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From 'Avengers 4' To 'John Wick 3': The 11 Biggest Blockbusters Of The Summer

This article is more than 4 years old.

Summer isn't quite over, but unless Goods Boys (which scored an optimistic $2.1 million in Thursday previews) and/or Angel Has Fallen pulls a miracle over the next two weeks, it's time to start taking stock of the season. Before we get into lessons learned, hopes dashed and surprises both good and bad, let's just take a look at the 11 biggest domestic and global grossers of the season, or at least what they will be when the smoke clears.

Yes, there are two big long-range questions over the next month, namely how big Hobbs & Shaw will be when it opens in China next Friday and if Once Upon A Time in Hollywood will play at least as well as Inglorious Basterds overseas. Presuming "yes" to those, the ranking is pretty much set in stone. This list will be ranked by global grosses, with a few caveats for the future grosses of some still-in-play biggies like The Lion King and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Oh, and this will be focused on Hollywood movies. I have to make that disclaimer becuase China's local animated title Ne Zha has earned a whopping $555 million thus far in China lone. It'll open in North America courtesy of Well Go USA beginning on August 29 (if Well Go is reading this, a screener or screening would be much appreciated). I guess when the state government censors almost everything else (The Eight-Hundred, Better Days and The Last Wish) coming out of China during the middle of the summer, the one biggie makes all the money.

It's also good news for The White Storm 2: Drug Lords and Deng Chao’s Looking Up, but I digress. With all of the disclaimers and caveats out of the way, here we go...

11. John Wick: Chapter 3 (Lionsgate)

Domestic gross - $171 million, Worldwide gross - $321 million

The obscenely over-performing Keanu Reeves action sequel cemented the franchise as a truly unique cinematic offering, the (painfully rare) example of a movie that began life as a glorified B movie and then slowly made its way to becoming an "A" series through (in this case) star power, strong reviews, and continual popularity. Will John Wick: Chapter 4 (due May 21, 2021) become the Fast & Furious of the series, pushing the currently domestic-skewed series into overseas glory? I don't know, but the insane domestic run (sure to be higher than Hobbs & Shaw) messed up many a box office betting pool.

10. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony)

Domestic gross - $130 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $350 million (estimate)

Despite constant online controversies and the fact that it's essentially a 2.5-hour drama, Quentin Tarantino's ninth movie (or tenth if you count Kill Bill as two films) has legged out about as well as Inglorious Basterds. Unless it collapses, it's probably going to end up over/under $125 million domestic, give or take an extended awards season run. It just opened in Russia with $7.7 million, triple Inglorious Basterds' opening ten years ago, so a finish close to that film's $322 million run seems to be in the cards. Credit Sony's aggressive marketing, Tarantino's marquee value and the unstoppable old-school star power from Leonardo DiCaprio.

9. The Secret Life of Pets 2 (Universal)

Domestic gross - $157 million, Worldwide gross - $410 million (estimate)

The Illumination sequel earned $16.2 million overseas last weekend for a new $377 million cume. It should $400 million in the end, putting it above Godzilla: King of the Monsters and presumably out of reach from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This animated flick was a huge comedown from The Secret Life of Pets' $368 million domestic and $875 million worldwide totals. Credit the lack of anything new, the fact that no one really LOVED the first one and its existence not as a four-quadrant biggie but as a kid-targeted toon. It still cost only $80 million, so it's still a hit.

8. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Warner Bros.)

Domestic gross - $110 million, Worldwide gross - $386 million

Michael Dougherty's $170 million (and ridiculously scaled) sequel to Gareth Edwards' Godzilla seemed like a win on paper. Alas, audiences were merely curious the last time, and this monster mash didn't offer anything new for general audiences. Poor reviews, a lack of big stars and the presence of Kong: Skull Island, Rampage and The Meg (all from Warner Bros.) over the last five years, to say nothing of two Jurassic World movies, make this massive monster melodrama seem significantly less unique unto itself compared to 2014. I still think the whole "King Kong fighting Godzilla" thing will be a hook for regular moviegoers, but we'll see next March.

7. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (Warner Bros.)

Domestic gross - $144 million, Worldwide gross - $431 million

The biggest-grossing video game movie ever, sans inflation, in North America and the second-biggest worldwide by a nose (right between Rampage's $428 million and Warcraft's $433 million) was still only a modest hit. This $150 million franchise-starter, anchored by a terrific turn by Justice Smith, was stymied by merely okay reviews and Avengers: Endgame turning out to be even bigger, especially in China, than everyone presumed. Hopes that this would be the next LEGO Movie didn't pan out, as (again) the reviews were squarely in the "Yeah, it's pretty good" column and it wasn't remotely the biggest thing on the block.

6. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Universal)

Domestic gross - $160 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $650-$750 million

As of today, the $200 million spin-off has earned $119.5 million domestic and around $370 million worldwide, just above the $366 million in 2009 of Fast & Furious. It should end with around $450-$500 million worldwide without counting whatever it earns in China. If it plays like a prototypical Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and/or Vin Diesel action movie, we're looking at around $155 million in China. If the David Leitch-directed actioner plays anywhere near Furious 7 and Fate of the Furious (over/under $391 million), then the sky is the limit. It is guaranteed to end up between Detective Pikachu and Toy Story 4.

5. Toy Story 4 (Walt Disney)

Domestic gross - $435 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $1.03 billion (estimate)

Pixar's acclaimed sequel is Disney's fifth movie of 2019 (along with Captain Marvel back in March) to top $1 billion worldwide. Despite hand-wringing over a "mere" $120 million debut weekend, it passed the $415 million domestic cume of Toy Story 3 (sans inflation) and will sell about as many tickets as Toy Story 2 in 1999. It should end up just over/under the $1.029 billion global gross of Finding Dory in 2016, sitting alongside Finding Nemo ($899 million, counting the reissue), Toy Story 3 ($1.067 billion) and Incredibles 2 ($1.243 billion in 2018) as one of Pixar's biggest hits in terms of raw grosses and inflation.

4. Aladdin (Walt Disney)

Domestic gross - $355 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $1.044 billion (estimate)

Walt Disney made turned us all into a festival of fools, ignoring years of online handwringing, social media mockery and many a manufactured controversy (fun fact: Billy Magnussen was in the film for about 90 seconds) and watching as Guy Ritchie's crowd-pleasing live-action remake soared way above expectations and crushed a deluge of late May/early June competitors. Credit the production design, Will Smith essentially reprising Hitch but as the Genie, and two terrific "finds" in Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott which had even the grouchiest among us critics hoping that the next one lets them play with a much better and more confident screenplay.

3. Spider-Man: Far From Home (Sony)

Domestic gross - $385 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $1.11 billion (estimate)

Sony's MCU sequel acted as an epilogue to Avengers: Endgame, but it (mostly) worked on its own as a Peter Parker passion play with plenty of web-slinging action thrown in. Doubling-down on the whole "high school romance" stuff that made Homecoming stand out, Jon Watts' mostly stand-alone sequel was/is the year's biggest non-Disney grosser, even if it's obviously tangentially related to Disney's MCU empire. Nonetheless, it's about to pass Skyfall ($1.108 billion in 2012, sans 3-D) to become Sony's biggest global grosser ever. You can thank China, which jumped 75% from Homecoming's $116 million cume for a $205 million finish, for that (and one other) milestone.

2. The Lion King (Walt Disney)

Domestic gross - $515 million (estimate), Worldwide gross - $1.49 billion (estimate)

Jon Favreau's animated remake of the 1994 animated classic isn't remotely done, but it's almost certain to be the year's second-biggest movie. Only Frozen II in November and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December have a shot in hell of passing this film's likely over/under $1.5 billion global gross. And, yeah, it could end up closer to the likes of Furious 7 ($1.517 billion) and The Avengers ($1.519 billion), but it hasn't exactly been leggy. Of course, when you're already the second-biggest movie of the year, legs are not needed to be king. Animated or "live-action," it's Disney's biggest non-Avengers and non-Star Wars movie ever.

1. Avengers: Endgame (Walt Disney)

Domestic gross - $858 million, Worldwide gross - $2.796 billion

Following a $357 million domestic and $1.223 billion worldwide debut, and thanks to China's ridiculous $629 million gross (+75% from Infinity War's $359 million gross), Avengers: Endgame has passed Avatar ($2.789 billion) to become the biggest grossing movie of all time in raw worldwide grosses. Inflation (Avatar sold $877 million worth of tickets in North America) and Chinese expansion (it played in around 10% of the theaters Endgame got back in 2009), nothing else has even come close to James Cameron's epic, and it's a once-unthinkable milestone. Oh, and the Russo Bros.' three-hour epic is a pretty good/satisfying movie to boot, and that's not nothing.

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