It was not that long ago that breaking a billion dollars at the box office was a big deal – it was Titanic way back in 1997 in case you’re wondering. But today it’s not that unusual. Now the barrier to break is twice that so we are taking a look at those $2billion earners and its a growing list.
So here’s the full current list of those $2billion earners starting with the lowest….
8. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) – $2,052,415,039
This was the first part of a double whammy with THAT great cliffhanger that had audiences shocked and eager to see the second part. The films success was indicated by the fact that it only took 11 days to break the $1b barrier then 18 days to break the $1.5b barrier and 48 days to break the $2b barrier.
7. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) – $$2,071,310,218
This was perhaps an obvious one to break through the barrier with anticipation huge and made a $100m per day in first five days of release before it slowed down slightly taking 12 days to break the $1billlion barrier and finally taking 54 days to break the $2 billion during which time people realised that really the film was just a reworking of Star Wars.
6. TITANIC (1997) – $2,264,812,968
So with the film being the first ever to break the billion dollar barrier it would eventually get over the $2billion earners list but it took a huge 5023 days to do so due solely to re-releases and a 3D conversion also adding to the grand total.
5. NE ZHA 2 (2025) – $2,260,176,370
Now lets be fair few western audiences will have even heard of this film let alone seen it with it being a much regarded film for its Chinese audiences who only took 38 days to get over the $2billion barrier.
4. SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY – $2,332,507,928 (at August 30)
Expectation was high for this one with the previous Spiderman just falling short of the $2b barrier earning $1.9m. But no one really expected it to be this popular and at time of writing its still going strong and highly likely to ride further up the list and take the number 4 position by the end of its theatrical run.
3. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, 2022 – $2,334,484,620
Whereas James Cameron’s Titanic took 5023 days to break barrier his sequel which had huge expectation after a thirteen year wait took only 40 days to get there.
2. AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) – $2,799,439,100
After the cliffhanger of Infinity War audiences were stoked for the final part that rounded off Marvel’s Phase Three in spectacular and quite brilliant style that sent it to the biggest earning film of all time. It’s the film that took the shortest time to break the barrier needing only 11 days to do so. It’s possible that it might get back on to the top spot with an expected re-release.
1. AVATAR (2009) – $2,923,710,708
This was a huge deal. Director Cameron had not made a film for ten years when he finally released this and the fact that it was in 3D that was expected to revolutionize the film going experience was not far off the mark as the time. It took 47 days to break the $2b barrier and was convincingly overtaken by Avengers Endgame and so the studio re-released the film which pushed it to the top spot ( for the time being anyway).
The dream for the studios now is to break the $3b barrier
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