2023 was a pretty interesting year at the box office. In an industry dominated by superhero franchises, reboots, and blockbuster action franchises, many of the year’s biggest stories at the box office painted a different picture. Superheroes struggled in theaters for the most part, and the two biggest box office juggernauts were released on the same weekend. Even more impressive is the fact that neither one was part of a franchise.
Barbenheimer, the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, will define moviegoing in 2023. The two critically acclaimed movies — both of which are poised for big awards wins as well — helped carry one another to box office history.
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What were the other biggest movies at the box office in 2023? Let’s take a look through the top 10, and you may be surprised to see what films were able to out-gross the competition.
10. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Box Office Total: $476,071,180
Just go ahead and put a major asterisk by this one because it doesn’t look as though it will stay on the list for very long. The disappointing Marvel Studios entry from the early part of the year has just over $476 million to its name, but Timothee Chalamet and Wonka are hot on its heels.
Wonka ended the year as a big box office surprise and has spent four consecutive weeks at number one domestically. At the time of writing this article, Paul King’s musical has earned over $465 million and is still going strong, and will likely overtake Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in a matter of days.
9. Elemental
Box Office Total: $496,307,013
Disney had a few difficult outings at the box office in 2023, and Elemental seemed like one of those out of the gate. The latest Pixar film debuted with the lowest opening weekend of any film from the studio since the original Toy Story. However, Disney stayed patient and Elemental turned into a sleeper hit.
The film, which is a love story between people made of fire and ice, stayed steady week after week, and found success over the course of a couple of months. Box office success in recent history has hinged a lot on opening weekends, but Elemental was a great case in how the timing of a release and word of mouth can create big wins weeks into a run.
8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Box Office Total: $567,535,383
Being one of the 10 biggest movies in any given year is certainly a difficult feat, but it’s a bit bittersweet for Christopher McQuarrie’s third Mission: Impossible installment. The success of Rogue Nation and Fallout had many believing that Dead Reckoning could push toward the billion dollar mark.
Sadly, Dead Reckoning didn’t have a lot of juice and lost what momentum it did have when the juggernaut duo of Barbie and Oppenheimer hit theaters.
7. The Little Mermaid
Box Office Total: $569,626,289
Halle Bailey wowed audiences with her take on beloved Disney princess Ariel, but The Little Mermaid didn’t quite hit the highs of other Disney live-action adaptations. The Lion King, Aladdin, and several others had bigger showings at the box office.
Still, The Little Mermaid did more than enough to make it one of the more substantial hits of 2023. Making more than $500 million is never an easy task.
6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Box Office Total: $690,516,673
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse wasn’t an instant hit at the box office, but it was steady throughout its run and became an even bigger sensation after winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The sequel, Across the Spider-Verse, capitalized on that success and popularity.
Across the Spider-Verse was already on everyone’s radars and it debuted to unsurprisingly excellent reviews. The film went on to make more than $690 million at the box office, a little less than double what its predecessor earned.
5. Fast X
Box Office Total: $704,875,015
There’s still gas left in the tank for the Fast & Furious franchise, but it’s clear that the blockbuster franchise is definitely slowing down.
Fast X, the 10th film in the series, wasn’t a massive performer in North America, but its international total was able to carry it over the $700 million mark. There’s still supposed to be one more Fast movie in the main series, and it appears Fast X at least made enough to get the story across the finish line.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Box Office Total: $845,555,777
2023 has been a down year for Marvel Studios. The longtime juggernaut franchise didn’t deliver the results it hoped with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a different story, though.
Like Elemental, Guardians 3 was a success story over the course of its entire run, even though it wasn’t a massive earner in its opening weekend. James Gunn’s final Guardians film continued winning weekend after weekend, taking its total over $845 million and becoming the biggest comic book movie of the year.
3. Oppenheimer
Box Office Total: $952,037,935
A movie from Inception and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan making nearly a billon dollars isn’t very surprising. It is surprising, however, to see an R-rated, three-hour drama about the invention of the nuclear bomb make that much money.
Oppenheimer is a massive commercial success and poised to be a favorite throughout awards season, which is a rare situation in and of itself.
2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Box Office Total: $1,361,367,353
Oppenheimer‘s success may have been a surprise, but the billion-dollar run of Illumination’s Super Mario movie adaptation certainly wasn’t.
A movie about the most popular video game character in the world from the studio behind the Minions was a layup from the time it was first announced, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie didn’t disappoint. It was the first movie in 2023 to make a billion dollars and paves the way for an entire Nintendo movie franchise going forward.
1. Barbie
Box Office Total: $1,441,820,453
2023 is the year of Barbie, there’s no doubt about that. Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie teamed up for a one-of-a-kind blockbuster comedy that defied expectations and became a genuine phenomenon.
Opening the same weekend as Oppenheimer didn’t hurt Barbie‘s box office, as some predicted. The two movies and fandoms fueled one another to massive success, and Barbie‘s incredible rewatchability helped sustain an extraordinary run on the big screen.
