The most successful movie in the world for every year since 2000

Worldwide box office total: $974.8 million

Critic score: 81%

What critics said: "During 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' I was pretty sure I was watching a classic, one that will be around for a long time, and make many generations of fans." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Worldwide box office total: $923.3 million

Critic score: 95%

What critics said: "The battle for Gollum's mind also provides a fitting teaser conclusion to the second act of a story I'm beginning to wish would never end." – Jack Matthew, New York Daily News

Worldwide box office total: $1.119 billion

Critic score: 93%

What critics said: "'The Return Of The King' ultimately proves up to the series' increasingly difficult task: making movies that echo legends, making legends that reflect life, and reconciling it all with the fact that both legends and lives all eventually meet their ends." – Keith Phipps, The AV Club

Worldwide box office total: $919.8

Critic score: 89%

What critics said: "Like the first movie, this is unassailable family entertainment, with a gentle fairy tale for kids and a raft of mildly satirical pop-culture references for parents." – J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Worldwide box office total: $896.9 million

Critic score: 88%

What critics said: "The real hero of the fourth Harry Potter film isn't the teenage wizard but screenwriter Steve Kloves, who has magically transformed J.K. Rowling's bloated, 734-page novel into a more swiftly paced, entertaining script." – Connie Ogle, Miami Herald

Worldwide box office total: $1.066 billion

Critic score: 53%

What critics said: "'Complications arose, ensued, were overcome,' Jack says at one point. Not entirely, but 'Dead Man's Chest' is worth weighing anchor for, regardless." – Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Worldwide box office total: $963.4 million

Critic score: 44%

What critics said: "The plot is not only hard to follow, there seems to be nothing real at stake. Half the characters are already dead, and half the movie seems to involve swordfights with dead people who can't be killed with swords." – David Ansen, Newsweek

Worldwide box office total: $1.003 billion

Critic score: 94%

What critics said: "Not just a perfect comic book movie, not just a perfect Batman movie, but darn-near a perfect movie, full stop." – Zaki Hasan, Zaki's Corner

Worldwide box office total: $2.777 billion

Critic score: 82%

What critics said: "Combining beyond-state-of-the-art moviemaking with a tried-and-true storyline and a gamer-geek sensibility — not to mention a love angle, an otherworldly bestiary, and an arsenal of 22d-century weaponry — the movie quite simply rocks." – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Worldwide box office total: $1.067 billion

Critic score: 98%

What critics said: "When teenaged Andy plops down on the grass to share his old toys with a shy little girl, the film spikes with sadness and layered pleasure — a concise, deeply wise expression of the ephemeral that feels real and yet utterly transporting." – Eric Hynes, Village Voice

Worldwide box office total: $1.341 billion

Critic score: 96%

What critics said: "Like the previous seven movies, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' obliviates the line between art and craft, but the witchcraft conjured for this satisfying finale is uniquely generous." – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Worldwide box office total: $1.518 billion

Critic score: 92%

What critics said: "If you are a Marvel fan, then 'The Avengers' will feel like Christmas. Thanks to the merry doings of the director, Joss Whedon, all your favorite characters are here, as shiny and as tempting as presents under the tree." – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

Worldwide box office total: $1.276 billion

Critic score: 90%

What critics said: "Frozen' has both showtunes and darkness, but most satisfying is a formula-defying finale that successfully subverts the fairytale status quo." – Catherine Bray, Time Out

Worldwide box office total: $1.104 billion

Critic score: 18%

What critics said: "In the end, though, this is still a movie about giant robots fighting each other, which is to say it's nearly impossible to take seriously on a narrative level." – Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

Worldwide box office total: $2.068 billion

Critic score: 93%

What critics said: "It's both nostalgic and fresh, a tender homage to, especially, the initial 'Star Wars' ('Episode IV: A New Hope'), as well as a bridge to help those of us stuck in the splendor of Hoth edge into the future." – Melissa Ruggieri, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Worldwide box office total: $1.153 billion

Critic score: 91%

What critics said: "It is one of the best movies to ever come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, balancing engaging action set pieces and witty dialogue with intelligent character studies and ethical debates." – Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com

Worldwide box office total: $1.332 billion

Critic score: 91%

What critics said: "What's most interesting to me about The Last Jedi is Luke's return as the mentor rather than the student, grappling with his failure in this new role, and later aspiring to be the wise and patient teacher." – Leah Pickett, Chicago Reader

Worldwide box office total: $2.048 billion

Critic score: 84%

What critics said: "Maybe the quips and the punch-ups are there because they have to be, what with the film's steady parade of failure and even death. Plans fail. Character fails. Even sacrifices fail. It's not exactly refreshing, but it is bracing, and even gratifying." – Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader