Misc
Box Office Blockbusters: The Top Grossing Movies in the Last 30 Years
The Top Grossing Movies in the Last 30 Years
People have varying opinions on what constitutes a good movie. And while it’s nearly impossible to identify a film’s intrinsic quality—at least, in an objective way—one thing that can be measured is the revenue that a movie generates.
With this in mind, here’s a look at the top grossing movies worldwide since the early 1990s, using data from Box Office Mojo. These figures include box office revenue as of May 2021, but don’t consider other revenue sources like merchandise sales.
The Full List: Top 50 Highest Grossing Movies
Coming in at number one on the list is Avatar—since its release in 2009, this Oscar-winning hit has grossed $2.84 billion in box office sales.
Rank | Title | Lifetime Gross | Year |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Avatar | $2,847,246,203 | 2009 |
2 | Avengers: Endgame | $2,797,501,328 | 2019 |
3 | Titanic | $2,201,647,264 | 1997 |
4 | Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens | $2,068,455,677 | 2015 |
5 | Avengers: Infinity War | $2,048,359,754 | 2018 |
6 | Jurassic World | $1,670,516,444 | 2015 |
7 | The Lion King | $1,657,870,986 | 2019 |
8 | The Avengers | $1,518,815,515 | 2012 |
9 | Furious 7 | $1,515,255,622 | 2015 |
10 | Frozen II | $1,450,026,933 | 2019 |
11 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | $1,402,809,540 | 2015 |
12 | Black Panther | $1,347,597,973 | 2018 |
13 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | $1,342,321,665 | 2011 |
14 | Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi | $1,332,698,830 | 2017 |
15 | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | $1,310,464,680 | 2018 |
16 | Frozen | $1,281,835,246 | 2013 |
17 | Beauty and the Beast | $1,264,434,525 | 2017 |
18 | Incredibles 2 | $1,243,089,244 | 2018 |
19 | The Fate of the Furious | $1,236,005,118 | 2017 |
20 | Iron Man 3 | $1,214,811,252 | 2013 |
21 | Minions | $1,159,444,662 | 2015 |
22 | Captain America: Civil War | $1,153,337,496 | 2016 |
23 | Aquaman | $1,148,485,886 | 2018 |
24 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $1,142,630,912 | 2003 |
25 | Spider-Man: Far from Home | $1,131,927,996 | 2019 |
26 | Captain Marvel | $1,128,462,972 | 2019 |
27 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | $1,123,794,079 | 2011 |
28 | Skyfall | $1,108,569,499 | 2012 |
29 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | $1,104,054,072 | 2014 |
30 | The Lion King | $1,083,720,877 | 1994 |
31 | The Dark Knight Rises | $1,081,142,612 | 2012 |
32 | Joker | $1,074,251,311 | 2019 |
33 | Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker | $1,074,148,486 | 2019 |
34 | Toy Story 4 | $1,073,394,593 | 2019 |
35 | Toy Story 3 | $1,066,970,811 | 2010 |
36 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | $1,066,179,747 | 2006 |
37 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | $1,056,057,720 | 2016 |
38 | Aladdin | $1,050,693,953 | 2019 |
39 | Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | $1,045,713,802 | 2011 |
40 | Despicable Me 3 | $1,034,800,131 | 2017 |
41 | Jurassic Park | $1,033,928,303 | 1993 |
42 | Finding Dory | $1,028,570,942 | 2016 |
43 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | $1,027,082,707 | 1999 |
44 | Alice in Wonderland | $1,025,468,216 | 2010 |
45 | Zootopia | $1,023,792,558 | 2016 |
46 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | $1,017,003,568 | 2012 |
47 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | $1,006,968,171 | 2001 |
48 | The Dark Knight | $1,005,973,645 | 2008 |
49 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | $977,043,483 | 2010 |
50 | Despicable Me 2 | $970,766,005 | 2013 |
Avatar cost $237 million to produce, meaning it’s turned a considerable profit over the years. But Avatar’s success was fairly unsurprising, considering the stellar track record of the film’s writer and director, James Cameron.
Cameron also directed Titanic, which broke records back in 1998 when it became the first film to break $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue. In fact, Titanic was the top grossing movie for years, until Avatar stole its title in 2009.
