Looking back on the top ten grossing movies of the 2010’s
As the decade wraps up, an eventful ten years of cinematic action, drama, and change comes to an end. With the help of IMDB’s database and ratings, let’s look back on the ten highest grossing movies from the 2010’s. These movies populated our eyes, nights, and wallets, as they set out to be remembered in the canon of cinema history.
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
2011, 8.1 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,341,693,157
Coming in at the tenth highest grossing movie of the decade, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” is also the oldest movie on the list. While the final chapter of the Harry Potter story may seem a lifetime away now, it helped the franchise leave a mark and become more than just a 2000’s fad. The highest rated Potter film on IMDB with an 8.1 rating, the final chapter of one of the centuries best known stories proved a historic one at the box office.
9. Black Panther
2018, 7.3 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,346,913,161
While it may not be critically rated as highly as some of its fellow Marvel movies, “Black Panther” is the only solo-hero film that makes the top ten list for the 2010’s, beating out the likes of Captain America, Ant Man, and Thor for a spot amongst the Avengers films. Marked as a historic film by many, the financial success of “Black Panther” shows that despite mild ratings afterward, the movie has imprinted on the cinema landscape.
8. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2015, 7.3 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,405,403,694
Widely considered the worst of the four Avengers films, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” still brought in waves of money and continued to help the Marvel Cinematic Universe grow relatively early on in its life. The movie saw the introduction of new characters like Vision and Scarlet Witch, but that wasn’t enough to stop it from being the least lucrative of the bunch for Marvel’s flagship team-up series.
7. Furious 7
2015, 7.2 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,516,045,911
Remembered most as actor Paul Walker’s final film in the franchise he helped build, having passed away in a car accident before the film’s release, “Furious 7” proved one of the most successful “The Fast and the Furious” entries to date. It provides a rare break on the list of highest grossing films, representing one of just three movies on the list not overseen by Disney and the least-fictional of list’s plots, in which the likes of Paul Walker and Vin Diesel perform unbelievable stunts with cars, but don’t have any super powers.
6. The Avengers
2012, 8 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,518,812,988
Despite predating the mainstream appeal of modern Marvel movies, which have become a must see for everyone, the original “The Avengers” film manages to just miss the halfway mark on this list. Giving fans the first live action character crossover of its scale, “The Avengers” is a movie locked into both comic book and film history. It may be the second oldest movie on the list, but the seven years which followed it failed to provide many movies that rivaled its popularity.
5. The Lion King
2019, 7 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,655,964,858
Being a remake of an adored classic can bring benefits and negatives to a project, for “The Lion King”, it was by far a positive. The film, somewhat inaccurately referred to as a live action remake, soared past other more original projects to reach fifth place on the highest grossing list. While “The Lion King” may be a nearly identical remake in terms of plot, it is far from the only film on this list to be reliant on previous material. Six other movies on the highest grossing list are adaptations of previously existing stories, usually from comics books, novels or graphic novels. The three remaining films are sequels of pre-existing movie franchises.
4. Jurassic World
2015, 7 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $1,671,713,208
Tied with “The Lion King” for the lowest rating on the list, “Jurassic World” brought the Jurassic Park franchise back to life with Chris Pratt as its new lead. Its meager standing amongst ratings may reflect a movie with a limited long term impact, but there’s little for the folks at Universal Studios to worry about with the film nearing the top of the list of highest grossing films of the 2010 and all time.
3. Avengers: Infinity War
2018, 8.5 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $2,048,359,754
Greatly anticipated as the (almost) last chapter of the Thanos storyline started at the very beginnings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Infinity War” flew far past its predecessors to over two million dollars in global gross. While the film ended on a cliffhanger, it’s high rating, one of the highest in the MCU, vast and adventurous story, and hefty financial success shows it’s far from a forgettable piece of the Marvel puzzle.
2. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
2015, 7.9 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $2,068,223,624
Perhaps one of the most anticipated films of the decade, bringing new life to the Star Wars universe after ten years without a live action movie, “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” came the closest of all the rest to beating out “Avengers: Endgame” for the top spot. Despite coming out the same year as “Jurassic World”, “Furious 7” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” managed to come out on top and earn a good deal of praise for its efforts to reignite the Star Wars fanbase after the critical failures of the prequel trilogy of the early 2000’s.
1. Avengers: Endgame
2019, 8.5 on IMDB
Worldwide gross: $2,797,800,564
Coming on top is one of the biggest movies one could imagine. “Avengers: Endgame” was the crown on top of years of build up and a mountainous cliffhanger at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War”, but despite the hype and pressure, “Avengers: Endgame” landed nearly perfectly. The movie didn’t just get one of the better ratings of the list, it utterly dominated the financial competition, earning towards a billion more than the second place movie, “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens”. It may have been the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it was a perfect note to end on.