187+
- Insidious The Last Key $67+
- Breaking In $45+
- Truth or Dare $40+
- 🔺Hereditary $39+
- Winchester $25+
- Strangers: Prey at Night $24+
- Unsane $7+
- Bad Samaritan $3+
- But Deliver Us From Evil $285k
Do you have any feelings about the fates of these films? Why were they so much more popular than others, etcetera. And which film are you most aggravated did not become a bigger hit?