Interestingly, in 2019, Avatar was temporarily dethroned by Avengers: Endgame, which held the number one spot for a couple of years. But thanks to a recent theatrical reissue in China (which alone grossed an estimated $21.1 million) Avatar has since reclaimed its title as the top grossing movie worldwide.
Avengers: Endgame remains a close second, with $2.80 billion in gross revenue. It’s one of 23 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and besides Endgame, eight other movies from the MCU also appear on the top grossing movies list:
- Avengers: Infinity War – #5
- The Avengers – #8
- Avengers: Age of Ultron – #11
- Black Panther – #12
- Iron Man 3 – #20
- Captain America: Civil War – #22
- Spider-man: Far From Home – #25
- Captain Marvel – #26
Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment back in 2009. And while Marvel honored its existing contracts with other distributors, Disney owns the lion’s share of Marvel film rights and has earned over $18.2 billion as a result.
The Top Distributors
Marvel movies aren’t the only Disney productions to make the list. In fact, 26 of the 50 top grossing films were originally released by Disney, making it the top distributor.
Rank | Film Studio | # of Top Grossing Titles |
---|---|---|
1 | Disney | 26 |
2 | Universal Studios | 8 |
3 | Warner Bros | 8 |
4 | 20th Century Fox | 2 |
5 | Paramount | 2 |
6 | New Line Cinema | 1 |
7 | Dreamworks | 1 |
8 | Sony | 2 |
Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures tie for second. Warner Bros. was the domestic distributor of some pop culture classics like Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, and The Hobbit, while Universal Pictures released Fast and Furious, Despicable Me, and Jurassic Park.
It’s worth mentioning that several of the distributors on the list are labels of larger studios. For instance, Warner Bros. is the parent company of New Line Cinema, Dreamworks is a branch of Universal, and 20th Century Fox was recently bought by Disney and rebranded to 20th Century Studios.
The COVID-19 Impact
The entertainment business was significantly impacted by the global pandemic, like many other industries across the globe. In 2020, global box office revenue totaled $12.4 billion—a 70% dip from 2019.
Despite recent setbacks, industry professionals are feeling confident that things will recover post-pandemic. In a recent interview with The Deadline, Chairman of STXfilms Adam Fogelson said, “People like leaving their homes and having fun, emotional, communal experiences together…I don’t think that will change.”
Support the Future of Data Storytelling
Sorry to interrupt your reading, but we have a favor to ask. At Visual Capitalist we believe in a world where data can be understood by everyone. That’s why we want to build the VC App - the first app of its kind combining verifiable and transparent data with beautiful, memorable visuals. All available for free.
As a small, independent media company we don’t have the expertise in-house or the funds to build an app like this. So we’re asking our community to help us raise funds on Kickstarter.
If you believe in data-driven storytelling, join the movement and back us on Kickstarter!
Thank you.

Technology
33 Problems With Media in One Chart
In this infographic, we catalog 33 problems with the social and mass media ecosystem.

33 Problems With Media in One Chart
One of the hallmarks of democratic society is a healthy, free-flowing media ecosystem.
In times past, that media ecosystem would include various mass media outlets, from newspapers to cable TV networks. Today, the internet and social media platforms have greatly expanded the scope and reach of communication within society.
Of course, journalism plays a key role within that ecosystem. High quality journalism and the unprecedented transparency of social media keeps power structures in check—and sometimes, these forces can drive genuine societal change. Reporters bring us news from the front lines of conflict, and uncover hard truths through investigative journalism.
That said, these positive impacts are sometimes overshadowed by harmful practices and negative externalities occurring in the media ecosystem.
The graphic above is an attempt to catalog problems within the media ecosystem as a basis for discussion. Many of the problems are easy to understand once they’re identified. However, in some cases, there is an interplay between these issues that is worth digging into. Below are a few of those instances.
Editor’s note: For a full list of sources, please go to the end of this article. If we missed a problem, let us know!
Explicit Bias vs. Implicit Bias
Broadly speaking, bias in media breaks down into two types: explicit and implicit.
