The 8 best and 8 worst movies to make $1 billion, according to critics
Kirsten Acuna
- Over 50 movies have crossed $1 billion at the box office, but that doesn't mean they're all good.
- The "Toy Story" sequel and a select few comic-book movies have been favorably reviewed.
Note: All scores were current on the date of publication and are subject to change.
"Toy Story 3" was the perfect send-off to the series.
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Worldwide box office: $1,067,316,101
As Andy prepares to head off to college, Woody, Buzz, and the rest of his beloved toys accidentally get donated to a childcare center. They race against time to find their way back to their owner before he leaves for good.
It's difficult to watch the final scene of this movie where Andy decides it's OK to let go of his toys and pass them on to the next generation without choking up a little.
"Zootopia" was so much more than a typical animated movie.
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Worldwide box office:$1,025,521,689
What starts out as a simple story about a bunny (Ginnifer Goodwin) fulfilling her dream of becoming the first rabbit police officer, becomes an unexpected film about accepting each others' differences when she stumbles onto a much larger conspiracy while becoming best buds with a fox (Jason Bateman).
The film was hailed as a triumph for its "timely social themes" told through a "subversive storytelling style" to teach an important lesson about prejudices.
Critics loved "Toy Story 4" almost as much as its third outing.
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Worldwide box office: $1,073,841,394
The fourth "Toy Story" introduced an adorable spork named Forky and reunited Woody with his long-lost love, Bo-Peep.
Though a charming exploration of identity and one's purpose in the world, the unnecessary sequel focused almost entirely on a new set of characters while making many franchise fan favorites — Buzz, Mr. Potato, Rex, and Slinky Dog — take a backseat.
"Top Gun: Maverick" was an unexpected hit of 2022 that's better than the original.
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Worldwide box office: $1,495,696,292
Thirty-six years after the original film, US Navy Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is a test pilot who gets recruited to train a group of Top Gun grads to destroy a uranium enrichment plant.
Better than the original, "Maverick" succeeds by focusing on a high-stakes mission over a romantic drama, making its audience feel like they're right there in the driver's seat with the pilots during their dangerous mission.
"Black Panther" transcends the superhero genre with a relatable story about family.
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Worldwide box office: $1,349,926,083
When T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) steps up to rule Wakanda after the death of his father, he gets challenged by an unexpected family member (Michael B. Jordan), opening up scars from the past.
A beautiful story about family, betrayal, the pain of abandonment, and acceptance, Boseman and Jordan both delivered exceptional performances to elevate Marvel's story beyond the typical comic-book film about saving the world from destruction.
"Black Panther" became the first superhero movie to receive a best picture Oscar nomination.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" was the end of a pop culture phenomenon.
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Worldwide box office: $1,342,359,942
The end of the "Harry Potter" franchise was a cultural phenomenon with fans needing to see Harry's final confrontation against Voldemort to save the wizarding world.
It's incredibly emotional watching Hogwarts' last stand against the Dark Lord paired with Alexandre Desplat's heart-pounding score.
Alan Rickman's performance as the seemingly cold-hearted Snape whose selfless sacrifice proved his loyalty to Potter all along led to the franchise's most heartbreaking moment.
Upon its release, "Deathly Hallows: Part II" broke multiple box-office records, including the biggest opening weekend worldwide.
"Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" still holds up 20 years later.
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Worldwide box office: $1,147,633,833
Frodo and Sam continue their emotional, perilous journey into Mordor to destroy The One Ring.
Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf the White, and more, battle for the soul of Middle Earth against ravenous Orcs.
One of the most satisfying conclusions to a trilogy with incredible visual effects, Peter Jackson's three-hour epic doesn't even feel as long as its runtime. The entire trilogy deserves a rewatch.
"The Dark Knight" is one of the most rewatchable superhero movies.
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Worldwide box office: $1,006,234,167
You don't watch "The Dark Knight" for Batman. You watch for Heath Ledger's extraordinary performance as the Joker.
"The Dark Knight" laid the foundation for a future superhero movie to receive larger nominations at the Oscars. Ledger's performance as the Clown Prince of Crime is one of the best villain performances in any comic-book film, earning Ledger a posthumous Academy Award for best supporting actor.
The opening minutes of the film, in which a bank robbery occurs with henchmen gossiping about a mysterious Joker only for the character to announce he's been there all along, is one of the best character reveals in any modern movie.
No one needed a remake of "The Lion King."
Rotten Tomatoes: 52%
Worldwide box office: $1,663,075,401
A straight retelling of Disney's Oscar-winning 1994 animated picture, the 2019 version of "The Lion King," in which a young cub, Simba, must claim his rightful place as king and take back his kingdom from his Uncle Scar is a safe rehash without anything too transformative to make the new movie stand out.
Despite great performances from Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, the lack of emotions on the animals' faces made the biggest moments, like Mufasa's death, fall flat.
The remake came across as a mere cash grab for Disney that wasted Beyoncé's talents.
"Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" is usually regarded as one of the worst films in the franchise.
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Worldwide box office: $1,027,082,707
The prequel trilogy introduced fans to Anakin Skywalker before he fell to the dark side and transformed into the powerful Sith lord Darth Vader.
Many critics and fans love to bash "The Phantom Menace" for the introduction of its comic Jar Jar Binks. However, the film also introduced us to one of the saga's coolest characters, Darth Maul.
"Alice in Wonderland" was stunning to look at and that was about it.
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Worldwide box office: $1,025,468,216
The remake about a young girl getting lost in Wonderland and seeking her way home with the help of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) set the pace for more Disney reimaginings after its wild success.
Though critics found the film visually stunning, they also found it "horribly generic" with director Tim Burton simply in "for-hire mode."
"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" took the spotlight off of dinosaurs to focus on human cloning.
Rotten Tomatoes: 47%
Worldwide box office: $1,310,466,296
Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) are on a mission to get every dino off of Isla Nublar when a volcano comes to life.
"Fallen Kingdom" begins as a silly sequel to the 2015 hit with Owen outrunning lava and a T. rex. But the film takes a wild turn when the dino movie starts to take a backseat to a story about a human clone.
Jeff Goldblum's return to the franchise is wasted in an overblown cameo that should've remained a secret in promos.
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" was a low point for the series.
Rotten Tomatoes: 35%
Worldwide box office: $1,123,794,079
The Autobots try and beat the Decepticons to get to the moon and reach a hidden spacecraft in Shia LaBeouf's final "Transformers" movie.
Critics called the plot of director Michael Bay's threequel "a convoluted melodramatic mess" and the film "soulless, cynical, and stupid."
It didn't help that Megan Fox was replaced with model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who was given little to do.
Viewers started to have enough of Captain Jack Sparrow with "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
Rotten Tomatoes: 33%
Worldwide box office: $1,046,721,266
In the first movie in the franchise to not be directed by Gore Verbinski, Captain Jack Sparrow began to wear out his welcome.
Penélope Cruz joined the franchise as Jack Sparrow's former lover who forces him on an adventure to find the Fountain of Youth before Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
Many critics agreed the film's weak script resulted in a "lifeless" and "irrelevant" slog for Sparrow without Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley.
"Jurassic World: Dominion" should've been the best movie in the franchise reboot, but it became wrapped up in a saga about locusts instead of dinos.
Rotten Tomatoes: 29%
Worldwide box office: $1,001,978,080
"Dominion" had so much potential to be a great sequel. Dinosaurs had just broken out on Earth. As a result, the franchise's new cast was poised to team up with the original "Jurassic Park" veterans. Too bad that's not the movie audiences received.
The film mind-bogglingly skipped past the interesting parts of how communities responded to dinos in the real world, focusing instead on a plot about locusts ravaging the planet.
The original cast and newer members absurdly spent most of the film separated.
"Transformers: Age of Extinction" is the lowest-rated film of the movies that hit $1 billion.
Rotten Tomatoes: 18%
Worldwide box office: $1,104,054,072
Optimus Prime and the Autobots seek help from a mechanic (Mark Wahlberg) and his family when they're hunted down in the fourth "Transformers" movie.
The 2014 movie, which is way too long at nearly three hours, attempts to reboot the franchise by awkwardly ignoring Shia LaBeouf's character from the first trilogy.
"Incoherent" and filled with "underdeveloped robots," entertainment journalist Perri Nemiroff put it best when referring to the film as "well over two hours of CGI porn."
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
Advertisement