Four of 2018’s Top Movies Are Inspired by Marvel Characters

Marvel-inspired blockbusters have dominated 2018, with four Marvel productions — three belonging to Disney-owned Marvel Studios — emerging in the top percentile of the top ten biggest earners so far.

Domestically, cultural phenomenon Black Panther reigns king as the highest grosser with $700 million — just the third film in history to reach the milestone, behind only the James Cameron-directed Avatar ($760m) and Disney-Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise revival The Force Awakens ($936m).

Superhero crossover epic Avengers: Infinity War — bringing together Marvel’s biggest franchises for the first time in the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s 10-year history, merging the Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Panther, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and others — ranks second with $678 million.

Infinity War is well ahead of Disney-Pixar’s Incredibles 2, which emerged Sunday as the first ever animated film to earn more than $600 million domestically with a still-growing $602 million haul. In fourth place is Universal’s Chris Pratt-led Jurassic World sequel, Fallen Kingdom, which roared its way to $415 million.

Fox’s Deadpool 2 — inspired by the fan-favorite Marvel Comics character and sequel to its 2016 predecessor, still the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time — is the only non-Disney superhero production on the list thus far and ranks fifth after pulling in $318 million domestic since its release May 18. Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, is in sixth place with $213.76m earned domestically since July 6, putting it just ahead of Lucasfilm’s Han Solo prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story ($213.70m).

Paramount and Tom Cruise’s sixth Mission: Impossible outing, Fallout, ranks eighth with $206m, ahead of John Krasinski horror A Quiet Place ($188m) and Sony’s latest animated Hotel Transylvania hit, Summer Vacation ($162m).

Worldwide, Infinity War will remain the uncontested biggest earner of 2018 with $2.046 billion, making it the biggest-ever superhero movie of all time and the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time. Black Panther ranks second for 2018 with $1.34 billion, entering it into the top ten biggest box office earners of all time worldwide in ninth place.

Fallen Kingdom is third with a just-reached $1.3 billion, just in front of Incredibles 2 ($1.16b), which has yet to open in Italy and Germany, where it opens September 19 and 27, respectively.

Deadpool 2 is fifth this year and the first on the list not to exceed a billion, earning $734m worldwide. Fallout is sixth with $649m earned, ahead of Ant-Man and the Wasp ($595m). The Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly-starrer just reached big territories like China and Japan on August 24 and 31, respectively.

Rounding out the top ten worldwide are Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One ($582m), Transylvania ($485), and Universal’s musical Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ($367m).

Only two 2018 releases have entered the top ten all time worldwide list: Infinity War and Black Panther. Disney now owns five of the top ten biggest box office hits of all time — 2012’s The Avengers is in sixth place all time with $1.51b, followed by Age of Ultron in eighth place with $1.40b — and is the only studio to have more than two films on that list.

Marvel Studios next releases Captain Marvel, due March 8, Avengers 4, out May 3, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, out July 5, 2019.