Publishers with explicit biases will overtly dictate the types of stories that are covered in their publications and control the framing of those stories. They usually have a political or ideological leaning, and these outlets will use narrative fallacies or false balance in an effort to push their own agenda.
Unintentional filtering or skewing of information is referred to as implicit bias, and this can manifest in a few different ways. For example, a publication may turn a blind eye to a topic or issue because it would paint an advertiser in a bad light. These are called no fly zones, and given the financial struggles of the news industry, these no fly zones are becoming increasingly treacherous territory.
Misinformation vs. Disinformation
Both of these terms imply that information being shared is not factually sound. The key difference is that misinformation is unintentional, and disinformation is deliberately created to deceive people.
Fake news stories, and concepts like deepfakes, fall into the latter category. We broke down the entire spectrum of fake news and how to spot it, in a previous infographic.
Simplify, Simplify
Mass media and social feeds are the ultimate Darwinistic scenario for ideas.
Through social media, stories are shared widely by many participants, and the most compelling framing usually wins out. More often than not, it’s the pithy, provocative posts that spread the furthest. This process strips context away from an idea, potentially warping its meaning.
Video clips shared on social platforms are a prime example of context stripping in action. An (often shocking) event occurs, and it generates a massive amount of discussion despite the complete lack of context.
This unintentionally encourages viewers to stereotype the persons in the video and bring our own preconceived ideas to the table to help fill in the gaps.
Members of the media are also looking for punchy story angles to capture attention and prove the point they’re making in an article. This can lead to cherrypicking facts and ideas. Cherrypicking is especially problematic because the facts are often correct, so they make sense at face value, however, they lack important context.
Simplified models of the world make for compelling narratives, like good-vs-evil, but situations are often far more complex than what meets the eye.
The News Media Squeeze
It’s no secret that journalism is facing lean times. Newsrooms are operating with much smaller teams and budgets, and one result is ‘churnalism’. This term refers to the practice of publishing articles directly from wire services and public relations releases.
Churnalism not only replaces more rigorous forms of reporting—but also acts as an avenue for advertising and propaganda that is harder to distinguish from the news.
The increased sense of urgency to drive revenue is causing other problems as well. High-quality content is increasingly being hidden behind paywalls.
The end result is a two-tiered system, with subscribers receiving thoughtful, high-quality news, and everyone else accessing shallow or sensationalized content. That everyone else isn’t just people with lower incomes, it also largely includes younger people. The average age of today’s paid news subscriber is 50 years old, raising questions about the future of the subscription business model.
For outlets that rely on advertising, desperate times have called for desperate measures. User experience has taken a backseat to ad impressions, with ad clutter (e.g. auto-play videos, pop-ups, and prompts) interrupting content at every turn. Meanwhile, in the background, third-party trackers are still watching your every digital move, despite all the privacy opt-in prompts.
How Can We Fix the Problems with Media?
With great influence comes great responsibility. There is no easy fix to the issues that plague news and social media. But the first step is identifying these issues, and talking about them.
The more media literate we collectively become, the better equipped we will be to reform these broken systems, and push for accuracy and transparency in the communication channels that bind society together.
Sources and further reading:
Veils of Distortion: How the News Media Warps our Minds by John Zada
Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi
The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in its Tracks by Bruce Bartlett
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare by Thomas Rid
The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour
After the Fact by Nathan Bomey
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier
Zucked by Roger McNamee
Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Highjacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz
Social media is broken by Sara Brown
The U.S. Media’s Problems Are Much Bigger than Fake News and Filter Bubbles by Bharat N. Anand
What’s Wrong With the News? by FAIR
Is the Media Doomed? by Politico
The Implied Truth Effect by Gordon Pennycook, Adam Bear, Evan T. Collins, David G. Rand
Misc
Visualizing the Current State of the Global Gender Gap
At our current rate of change, it will take up to 136 years to close the global gender gap. Here’s a look at gender inequality across regions.

The Current State of the Global Gender Gap
As a global society, we still have a long way to go before we reach gender equality around the world.
According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest Global Gender Gap Report, it could take up to 135.6 years to close the global gender gap, based on the current rate of change.
This graphic by Sebastian Gräff gives a breakdown of gender equality worldwide, showing how long it will take before each region reaches gender parity.
How Gender Gap is Measured
In its 15th edition, the Global Gender Gap Report analyzes gender-based discrepancies across 156 different countries. To gauge each region’s gender gap, the report digs into four key areas:
- Economic Participation and Opportunity
- Educational Attainment
- Health and Survival
- Political Empowerment
Each subindex is given its own score, then an average across the four pillars is calculated to give each country a final score between zero (exceptionally unequal) and one (completely equal).
Regional Breakdown
Out of all the regions, Western Europe has the smallest gender gap, with a score of 0.78. At this rate, the gender gap in Western Europe could be closed in approximately 52.1 years, more than 83 years faster than the global estimate.
Rank | Region | Overall Gender Gap Index (2021) |
---|---|---|
1 | Western Europe | 0.77 |
2 | North America | 0.76 |
3 | Latin America and the Caribbean | 0.71 |
4 | Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 0.71 |
5 | East Asia and the Pacific | 0.69 |
6 | Sub-Saharan Africa | 0.67 |
7 | South Asia | 0.62 |
8 | Middle East and North Africa | 0.61 |
Global Average | 0.69 |
Western Europe scores particularly high in educational attainment (1.0) and health and survival (0.97). Here’s a look at the category breakdown for each region:
Region | Economic Participation and Opportunity | Educational Attainment | Health and Survival | Political Empowerment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Western Europe | 0.70 | 1.00 | 0.97 | 0.44 |
North America | 0.75 | 1.00 | 0.97 | 0.33 |
Latin America and the Caribbean | 0.64 | 1.00 | 0.98 | 0.27 |
Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 0.74 | 1.00 | 0.98 | 0.14 |
East Asia and the Pacific | 0.70 | 0.98 | 0.95 | 0.14 |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 0.66 | 0.85 | 0.97 | 0.21 |
South Asia | 0.34 | 0.93 | 0.94 | 0.28 |
Middle East and North Africa | 0.41 | 0.94 | 0.97 | 0.12 |
Global Average | 0.62 | 0.96 | 0.97 | 0.22 |
But it might be surprising to see that political empowerment in Western Europe received a score of only 0.44. This is higher than the global average for political empowerment of 0.21, but still indicative of a large gender gap in this area.
Globally, political empowerment tended to receive the lowest scores in the report, as women are grossly underrepresented in politics. A study by the Council of Foreign Relations revealed that out of 195 different countries’ national cabinets, only 14 countries had at least 50% of their ministerial positions held by women.
Economic participation and opportunity is the second weakest category, with a global average score of 0.58. A good example of how this gap manifests itself is in entrepreneurship and business, where women still struggle to find investors and gain access to venture capital. Further, on average, women continue to make less money than men. According to the UN, women across the globe make approximately 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
The Economic Benefit of Gender Equality
Research shows that empowering women in the workforce is in everyone’s best interest. Closing the gender gap in the global workforce could lead to a boost of more than $28 trillion to the global economy.
Yet across the globe, COVID-19 has created new challenges that have hindered our progress towards gender equality. This is partly because some of the sectors that have been impacted the most by COVID-19 restrictions, such as hospitality, food services, and personal care, are largely dominated by female workers.
As we continue to recover from the impact of COVID-19, world leaders will face numerous policy challenges, including how to build back better, creating more opportunities for women to thrive in the global economy.
-
Money2 weeks ago
Mapping the Migration of the World’s Millionaires
-
Markets2 weeks ago
Visualizing the Coming Shift in Global Economic Power (2006-2036p)
-
Datastream3 weeks ago
Ranked: These Are 10 of the World’s Least Affordable Housing Markets
-
Demographics2 weeks ago
Mapped: A Decade of Population Growth and Decline in U.S. Counties
-
Misc3 weeks ago
Visualizing Well-Known Airlines by Fleet Composition
-
Misc2 weeks ago
Iconic Infographic Map Compares the World’s Mountains and Rivers
-
Energy2 days ago
Who’s Still Buying Fossil Fuels From Russia?
-
Markets6 days ago
Interest Rate Hikes vs. Inflation Rate, by Country